Month: April 2007

I picked up The Fallen because it was sitting out at Cody’s Books (Stockton Street), on a table near the front. I wanted something I could dive into immediately on the bus ride home. Don’t ever let someone say that awards don’t matter, because the big “two-time winner of the Edgar award for best novel” definitely helped make up my mind. Or maybe it was, subliminally, the OpenDNS orange lettering on the cover (click cover for larger version). 😉

Anyway, T. Jefferson Parker delivered a great read. A homicide detective investigating a murder…pretty standard outline of a plot, but the story is about people, well painted. The detective has synesthesia and a marriage that’s not quite what he thinks. The murder victim had been recovering from the recent drowning death of his three-year-old daughter. (As a parent, even reading about this kind of tragedy hurts.) We actually get to “know” the victim quite well, thanks to the investigation. Mix in a range of characters scattered around San Diego’s political life, and you have a good story told very well.

I’ve made ginger beer three times now, with the most recent time being earlier this week. I’ve made two adjustments to my process, and the results are slightly improved.

First, I use nine cups of water instead of ten. The resulting brew is a tad bit sharper, which I like, and I don’t lose any trying to squeeze the end product into a too-small pitcher.

Second, I found the right pot for the process: an asparagus cooking pot. Tall and thin, with a strainer built to fit. Boil the water in the pot, then put the chopped ginger in the strainer, and slide the strainer right in. After the steeping, pull the strainer out. Easy clean-up, and easy pouring from the asparagus pot into the pitcher. Two separate problems solved at once, so now I’m likely to make this delicious concoction more often.

Aren’t you glad you know now?