Netzingers -- Explicit coquina que est optima medicina.

The kitchen continues to soak up the boxes.  We are inveterate foodies, and it shows in the outlandish amount of packing for food, gadgets, and equipment. 

We go out in the morning to pick up some Indian take-out at Baghyra's Kitchen in Wyndmoor, right up the road a piece.  The taster and I pick put lentil soup, veg samosas and lentil cakes, baby okra in tomato sauce, and cocnut vegetable curry.  I pick out some dal sauce and the taster fancied the tomato chutney, which turned out to nicely hot with chiles and cool with cilantro at the same time.  The garlic naan was less than impressive, doughy and overly starchy.  A thinner loaf, a harder flour, and a hotter bake would help that recipe, I think.  Everything else was uniformly good, with heat levels varying according to the dish.  If I wasn't saying goodbye to the friendly and engaging Baghyra I would certainly make time to shop there again.

We stopped a Silverstone to book our overnight stay at the Bed and Breakfast, meeting the wonderfully elegant Yolanda to reserve our room.  The proprietess, with a rich Eastern European accent and manners to match, had started her business to cater to nearby learning institute visitors.  The place certainly looks charming and we are looking forward to a relaxing night before I hit the road.

From there we went to the Balck Olive, which was closed.  Diana persisted in getting Caroline to let us in despite the interviewers who were writing an article about the Black Olive, it's anonymous sponsors, and mission to nourish and educate the Mount Airy neighborhood.  Caroline was a buyer for Whole Foods, and shared her experiences starting the Black Olive when I asked if it was hard to start up an operation like that.   And then we paid for our tofu ice cream and organic snack foods, before heading back to Bitar's.

 At Bitar's we got a pack of whole wheat pitas and a double order of grape leaves.  The pita are to die for, dusty browned on the outside, with a nicely separated "pop" in the middle.  Delicious with some dal and raita.

A reporter interviewed Diana and me on the sidewalk, asking us what the most important change we had seen in our lifetimes.  Diana said the computer, and I said the Internet.  We both talked so fast that the reporter literally ran out of ink in her pen. 

Such fun and such sadness.  These new friends are ones I may never see again, may never recall in the mists of time and change unless I read these words again.  Still, I tried to devote myself to the moment and make it whole on its own.