A Life, Lived

Gnocchi with Pesto, Shrimp, and Asparagus

We actually made this recipe last week but there has been so much to blather about that I haven't gotten around to talking about this one. Kim originally posted this on her blog and raved about it. I wasn't sure though because I couldn't imagine the combination of flavours working together - pesto has such a strong flavour as does asparagus. As I was to discover it worked quite nicely toegther.

I confess to not following the recipe completely - I had some pesto left from our basil crop last summer in the freezer so I used it instead. I also added grape tomatoes because our two plants in the garden are rewarding us with hundreds of tomatoes! As you can see form the pic, I also left my shrimp full. Enjoy!

Gnocchi, small Italian dumplings made with potatoes, are a hearty alternative to pasta.

2 quarts plus 1 tablespoon water, divided
1 (16-ounce) package vacuum-packed gnocchi (such as Vigo)
4 cups (1-inch) slices asparagus (about 1 pound)
1 pound peeled and deveined large shrimp, coarsely chopped
1 cup basil leaves
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
2 tablespoons preshredded Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic
4 teaspoons extravirgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt

Bring 2 quarts water to a boil in a Dutch oven. Add gnocchi to pan; cook 4 minutes or until done (gnocchi will rise to surface). Remove gnocchi with a slotted spoon; place in a large bowl. Add asparagus and shrimp to pan; cook 5 minutes or until shrimp are done. Drain. Add shrimp mixture to gnocchi.

Combine remaining 1 tablespoon water, basil, and next 4 ingredients (through garlic) in a food processor; process until smooth, scraping sides. Drizzle oil through food chute with food processor on; process until well blended. Add salt and basil mixture to shrimp mixture; toss to coat. Serve immediately.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 2 cups)

CALORIES 355 (24% from fat); FAT 9.3g (sat 1.6g,mono 4.5g,poly 2.5g); PROTEIN 26.5g; CHOLESTEROL 170mg; CALCIUM 108mg; SODIUM 894mg; FIBER 3g; IRON 5.7mg; CARBOHYDRATE 42.7g

Cooking Light, JULY 2007

A Gift Inspires Dinner

Paul and I both celebrated birthdays this month. Our good friends Dave and Rosanne gave us each two months in the wine and cheese of the month club - a truly inspired gift! Each month we receive a red wine selected by two of Canada's top wine experts and a artisinal cheese selected by a renowned artisanal cheese expert Kathy Guidi.

Last week I had a note on the front door indicating that Canada Post had attempted to drop off a package. I had forgotten about our gift and we racked our tiny brains trying to figure out what it could be! Finally I put 2 and 2 together and figured it out - I dashed to the post office!

The wine selection was a 2004 Cabernet from a new winery in Prince Edward County - one of Ontario's new wine regions. As with many new wine regions, the wines in the County tend to be rough and unpolished, so I wasn't sure what this one would be like (although I assured myself that they wouldn't include swill in this club!) The cheese was an organic blue cheese from Quebec.

I put the cheese in the refrigerator and the wine in the cellar. After reading the tasting notes which came with the wine and cheese we talked about what to have to fully enjoy them. The gift inspired dinner last night. Because one of our favourite things to have with blue cheese is fresh figs we planned a 'fig themed' dinner.

We started off with figs stuffed with Gorgonzola, wrapped with prosciutto and grilled. I drizzled them with some 10 y/o balsamic vinegar prior to serving. This recipe was one I found in an Williams Sonoma BBQ cookbook. I have made it a number of times to rave reviews.

Look at the way the Gorgonzola is oozing out of the fig. The flavour combinations are amazing: the salty prosciutto, sweet figs, tangy cheese, brought together by the sweet but tangy aged balsamic.

Next up was a salad Paul whipped together: Fig, Bleu Cheese, and Arugula Salad. It was originally from Cooking Light. We used the last of our olive oil from Paso Robles and of course the wonderful bleu cheese we received in the shipment. The salad was wonderful with the peppery arugula nicely off setting the sweet figs and pungent cheese.

The main course was pork tenderloin stuffed with figs and red onions, and wrapped with pancetta. It was served with grilled vegetables and grilled potatoes made using the technique Judy taught us in Florence last year. I did the whole thing on the BBQ. The wine notes said that the wine would pair nicely with flavourful meats and it did!

For dessert we enjoyed a fig tarte made using a recipe shared with me by my friend Palma.It was a great finish to the meal!

Palma’s Fig Tarte

Preheat oven to 350.

Crust:
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter (softened and sliced)

Combine in a food processor until the mixture becomes a ball. Press into a 10-12" tart pan, pressing into fluted edges. Prick with a fork.

Bake 10-12 minutes until lightly golden. Set aside to cool.

Filling:
8 oz. cream cheese (softened)
1/2 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla

Beat these three ingredients until smooth. Spread into cooled crust.

Slice figs and place in overlapping circles around tart.

Glaze:

6 oz frozen limeade concentrate (thawed)
1 T. cornstarch
1/4 c. sugar
1 T. lime juice

Combine four ingredients and cook over medium heat until thick and clear (2 min.). Let cool. Using a pastry brush, glaze the tart with the cooled glaze (you will not use all of the glaze).

It was easy to make and tasted even better!

We finished off with the cheese and the last of the wine. Luckily there is a wee bit of cheese left to enjoy.

Now we have a wine of the month dinner to look forward to each month!

Cheese notes:

Le Rassenbleu. Les Fromagiers de la Table Ronde, Quebec. While most blue cheese are semi-soft and creamy, Rassenbleu (made using organic milk from a single herd, aged 120 days) is firm in body with a woodsy aroma and flavour from organic raw milk. The blue notes are subtle and lingering. perfect for the person new to blue, yet a rare treat for the aficionado of blue.

Wine notes:

Grange of Prince Edward Vineyards and Estates Winery. 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a well structured wine that has good grip and well integrated tannins.  Drink now or cellar for 5-7 years.  Will pair well with game meats or beef.  Winemaker's tasting notes include soft blackberry fruit and delicate vanilla notes coming from its 12 month aging in new older French oak barrels.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix- Review

Last night Paul and I went to check out this movie. We decided to go to the 10:00 evening showing assuming that there would be fewer children there. We were correct except for one couple who brought a toddler and a young baby. Good lord people - get a babysitter!

We enjoyed the movie (except for the rather annoying couple and spawn) - Paul declared it to be the best of the series to date and I agree with him.

As is the case of all films in a series, there is to be an assumption of knowledge on the part of the audience regarding what's gone on before so. The problem with that, however, is that it may have been a while since you've either read the book or seen the last film. Happily I had reread the books last month (preparing for book # 7 to be released) and Paul and I had watched the last film yesterday afternoon.

The screenwriter, Michael Goldenberg, did a good job of paring the book, which is 734 pages, down to a manageable running time on the screen and tightening up the narrative. This is the first in the film series where JK Rowling allowed parts of the book to be changed in the transition from book to film. Some may scream about that but I think it made for a more rich and smooth story. So all in all, I think the translation from book to screenplay went well.

I continue to be impressed with the ability of both the story and the actors to maintain a strong sense of continuity from installment to installment. Harry Potter has grown, in more ways than one, into the role life has handed him yet he still has that sense of innocence, wonder, and self-doubt that infused him in the first film. He has been tested and beaten down, but he still strives on when others, especially teens, would have said something along the lines of "I'm outta here!" to the place the world has put him.
The rest of the company is also aging well. Rupert Grint as Ron and Emma Watson as Hermione aren't nearly half as annoying as they were in the first two, and Maggie Smith and Alan Rickman are worth the price of admission alone.

Voldemort’s busy assembling an army of darkness, but this fantasy universe’s current administration seems hell-bent on scapegoating and burying its collective head in the sand by appointing Imelda Staunton’s relentlessly prim and proper Dolores Umbridge to usher in a repressive, almost Orwellian regime of mindless conformity and authoritarianism at Hogwarts. A pink-clad fascist fond of cats and corporal punishment, Staunton’s twee totalitarian is the most original movie villain in ages.

Leave it to Potter to kick-start an underground pubescent insurgency, inspired by his sly, kindly godfather Sirius Black (the fantastic Gary Oldman), whose own Order of the Phoenix operates under the cover of night in secret locations, prepping to take down that dastardly Voldemort, should he ever show his semi-formed face again.

Like most 15-year-old boys, Harry Potter is an extremely angry young man, trying to wrap his still-forming mind around the fallibility of authority figures, the finality of death, and the all-around shit-stinking unfairness of the way the world really works. Fortunately, Harry's friends won't leave him alone -- even when he's surly toward them -- and he receives a much-needed support system from best buds Ron Weasley (Grint) and Hermione Granger (Watson) as well as a seemingly spacey blonde named Luna Lovegood (newcomer Evanna Lynch, wonderfully embodying the most interesting of the new characters).

In this manner, the film echoes The Empire Strikes Back: The mood is grim, the heroes are reeling, and the villains are on the move. But with a little help from their friends, not to mention a strong belief in the "force" of good, these kids may yet save the day.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Review

It has been a week since my copy of HP arrived and almost a week since I finished it. This book was a literary phenomenon (of course the debate rages regarding whether or not it was literary genius). It has been amusing watching folk pouring though the book on the train and subway. Last week my assistant even gave up her lunch hour to sit at her desk and read. It was fun sneaking up on her and asking if she wanted to know who died. I am aware of at least twenty people I know who are reading this book right now. That is not something I have been able to say since the tired days of English class!

If you're a Potter fan, you've been waiting for this book for a very long time, and, if you haven't read it yet, you may be wondering if it’s worth the wait. The short answer is: yes. As final books go, The Deathly Hallows wraps things up quite nicely indeed - far better than many 'finale' books usually do.

I did my usual re-read of all the previous books prior to starting this one and I am glad I did. Phrases, situations, and characters from the previous books took on new significance in this final installment of the series. I don't think that I would have gotten as much out of the book had I not refreshed my memory - I mean really, it has been almost 10 years since the first book was published!

Throughout this book Harry returns to many places we've seen in earlier books: Gringots, The Shrieking Shack and The Ministry of Magic, among others. Each of these places plays a small role in the Harry's quest to defeat Voldemort. We also get to visit the house where Harry lived when Voldemort attacked his parents. This visit gives us some more insight into the events that happened that night, and show how prepared Voldemort is to find Harry and his friends. Rowling does a nice job of weaving all these places into the story, as Harry, Ron and Hermione try to find all of Voldemort's Horcruxes and figure out what the Deathly Hallows actually are.

As far as the plot goes, it’s basically a quest, with Harry and company running from encounter to encounter, trying to stay ahead of Voldemort and his cohorts. In fact, the first 2/3 of the book is basically Harry on the run, trying to figure things out while staying out of sight. Unfortunately, while there is some action during this period (the infiltration of The Ministry for example), this section tended to drag quite a bit, as it takes quite a bit of time for Harry and friends to figure out what they want to do, and how to do it. At one point Ron leaves Harry and Hermione, frustrated by their lack of direction and purpose. I wanted to cheer because I felt that same!

Once the siege of Hogwarts begins, however, the last part of the book is all action, and moves quite quickly toward its satisfying showdown between Harry and Voldemort. Rowling obviously took some time to figure out how this showdown would occur, and weaved the pieces needed throughout the earlier parts. The twist that occurs is obvious in hindsight, but was executed quite well. This final section of the book is so fast paced that you'll likely not be able to put it down. Be forewarned though because it lasts for more than 100 pages.

We also get answers to many previously unanswered questions as the story unfolds. As I mentioned, even things mentioned only in passing in earlier books constitute as the missing pieces in the jig-saw puzzle. We discover things about Lily Potter, Snape (I always knew that a character as enigmatic as he had a story to tell, I had been rooting for some goodness in him and yes folks, it is there) and…Dumbledore - the haloed wizard who we was human with human frailties after all.

While the book isn't as light and 'magical' as the early Potter books are, I do think the ending leaves the series on a high note. We've seen Harry move from innocence and naiveté into a competent, self-assured adult. In fact, he matures far more than the characters around him. This maturation may be a result of the burdens placed upon him or more likely is a result of Rowling's 'relationship' with her central character.

So ended the journey we begun with Harry 10 years ago. The journey has had its ups and downs but well… all is well that ends with a well written book.I close it with mixed emotions as I say goodbye to Harry - the boy who lived and still lives on.

Reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

This was me last Saturday afternoon enjoying the last of the Harry Potter series (well, until JK Rowling runs though her cash and needs to write a prequel or sequel). For the record . . . I loved it but found the middle dragged a bit. review tomorrow (or sometime soon - I have started, HONEST).

Firstly, some back story on the photo. Yesterday my pal Palma from the slowtravel message board posted a pic about her swollen ankles on her blog. Recently back from three weeks in Italy, she had the nerve to tell us about her truly amazing trip and then bemoan her swollen ankles. What was I to do but post a snide comment? I know, you can't imagine that from me. What can I say, it was a weak moment!

She responded by posting a comment on the message board about my white legs in my pic. She said that the pic was on my blog and in 3 hours I have had 70 people click though wanting to see my lily white legs (I believe was the descriptor). Sadly the pic was never posted on my blog - in fact I have never posted a pic of me at all as I am as photogenic as dirt and the world needs more beauty, less dirt. I had, however, posted the pic in the July book thread on the message board because hardly anyone every goes there!  LOL

Sadly, Palma (who people have called my twin sister separated at birth because we are so alike) was confused. Excessive sun and coffee will do that to a gal I have heard!

However, in the interest of satisfying the purulent wishes of those who click through wanting to see my lily white legs I have in fact now shared this pic with the world.

I take offense to the term lily white though, that is tanned. In fact that is me after 12 days of running about Maine in shorts and a bathing suit. This is as tanned as I get. If I wanted to be nice and bronze I would need to slather BBQ sauce about me . . . talk about a horrid mental picture!

Anyway. Enough nonsense. Have a swell start to the weekend folk!

Oh, Palma - I do hope those ankles 'slim' down shortly and when they do tell me how you did it because it might work wonders on my gut!

Tuscan Thursdays at the Grinning Gourmand

Last week our friend Catherine suggested that we go to a 'Tuscan Thursday' event tonight. The Grinning Gourmand, a gourmet food shop here in Burlington that generally sells gourmet foods and light lunches, has recently started opening up on Thursday evenings for this special event. The shop is run by a personable young couple: Paul is the chef and his wife Cary does much of the greeting/serving.

Dinner is served outside on a lovely patio nestled between the shop and the building next door. The wall of the shop is covered with ivy so it made for a very peaceful and relaxed setting - it actually reminded me of one of the restaurants where we had dinner in Rome (although without the extremely insistent rose seller but that, as they say, is a tale for another day).

The menu is simple: three salad choices, an antipasto platter, two pasta dishes, two meat dishes, and two desserts. There was a limited wine and cocktail list.

I discovered thaat the food wasn't traditional Tuscan food (having been to Tuscany last year I am of course an expert!), it was more a fusion of Italian regional tastes with a North American twist. It was, however, extremely tasty, freshly prepared, and served in an efficient and friendly manner.

We started off with cocktails (I had a limoncello with soda which was an amazing drink for a summer's evening!). For our appetizers we ordered salads (a caprese for me). The caprese was unusual in that it wasn't made with roma tomatoes and it had a dressing instead of the usual simple olive oil, salt, and pepper dressing. It also had thin slices of cucumbers and baby leaf lettuce. However where it lost points on the 'traditionality' scale it gained because it was so fresh and flavourful; one of the servers actually gathered the basil for the salad from a tiny herb garden beside our table after we had ordered.

The antipasto platter was brilliant! It had three types of cured meats, three cheeses, roasted garlic, a wide variety of house cured olives, and roasted red pepper and eggplant. This thing was HUGE! I could have happily had this for my meal.

For the main courses Ruth and Catherine both ordered a pasta dish which came with roasted vegetables, grilled chicken, in a tomato and herb sauce. It smelled wonderful. Paul and I both ordered Chicken Saltimbucca which was nothing like the saltimbucca in Rome (which as you know is the Saltimbucca capital of Italy!) It was really a chicken cutlet with fresh sage and prosciutto, breaded and served with a tomato sauce and cheese. Like most North American Italian restaurants it was served with pasta, and a vegetable (roasted peppers, onions, and zucchini). OK, so it was not traditional in any way, but it was good! The portions were huge so I have lunch for tomorrow!

Like I said, we took most of our dinners home (except for Paolo AKA the finisher!) This allowed us room for dessert. Tonight they were featuring a baked chocolate and banana tarte and a biscotti plate. Paul, Catherine and Ruth ordered the tarte and I ordered the biscotti. The tarte looked amazing and apparently tasted even better. The biscotti was unusual, there were two types: fig and chocolate. The crisp cookies were softer than I remembered. Cary commented that it was because they replaced some of the flour with almond flour. Even though I know some Italians fine it 'gauche' I missed dipping them into a glass of vin santo! YUM

The bill for the four of us was $ 224. This included four cocktails, a bottle of wine, a bottle of water, four salads, the antipasto platter, four mains, two tartes (Ruth and Catherine shared) and my biscotti platter. It was a nice evening; great food, better company, and the house did not need a second mortgage to pay for it all!

Further Stupid People (and a Flock of Stupid Birds)

Apparently I am on some sort of a roll. A roll of negativity though and this is the end . . . for now! *smile*

More stupid people.

My neighbour: We live close to a ravine where many raccoons live. Raccoons adore garbage. They have been known to rip bags asunder in their quest for tasty scraps of trash. It is not unusual to see torn bags and trash spread all over the street after they have been on the prowl. Today was garbage day. Now think for a second. Would you put your trash out the night before if this was your reality? No, of course you wouldn't; you'd put it out in the morning so that you didn't have to re-bag a weeks worth of smelly kitchen waste using a shovel.

Guy on Train: I understand that it is nice to use the 45 minutes on the train to read the paper. It is a nice relaxing start to the day. Why is it necessary for him to leave all of the crumbled up sections under his seat? Every day. JERK

Finally Stupid birds: Every morning I stand on the train platform waiting for the train. I stand there, listen to the birds, standing beside the same people every day (but never talking to them, of course, as that is weird), staring ahead at the platform across the tracks. Today the birds were rather loud. Why? Someone had heaved up a huge pile of vomit on the platform across the tracks and the seagulls were fighting over the chunks. EWWWWW

How is that for a lovely way to start your day? For the birds it is likely business as usual (that is how their parents feed them as baby birds isn't it?) for the commuters wincing at each swallowed chunk - not so much.

My, it has been a fine start to the day! Perhaps I should just go home.

Stupid People

This is actually my second attempt at this post as my browser crashed. Yes, Bill Gates is stupid. Sadly is is also very rich . . . please do not sue me Bill!

So what has inspired this rant? I think it must be a combination of reading the lovely Kathy's blog post about stupid people which got me pondering and then the recent actions of the supremely stupid Lindsay Lohan put me right over the edge!

You don't know who this tart is? You don't want to know. It doesn't matter. Think Paris Hilton with a smidgen of talent, trailer trash parents, and without the sex tapes posed on the Internet (well, for now anyway). She recently escaped  was released form rehab and guess what - shortly after was arrested for drunk driving, possession of drugs, and driving with a suspended license.

Chock full of credibility, Lindsay Lohan is claiming she did not drunkenly chase her assistant before being arrested for drunk driving early yesterday morning… and that the cocaine found IN HER POCKET belonged to someone else. Apparently the ever thoughtful Lindsay offered to keep the coke warm with her ass heat.

Enough said about this one, she deserves no more ink.

Speaking of stupid folk . . . did you hear the one about the oil pipeline and the backhoe driver . . .? Sadly, it isn't a joke but an actual piece of news. It took place in Canada's city of wet: Vancouver.

Cleanup continued Tuesday on a major oil spill that has forced residents of a Burnaby, B.C., neighbourhood from at least 50 homes, and raised serious environmental concerns.

By late afternoon, the spill, which crept down to the waters of Burrard Inlet, was contained.

But officials were still assessing how much crude oil was spilled, after a construction crew's backhoe inadvertently broke a pipeline that connected a refinery to a refuelling facility in the harbour.

I wouldn't want to be that guy.

Then there is Michael Vick. He is that football star recently charged with running a dog fighting ring. Apparently the fights were so bad that the dogs were mauled to death or had to be euthanised. He claims that it was just sport and he has done nothing wrong.

I have a solution. Toss him into the ring with six of his dogs and let him experience that fun of that sport.

Enough with the stupid folk, I am getting depressed. I can't believe that people this thick actually exist. They probably voted for W (to mention another stupid guy).

If you wish to giggle at the antics of still more stupid folk have a gander at this clip.

Summer Beef Salad

This recipe was originally in my Better Homes and Gardens Grilling cookbook.

The weather has been hot and muggy here so I have decided to start experimenting with dinner salads. I'll confess to not generally seeing a salad as a meal; I blame that on my childhood where meals were traditional things.

Prior to last night our only experience was in making a Caesar salad and tossing it with a slab of grilled chicken. Big deal!

The Better Homes and Gardens Grilling Cookbook has a great section of salads on the grill. I selected about 8 to try and Paul selected this one. It was a snap to make and the taste is incredible.

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups cooked edamame (we found this frozen in the organic section of the grocery store)
1 1/2 cups cooked fresh corn (I cooked 2 ears and cut the kernels off)
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions
12 oz sirloin steak, cut 1 inch thick
salt
pepper
4 cups torn mixed salad greens
2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
2 tomatoes, cored and cut into wedges

In a medium bowl combine the vinegars, brown sugar, cumin, and garlic. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Add edamame, corn, bell pepper, and green onions. Toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 1 to 4 hours, stirring once.

Trim the fat from the steak. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill the steak until it is done to your liking.

Cut the meat into bite0sized strips. Stir the cut up steak into the vegetable mixture. Add salad greens and cilantro. Tossed lightly to mix. Transfer the salad to plates and garnish with the tomato wedges.

This recipe was not meant as a diet recipe but given the nutritional information below I have included it in this category.

Nutritional facts: 313 cal; 8 g total fat (2 g sat fat), 40 mg chol; 221 mg sodium; 34 g carb; 6 g fiber, 30 g protein.

Daily values: 41 % vitamin A, 109 % vitamin C, 15 % calcium, 26 % iron.

Typepad Was Down

I had a devil of a time trying to access my blog this afternoon to do my update. When I finally was able to do so here is what I found:

TypePad blogs experienced some downtime this afternoon due to a power outage in San Francisco, and we wanted to provide you with the basic information we have so far:

• The outage began around 1:50 pm Pacific Daylight Time
• TypePad blogs and the TypePad application were affected, as well as LiveJournal, Vox and other Six Apart-hosted services
• No data has been lost from blogs.  We have restored access to blogs as well as access to the TypePad application. There may be some remaining issues for readers leaving comments on blogs; we are aware of this and are working as quickly as possible to resolve the issue.
• TypePad members with appropriate opt-in settings should have received an email from us this afternoon about the outage.  We will send another email to members when the service has been fully restored.
• We will also be posting more details about today's outage to Everything TypePad.

We are truly sorry for the frustration and inconvenience that you've experienced, and will provide as much additional information as possible as soon as we have it. We also appreciate the commiseration from the teams at many of the other sites that were affected, such as Craigslist, Technorati, Yelp, hi5 and several others.

Frankly I do not know what most of it means but I can now blog again so I am happy!

I had a devil of a time trying to access my blog this afternoon to do my update. When I finally was able to do so here is what I found:

TypePad blogs experienced some downtime this afternoon due to a power outage in San Francisco, and we wanted to provide you with the basic information we have so far:

• The outage began around 1:50 pm Pacific Daylight Time
• TypePad blogs and the TypePad application were affected, as well as LiveJournal, Vox and other Six Apart-hosted services
• No data has been lost from blogs.  We have restored access to blogs as well as access to the TypePad application. There may be some remaining issues for readers leaving comments on blogs; we are aware of this and are working as quickly as possible to resolve the issue.
• TypePad members with appropriate opt-in settings should have received an email from us this afternoon about the outage.  We will send another email to members when the service has been fully restored.
• We will also be posting more details about today's outage to Everything TypePad.

We are truly sorry for the frustration and inconvenience that you've experienced, and will provide as much additional information as possible as soon as we have it. We also appreciate the commiseration from the teams at many of the other sites that were affected, such as Craigslist, Technorati, Yelp, hi5 and several others.

Frankly I do not know what most of it means but I can now blog again so I am happy!