alexist

As you all know, I'm anti-Tesco. Won't shop there except in an emergency.

On the other hand, I always feel a huge amount of guilt about it because it is (or was) a Jewish company: the founder was Jack Cohen. (Who lived in Finchley, right near Kinloss synagogue, for decades, after Tesco profits let him leave Clapton.) Even though I know that it's now a plc, and that moreover profit on the shares enriches Shirley Porter (who not only gerrymandered Westminster but then hid her money and moved to Israel to avoid paying; a shanda fur de goyim if ever there was one) I still have this "letting down the side" feeling.

Oh well. Still got M&S. :) (There's even a Jewish primary school in Stoke Newington named after Simon Marks.) And Philip Green is Jewish, though he's another shanda as far as I'm concerned: his salary goes to his wife so he won't pay tax on it!

(We won't get into Lord Levy. Who doesn't live far from me, by the way, and the hall at Mill Hill synagogue is named for his parents.)

(By the way, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Jewish-British_people is interesting, though sometimes not in a good way. Can we de-claim Mick Hucknall?)

(I've been reading the new book about Shirley Porter, in case you're wondering what brought this on.)

i'm having too much fun with the El Jay Icon Maker. Especially the Firefox extension. Not sure how well the one-step works but "make icon with options" works great--it uploads it and everything. :)

(although the Jewish one required a bit of help from Photoshop, as the original was long and narrow. I spotted a crop option afterwards, but I have no idea how well it works.)

Julie Powell (who had this blog/project about cooking everything from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which was then turned into a book) now has a column in the New York Times Magazine.

I hate it. The prose is overblown, in a bad food porn way. It's sub-Nigella (and that's saying something). I don't hate Amanda Hesser as much as some people do (though I don't particularly rate her either), but I'd beg to bring her back after this one.

And you know what, Julie, I don't CARE if you separated from your husband. Call me a heartless bitch, but I don't read the food column to learn about the writer's relationship problems.