It looks a little grey outside.  There's cloud cover with some pretty blue sky peeking through here and there.  Another day in Downtown Los Angeles.

I should have started this blog sooner, but time sitting at the computer hasn't really been that comfortable.  So I've mostly been using it to do chores and to answer email.

As my physical therapy progresses, I find I can spend more time in one position.  That makes it much easier to sit and type for longer periods of time.

There is a fat grey tabby to my right.  She'll get up and try to lie on the keyboard soon, or on my pile of papers or lick my hands.  She wants her breakfast.  Her name is Pancit.  I found her when she was a few days old in the middle of a wood pile in my garden in Ilok, Croatia.  She reminded me of all the ingredients one has to chop up into smal pieces for the Filipino noodle dish "pancit".

This kitten fit in the palm of my hand.  She could barely walk and didn't know how to lap up the milk I gave her.  I had to drip liquids into her mouth and spoon feed her chicken soup.  Now she needs no help from me.  She's a happy cat who sings and talks.  Her favorite treats are sweet corn, mussels and shrimp.

I saw 4 episodes that I had recorded of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations: Hawaii, the Pacific Northwest, Japan, and Sri Lanka.  My favorite, and I think his was the episode on Japan.  Bourdain was totally enchanted with the Japanese devotion to the pursuit of beauty, harmony and perfection.  There was poetry and symmetry everywhere: the Ikebana lesson (empty space has meaning), the Yakitori grill chef/owner who guides the live chicken through its demise, onto the grill and to the plate, the use of every part of a monk fish by Iron Chef Morimoto and contemplating a rock garden as a steady rain beats a quiet rhythm.

Noteworthy is the Seatlle restaurant and factory, Salumi, owned and run by the parents and sister of Mario Batali.  Noteworthy because I love salumi, because it appears to be family run and a labor of love and because it is within reach: just up the West coast.

Print and broadcast media are just as affected by the economic downturn.  I wish the cost-cutting measures management implements will result in better quality but unfortunately that probably won't happen.

I just listened to an NBC Today Show interview of Caroline Kennedy and 2 recipients of the 2009 John F. Kennedy Library Foundation Profile in Courage Award.  Sheila Bair, Chair of the FDIC, and Brooksley Born, former chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are recognized for their early warnings about how the subprime lending crisis and the lack of government regulation could cause the current economic recession.

Matt Lauer unusuccessfully tried to get Caroline Kennedy to reveal the real reason for withdrawing her bid to fill Hillary Clinton's Senate seat.  As Ms. Kennedy neatly, politely and firmly side-stepped the increasingly pointed questions, the 2 award recipients who were on camera with her, sat with seemingly admiring smiles on their faces.  Lauer got nowhere despite desperately trying to bait her by mentioning the inappropriate behaviour by Gov. Patterson's staff.

I wonder how Katie Couric would have handled that interview.  She's more skilled than most and certainly outgrew her morning show environment.  It's a shame that her transfer to CBS did not produce the desired ratings.

Thanks for sharing my day and my thoughts.