Hey, NJ--Prune?

Something strange occurred to me today. Even though I've probably set some kind of record for prune-eating in the Under Seventy-Five Category, I don't know that I've ever eaten a plum. Seriously. I was looking at my little packet of Sunsweet Dried Plums (don't call them prunes, for the love of market share) at the picture of some strange non-wrinkled purple thing when it occurred to me: never ate a plum. I could get hit by a bus on my way home and they could write on my tombstone: "Here Lies North, Who Never Ate a Plum."

(NJ--Prune?)

I also had a minor cracker tragedy earlier this week, but that was too petty and shallow even for me to post about. Also, I'm still having a hard time talking about it.

(NJ--Prune?)

I think I mentioned that I got a new Alton Brown cookbook for Christmas. (Pop Quiz--the secret of making carrot cake is?) I'm making bread this weekend, all on my own. I'll let you know how it turns out. Unless it's totally crap, in which case I'll pretend I was doing something terribly interesting all weekend that prevented bread making. So if I chime in Monday with the fabulous tale of my three-hour gin-and-intellect lunch with Andrew Sullivan and Christopher Hitchens? That means I created a wheat-based alternative to cinderblock or something.

(NJ--Prune?)

As depressing as the news from Southeast Asia has been since the tsunami, this does appear to be bringing out the very best of some people. The phone at the Archdiocese has been ringing off the hook for the past two days with people who want to donate to Catholic Relief Services. Chum Group, a Canadian company that owns tv and radio stations has devoted all of their programming on all their channels to fundraising efforts for the Red Cross. It makes me feel like maybe people don't totally suck.

(NJ--Prune?)