where she went and what she ate

Started Sunday healthily with a 2 mile walk (humidity, ugh) and a bagel with chevre fresca. Mid-day: fresh vegetables and a plate of duck pancetta. Mmmm. Dinner, G and I went to Via Spuntino SoHo* for a seafood tasting with prosecco, finished by pastries and port in Little Italy.

Monday: A bike ride. A loooong bike ride (20 miles, for those counting) along the Hudson River Greenway. Lunch midway was yummy, crunchy chicken fingers. Followed by an evening out in NJ eating pulled pork and brownies, and drinking hard cider and Scotch (not together, no).

This morning, I woke up swearing I'd eat nothing but whole wheat pasta, unsweetened iced tea, and raw veggies the rest of the week.

Okay, maybe just for today.





*the service is still weak but the food is excellent. If you're in NYC - GO. (but be warned, the space seats 26, max)

the sound you just heard was me throwing a book across the room.

At RT, I was given a sampling of books, including a trio by Louisa Edwards, who has excellent reviews and buzz, and they're romances set in the restaurant industry so hey, right up my alley, right?

I read the 2nd in the series (original post edited for clarity) and found it cute but with depth and interest. The first one tells a story that's already closed in book 2, so I decided to move on to book 3.

The heroine is a prodigy. Okay, check. She's a described geek. Okay, check. She's a fannish geek. Okay, check and yay! Oh. Wait.

Does anyone here know an adult, professional geek who would be so totally unaware of the (established in the book for students and faculty alike) sternly demanded-on dress code of their new job that they'd show up in khakis and a Star Wars t-shirt? One of her stated "favorite Star Wars t-shirts?"

Okay yeah, maybe we all know one or three who manage to survive past 16. I cringed but I let it go. It's no way to establish your character as being either competent or sympathetic but it's easy shorthand (except that in the next chapter it's established that she'd read the entire school handbook and memorized it so...no. She couldn't have missed that fact), and hey it was just the first appearance and...

and does anyone here know an adult, professional woman who - seriously, with no irony - says things like "what in the name of Joss are you doing here?" or "For Buffy's sake?"

At this point [ETA: please note here, before you comment, that it was not simply the dress code thing that pissed me off, but the entire characterization], it became clear to me that either the author had never actually met an adult female media fan, or bothered to talk to any of them, because the entire character, from her appearance to her smart-but-incompetent performances to her geeky-squeaky brains to her utter cluelessness about any relationships, was out of the Cliche Handbook.

Sorry, Ms. Edwards: you lost me by p. 32.