Author Groupies, Toyota Recalls, Food Revolutions and Other Strange Tales

For the most part, it was a good week but one that had a slightly off-kilter sheen to it. Ever have one of those weeks where it's difficult to get closure on any one issue? This has been one of those.....almost as if the full moon was out on a nightly basis.

First off, we have a kitty missing. Goofball Tyson has taken off and we are losing hope that he will be found. He never wanted to be inside at all recently, so if he's gone, hopefully it was on an adventure. We've also had battle royales with Time Warner and Bank of America, neither of which is resolved. Romance novelists Sherrilyn Kenyon and her co-author Dianna Love(pictured with my co-worker Karla, at right) did a book-signing at our store this week and the crowd of fans that showed up were the most enthusiastic bunch of groupies I've encountered since the last Twilight book release. Seriously, from the sounds of the war-whoops going up and the sight of the T-shirts flying, I was expecting to see flasks being handed around. We also finally received the Toyota recall on our Camry....now that Keith and I have driven the damn thing cross-country! Factor in weather that included torrential rains, floodwaters and tornado watches and what a long, strange week it's been.

Friday night, we decided to whip up some comfort food in some Shrimp Cocktail along with Ina Garten's cocktail sauce as well as a "clearance sale" of deep-fried crap from our freezer: jalapeno poppers, tater tots and onion rings. So what do we decide to watch while munching on this belly-busting buffet?

Why, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, of course.

Yeah, that's right....we were jackin' up our cholesterol while watching the cheeky British chef fight the good fight against...processed food in the school lunch programs. He also happened to choose the town of Huntington in my home state of West Virginia as the school system where he would introduce healthy food into the program. He's fought, week after week, against school officials, local government and cafeteria workers named Alice. But he persevered, and instituted positive change. Keeping it intact will be the trick...we'll see how it plays out. They had a nice celebration with Rascal Flatts, but it wasn't a happy ending....there remain many obstacles to overcome. Kudos, though, to Jamie Oliver for trying to integrate positive change. Seeing this hopeful conclusion as well as making our first Farmer's Market stop of the season was a good way to start regrouping. Now, we're headin' out for the weekend to hang with family...