Have just encountered awful woman, silver lining is dinner

Revolting in every discernible way. Good grief. I finally made it to the gym after a lengthy, phlegm-riddled hiatus and had a lovely easing-back-into-things time. Brisk walk, steam room, shower. And I'm feeling nice and zen when not two inches from me appears a butt, a naked butt. I generally don't mind locker room nudity, and I'm not a super-prude (although I, personally, don't like to expose my minimalist goodies), but to flaunt oneself in this way seemed fairly extreme, especially the fact that she was leaning over, knees bent, butt to the heavens in an open way if you catch my meaning.

She then proceeded to talk to herself, berate an employee for not having refilled a lotion dispenser -horrors; who does this, especially while naked?! - interrupt a conversation I was having, unpack a small suitcase full of hair products and rub herself and hair down for the entire time I was blow-drying my hair (not an insignificant amount of time). For all the ways in which she torqued her body to apply these various serums, you'd think she was a Twister champ. Finally she deigned to put on a yellow, lace thong (why then? What's the point?) and then continued lotioning. I had to leave. I am completely certain I would not like this gal.

On a more positive note, how delish do balsamic-glazed plums and mozzarella di bufala sound? I'm also going to make a fabulous couscous dish a la Amanda Hesser that's a long time favorite. Yum!

Hooray - new cookbook has arrived!

Have I mentioned how disappointed I am in Heart of the Artichoke, the David Tanis cookbook I recently purchased? Well, I am. Aesthetically, it's well produced but after spending some time reading through it, I just can't imagine actually using it much. Instead of chapters sorted by dish type or star ingredient, it's set up as menus which in theory is lovely but in practice not as great; if you dislike the entree, you feel less inspired to make the whole shebang, and so forth. Foodie friend C (we are total kitchen twins; it's like a mind meld when we start talking food) had the same reaction after she purchased Tanis' previous cookbook; after commiserating for a bit recently, she suggested I get Judy Rodgers' Zuni Cafe tome. So, it is now mine. I love the used book selection on amazon marketplace- fab!