Stuff I Hate. Stuff I Love.

Hate. Right-wing fundamentalists who can't think. You know: do research, analyze the information, and come up with a slightly original thought (perhaps a thought of their own?).

Love. Crab cakes.

Hate. Frying crab cakes. ("Frying" is not my forte in the kitchen.)

Love. Cheese-stuffed roasted peppers.

Hate. Myself when I spend too much time on the computer.

Love. My car.

Hate. When husband takes my car for the day.

Love. Cats.

Hate. Cleaning litter boxes (well, who doesn't?).

Love. Modern medicine.

Hate. Going to the doctor.

Love. Our recent trip to LA.

Tuesday: Check in to the Ambrose

Walk the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica

Watch filming of "Private Practice"

(Tim Daly from "Wings"!)

Dinner at Josie's

Wednesday: Breakfast at the hotel

Warner Brothers VIP Tour

New Dinosaur Hall at the Museum of Natural History

Dinner at The Bazaar at SLS

Thursday: Breakfast at the hotel

The Getty Center

Hollywood Bowl (LA Symphony: Beethoven's 9th)

Dinner at the Bowl (take-out picnic)

Friday: Breakfast at the hotel

Huntington Gardens

Lunch at Celestino's

Hate. Oh, snap. I guess I'm fresh out of hate for the day.

Recipe #100

Lemon Curd - pg. 199

Yeah, yeah. I know. It's been awhile. Travel (his and ours). Sick cat. Garage cleaning (a major project, but part of moving into the not-so-new-anymore house). Ya da, ya da, ya da. You know the drill.

So, I declared today to be cooking day. First, I had 2 test recipes from America's Test Kitchen (home of _Cook's Illustrated_ magazine, a favorite of mine) to make: Simple Almond Granola, and Kale and Sunflower Pesto. Both were delicious and lots of fun to make. Since we're awash in the stuff, I'm also looking forward to making Mark Bittman's Mint "Pesto". (I've recently bought his great cookbook, _How to Cook Everything_, which is billed as a hipper version of _The Joy of Cooking_. It looks to be a more useful cookbook, too. I've never been a fan of _Joy_.)

And I made Lemon Curd! Man, I could eat this stuff straight up. Turns out to be easy to make (since I'm actually a whiz at separating eggs, as well as "stirring constantly") and totally delicious made from Meyer lemons. In the homemade stuff, you add a good bit of lemon zest which really "ups" the flavor. Alice says you can also make fruit curd from any citrus! Oranges! Grapefruit! Limes! Tangerines! Considering that you can also make candied citrus from any citrus, this is an area for further exploration that I'm pretty sure will be made in heaven. Okay, actually made in my kitchen. And -- you can make fruit curd from any berry puree. Who knew!?

Here's where we stand. It's a milestone of sorts.

100 recipes down; 205 recipes yet to make