Woohoo! Surprise package!

I know this will forever ruin my carefully manicured cool image <*shut it, Spork*>, but I love getting packages in the mail. If I get one that I know is coming, life is good. If I get an unexpected package, life becomes almost unbearably great. So imagine my utter joy when I went to the post office to pick up a package that I knew was coming (because I ordered it) and got a bonus package to boot! I ripped into that bad boy so hard that the padding from the enviro-friendly envelope flew out and stuck all over my dark blue shirt. It was worth it, though, because the package contained a new cookbook!

The book was Swedish Cakes and Cookies by Melody Favish, sent to me by Swedish friend, Christina.



I've bugged Christina for Swedish recipes from time to time, so she's well aware of my cookbook habit (addiction just seems like such a harsh word).

The book is filled with pictures and recipes for all sorts of delightful cookies, little pastries, cakes and sweet breads. I've already picked my first experiment, a braided sweet bread made with cottage cheese and orange zest, drizzled with a powdered sugar glaze. Yum!

Sort of a book review

I just finished reading one of the most disturbing books I have ever encountered, John Grisham's The Innocent Man. Normally I don't read true crime books, but my sister (another bookworm) recommended it, so I gave it a chance. I read a lot and I read some pretty macabre fiction, but this is one of the few books that has given me nightmares.

For the uninitiated, it is the story of several men wrongly convicted of capital crimes in Ada, Oklahoma, and their struggle to be released from prison. The main character, Ron Williamson was innocent and had also previously been declared mentally incompetent by the state, yet he was still tried for capital murder (with no real evidence) and given the death penalty. He spent ten years on death row before finally being released.

I have always thought along the same lines that all the men in this book did: if you are innocent and you tell the truth, everything will work out in the end. Not so, apparently. Even after DNA evidence cleared two of these men, the district attorney was still working on ways to re-convict them. How could it possibly be better to the DA to have the wrong person in prison rather than to just admit he was wrong? What a twisted logic.

I am glad that I read the book and it is definitely a story that needed to be told, but I can't say that I enjoyed it. I do have a renewed respect for The Innocence Project and the people in the legal system who were willing to stand up and do what was right. But my belief that justice will eventually prevail has definitely been shaken.

Lawyer up, if you ever find yourself being questioned. Lawyer up fast. That is what I learned.