My newest toy

After reading a post from Josh's friend Bec on his blog, I decided to start listening to books as well as reading them. So I joined Audible.com and got, with my one-year membership, an iPod mini for $99.

First of all, Audible has just about the worst website I've ever seen, and it does a lot of annoying things to make it impossible to share or copy the books you purchase. I understand that they need to protect themselves, but the obstacles they put in place make the system really hard to use. Nonetheless, I have started downloading books and enjoying them.

The first book I'm listening to is Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl. It's the story of her years as the restaurant critic for the New York Times. I am really enjoying this as I drive along and listen on the CD player in my car. Except by the time I get wherever I'm going, I am starving for something really good, rich, and expensive.

Meanwhile, Garrett and I got our first batch of free-range chickens from our friends Cheryl and Hersch, and then enjoyed a wonderful chicken dinner with them and Rick & Faye. I made the Grilled Chicken alla Diavola, Roman Style from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. The chicken was delicious, and the company was even better.

In other food news, Faye and I went and picked strawberries at Weaver's Orchards early yesterday morning. These strawberries are red all the way through, the way they are supposed to be, but so different from the strawberries typically available in the grocery store. Next up at Weaver's are sweet and sour cherries followed by red and black raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and peaches. That should just about get us through he summer.