Hurray for cookbooks! When I'm alone in the house, lunch is always my Waterloo - I do very badly with skipping meals (wooziness galore!), but I'm always tempted to skip lunch anyway because I can never think of anything that sounds good (or, at least, worth the effort), and it's just so much easier to let it go... But I got a new cookbook yesterday and it actually has a whole section devoted to fast, easy lunches-for-one. Today I made the easy bean dip, and lo! It was actually easy AND delicious. (Pinto beans, cilantro/coriander, chili powder, and olive oil - what could be bad?) Then I followed the directions for a 2-minute quesadilla (bean dip + diced tomatoes + grated cheese packed into a folded-over tortilla, heated in the oven for 2 minutes, and served with a dollop of salsa)...and it was perfect. Best of all, I've got enough leftover bean dip to last me the next couple of days (unless we go wild and crazy and end up making tacos because we can't resist). Of course, I may eat this to death (as I often do with nice new recipes) and have to take a long break from it afterwards...but there were a lot of lunch recipes in that cookbook. And right now I am feeling very happy.

And I made another good discovery today. As recommended by O magazine, check out Talkster! Free international phone calls for the price of listening to a 10-second ad. I haven't tried it yet, but I plan to soon, and if it works out, it'll be a really nice life-easer.

Last night I finished Between Golden Jaws, and loved it. The sign of a really, really good book - after finishing it, I picked up two new novels I'd been waiting (and excited) to read. I couldn't settle into either of them - neither of them measured up to the sheer emotional intensity of the book I'd just finished! It took me until today before I could finally get into reading anything else. Now I'm just tapping my fingers, waiting for the rest of the series...

But in the meantime, check out today's beautiful National Geographic photo, my favorite yet: sea turtle!