On The Sturm Brightblade Tip

Four parcels have made their way into my mailbox. One thing about Amazon. It makes for Christmas in the Coates household every week. They are:

1.) The collected Dragon'slance trilogy. The boy has dug in already. Here is his initial review "I like Tanis."

2.) Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything Vegetarian. Last night, I made basmati with cloves, cinnamon and cadamom, along with collard greens, and curried lentils and potatoes. All of it awesome-sauce. On a related note, off of this Slate piece, I installed epicurious on my Iphone. Looks great.

3. Christopher J. Einolf's biography--George Thomas: Virginian For The Union. Thomas was key to this post. For those who don't remember "Pap" Thomas fought for the Union, used black soldiers, and fought the Klan after the War. For his choice, he lost everything--investments, family ties, and ultimately, his life. He died just five years after the War, leaving no memoir. He had his personal papers destroyed.

4.) Several books by Greg Pak including War Machine, and Battlestar Gallactica.

Looking forward to digging in.

UPDATE: From comments:

Hey man, give props to your own Atlantic Food Section. Got some great food and writing there.

Point taken. And yes. Yes we do. Now if we can only get an Iphone app...