WE AIM TO PLEASE: Fresh from savaging me over a political post, one of my left-leaning critics emails a followup:

The dinner My Lovely Wife are having tonight is a beef and Guinness stew, from the slow-cooking cookbook you’ve frequently referenced. It’s genius. You do one-third (at most) of the work and get 100 % of the credit. My own variation incorporates sliced turnips and a slug of Jameson’s or Laphroaig.

Similarly, I might never have known of the “Open Everything” gadget were it not for you. Believe me, it comes in handy here. And I’ve been ragedly confused over clamshell packaging since the very beginning of the CD era.

Also, I replaced my old watch with a snazzy number I got via the Amazon watch sale you trumpeted.

I do wonder how many wide-eyed radicals, or whoever, confront a similar conundrum with regard to your site. Not that I’m encouraging you to NOT keep making such recommendations…

Once the election is over, I intend to do a lot more gadget- and recipe-blogging, and less political blogging. With luck, that will bring everyone together. Meanwhile, here’s the recipe for the Lamb & Guinness Stew. A shot of whiskey couldn’t hurt . . . .