Last night went with my friend C to a fantastic place in the North End called Marco. The restaurant was actually upstairs from a cafe, and seemed to benefit from the isolation provided by that location. It had a classy atmosphere and extremely friendly waitstaff. On a couple occasions they answered questions about how dishes were prepared.

The food started with a complimentary plate of focaccia with a small pot of tapenade. This chunky spread had identifiable olives, capers, onions, and garlic in it; it had a sweetness to it that worked very well on the bread.

We ordered a sweet potato risotto with braised pork (not pictured - I ate those earlier in the day before I thought to take a photo), the penne with pancetta and shrimp, and a side order of sauteed spinach. Delicious all around.

The texture of the piece of pork on top of the risotto was just amazing; crispy on the outside, but tender inside. I need to learn to braise meats (and I think I have a cut of beef in the freezer waiting for me to try it out on, now that i think of it.) And I loved the pancetta in the pasta dish.

It all reminded me a bit of the Tuscan meal we got to make for the release party at BEA last year. We all got to take the class at the Cambridge Culinary Institute. Pancetta played a good role in that meal as well. It's nice to get yet another reminder that I do want to cook more.

I just count myself lucky C was going out of town soon, so I got to abscond with the leftovers :)

Watch this space for an attempt to organize a mob for the knife skills class over there.

Here's just one of my bookshelves. My shelves need some serious reorganization. There are books here that should really be in storage, and books in storage that could be out here.

The three books in the foreground are books I got when the authors came to speak at work. The Haldeman is fluffy but fun, though I'm not sure whether he successfully resolved one of the paradox possibilities he opened up. oPtion$ by Fake Steve Jobs was a hoot, really giving a wonderfully warped view of the brain of a CEO. I can't decide whether to suggest it to baronet or tell him to stay away for fear of exploding in rage.

Jim Shepard's "Like You'd Understand, Anyway" is ostensibly a book of short stories... but to me it felt a lot more like a collection of character sketches. Interesting characters, flawed, and real. And a bit self-destructive, most of them. But... the book had an honesty to it that felt right.

Under those books is Make Magazine. It's neat to flip through, and there are times I feel I could really see myself building something from within the pages, or something that would be appropriate to submit there. It's a vicarious experience of creativity.

Apologies to whoever brought this stuff to our party, but... wow. This stuff is vile. Really, really, nasty. It's got that Chex base, and dried pineapple, and dried fried banana... and it smells like fake fruit flavor and tastes bad.

So we've got a bag over here. I hope to keep it around for a while to dissuade me from snacking when I'm hanging out around the house. Good stuff.

I have several video games. They are good.

Rock Band and Super Mario Galaxy are at the top of my list right now - I'm happily collecting stars and, er, collecting stars.

I got home from Explorers with ringrose GMing and word games hosted by chenoameg to find frost on our storm door. I thought it was pretty and realized I needed a photo. Funny how these things work out.

It's very cold out there. Time to use the Azure Drake lj icon.

I went over to ceelove's to help cook and eat a nice dinner and took a photo of the re-baked potatoes that we made. Delish. There were also parsnip patties, but they weren't ready at the time I had my camera out.

Anyway, here's my chance to start 365 up again. This time for sure! Also with more cooking. In other words, look out, 2008, no more SlackerChris!