Thanks to the ingenious birthday gift of a Toys-R-Us voucher, I have just purchased the first real pure toy I’ve had in years:

In other recent astonishing news, some non-specific Ben and some non-specific Melinda are Engaged, and some other unspecified Dave and Penny are planning to start cranking out Kids. I am equal parts congratulatory and shaken. These people are so breathtakingly young, or at least much younger than me. *sigh*

It bears repeated mention just how much I love E.

Dave’s bucks night last night was most fine… Dave got drunk enough to be most loud and joyful, but not so drunk as to suffer horribly, as has sometimes happened in past. He looks really happy, and for all that this thing with Penny is very new, I find that I can look at him and believe. Good luck Dave! *hugs*

Tonight I cooked a very fine meal tonight which originated on the radio… I think it was the lead singer of… Jebediah? I forget..his ‘fabulous chicken’ recipe is simple as hell:
Butterfly a chicken-breast and spread basil pesto inside the breast. Close it up again, wrap with proscuitto or bacon and pin it closed with toothpicks or skewers. Pan-fry, grill, or oven-bake. Yarm!

Addenda:
5/12/05: Amended this page to add the image, but mostly to remove the spurious attribution of my lovely vouchers. Many lovely presents were received, and I got confused. Moooo!