Castagnaccio in March

This is a perfect example of how much of the past nine months I lost due to dental problems and pneumonia. I finally made the castagnaccio that's usually part of Thanksgiving. I didn't even get it made for St. Patrick's Day, the 17th of March also being the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy, if I have that right.

But I kept my chestnut flour in the refrigerator; it seems to be fine and the cake was as good as ever.

The URI From Hell

I have not been sick like this since I had hepatitis A thirty years ago. I don't remember the last time I took an antibiotic other than on two occasions for dental work, but even with the clarithromycin it's taking a long time to kick this, apparently an indication that the URI had progressed to pneumonia.

So I'm eating more yogurt in an effort to avoid any side effects from the antibiotic. To cheer myself up a little I made a batch of matcha marshmallows, one little bit of green for St. Patrick's Day.

There Are No Words

Another Lost Week

Last weekend brought a melt-off of all but the largest piles of snow. Then, in the blink of an eye, everything was white again in one of the biggest dumps of the season. The official measure was 13 inches at the airport but that was the western edge of the system and here at the house we got another 12 at least.

Digging out on Monday and some strenuous snowshoeing on Tuesday apparently gave the upper respiratory infection that had been lurking in my sinuses, an opportunity to move to my chest in what I'm diagnosing as tracheitis. The congestion seems to be breaking up today but if it persists on Monday I will trying to score some antibiotics.

I really don't want to lose another week.

"Black Swan"

After digging out from under more than 2 feet of snow yesterday we had dinner at Dominick's and went up to The Palace to see "Black Swan". I have absolutely no idea what people see in this film. It has been described as "melodramatic" but it is so much more heavy-handed than that term would suggest.

I found absolutely no reason to care about Portman's character or any of the others so it became tedious to watch. There isn't much dialog, the film is largely dependent on Portman's face in various expressions of madness.

The dancing wasn't even good and I found the angles and the editing that were required to give even the pretense of good dancing annoying.

Best. Game. Ever.

...or at least one of the best games I've ever seen as Syracuse beat Virginia yesterday evening, 12-10. I think this may be a photo of Tim Desko as he made an absolutely phenomenal goal, one of five.

Dick Blume / The Post-Standard