Celebrating the Lunar New Year in… Las Vegas? Hmm.

And, in Wednesday’s NY Times’ Food section: Mark Bittman, the Minimalist, does pudding. Check out the demonstration video that’s posted – he raises the good point that instant pudding is — well, ok, chemical-filled. But, my childhood was all about that artificial coloring! 😉 As Bittman notes at the end of the video, who wouldn’t miss the Yellow No. 5 (or whatever the number is; well, okay, Bittman meant it sarcastically). His vanilla pudding at the end there though – ooh, looks so good!

Thanks to the three-day weekend, I caught up on “Ugly Betty.” Good stuff – Daniel’s trying to get a handle on having a brother-who’s-now-a-sister (umm, yeah; got to give Rebecca Romijn credit for trying the role – but her character really is that naive for not expecting how difficult the gender transition would be); Daniel retains Grace “the Chin” Chin to be his dad’s defense lawyer (played by Lucy Liu – playing yet another lawyer? Well, at least this one is slightly that much more believable than her “Ally McBeal” incarnation – her Ling Woo character irritating me); and Betty’s trying to figure out her feelings for accountant Henry – only to realize that it might be too late.

At the very least: yay for the portrayal of fictitious Asian-American lawyers on tv.

Lunar New Year’s Day

Gung Hay Fat Choy! as we Cantonese might say (well, okay, conceding that my attempts to work on my Cantonese remain attempts). Best of luck…

A new look at MSG – maybe it’s not so bad, presuming the chef actually knows what he/she is doing?

I’ve been noticing this in the Romance section of the bookstores: somehow Harlequin and Nascar have joined forces to create books taking place in the world of Nascar. The linked article at least gave the backstory as to how this development came about. I haven’t ventured to read the books; I’m rather limited in time, although my paperback romance novel readings have been picking up again.

Personally, I’m disappointed by how the publishers of Harlequin decided to discontinue the Silhouette Romance line and transfer the authors to the Harlequin Romance line. Granted, these aren’t high-quality literary stuff, but they passed the time and bordered on sweet old-fashioned romance (plus, if you lucked out on reading a book that bordered on mainstream writing – clearly by a writer on a breakthrough – boy, is it good stuff).

But, Nascar? Well, I guess it’s good that they got permission to use the real brand’s name. It’s not entirely original to use a sports context for romance novels: author Susan Elizabeth Phillips has a romance novel series revolving in the world of the NFL, using a fictitious NFL team. But, Nascar? My bewildered reaction remains.

Having watched “The Queen” and seeing its portrayal of Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair back in more (for him anyway) hopeful times, it’s poignant to read about how things are for him these days. Talk about contrast.

Dahlia Lithwick points out the problems in Justice Kennedy’s testimony to Congress about federal judges’ needs. Notably, three things to think about for the federal judges: (a) protection of judicial independence; (b) protection from harm (like, say, from nutcases who want to do real harm on judges doing their job); (c) and obtaining better salaries (’cause it is kind of unfair that clerks who finish their clerkship earns more money than the judges, just by working for Big Firms that pay money that could – say, feed poor people; still, judges do earn more money than others in society – and get pensions, and decent benefits, so… oh well – it depends on your basis of comparison – do you compare federal judges’ salaries to that of associates at Big Firms, or to the Average Joe Schmoe?).

And, last but not least: at least someone’s warm – Yankees and Mets in spring training. Ex-Met Todd Pratt is trying out for the Yankees.