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Reading:  Just finished Blackouts

 by Craig Boyko and The School Of Essential Ingredients

 by Erica Bauermeister.  The first is terrific collection of short-stories, very astute, some rather dark.  The second was a light set of interrelated stories, or maybe a novel, set around a cooking school.  Each chapter gives the back story for one of the students (or couples).  It was moderately moving at times, but not hugely engaging.  Am now reading Country Girls Trilogy

 by Edna O'Brien.  I picked this up after listening to an interview with O'Brien on the BBC World Book Club podcast. 

Listening:  I've been catching up on a few Vinyl Cafe podcasts, the Two Edge Talk series on education, BBC Thinking Allowed, and the last few episodes of King Leary on CBC's Between the Covers.  

Watching:  The two hour episode of Brothers and Sisters last night.  Sheesh!  What a roller coaster.  Wild Roses is also moving along.  Saw the season finale of (spoiler link) Top Chef  and, well, felt so sad for the person who was essentially out before the food was even plated.  

Cooking:  Nothing much new in the kitchen these days.  Tried this Southwestern Flank Steak in the crock pot to raves.  Very piquante, and great leftovers.

Knitting: I needed to darn a navy wool sweater belonging to Z...it had a hole right on the chest so I needed a good colour match.  I ended up buying a ball of sock yarn, so once I used the 10" of wool required to darn the hole, I decided to start a pair of matching socks using this pattern.  Unfortunately, it's using more wool than I thought, so I will need to buy another ball, which will require a drive all the way out to Michael's in Mississauga (if I want to try to get the same dye lot on this inexpensive brand of wool.)