We decided to go out for breakfast instead of dinner for valentine's day this year, so of course we are feeling unbearably smug, since all the reports are that any decent restaurant in our town is booked solid tonight.

Last night, valentines' eve, I made a batch of my famous granola, and a cheesecake, from Ruth Reichl's New York Cheescake recipe - and there must be a valentineish, cheescakey zeitgeist in the air - there was a kid on the bus behind me, coming home, having a cell phone conversation - "and you should grab some cheesecake" and "if Sarah or Randy stop by for any reason, their stuff's on the table, and give them some cheesecake, too".