We did go out for shabu shabu last night, and it was yummy! It is kind of like fondue - you have your meat or fish or whatever, and you dip in in a pot of, in the case of shabu shabu, boiling water that you can season with garlic and onions and peppery stuff. And at the end you end up with a kind of broth that some places then put miso in and you add noodles to and finish up with soup. Good stuff! And shabu shabu means 'swish swish', which is supposed to be the sound the meat makes as you're swishing it back and forth in the pot to cook it.

I also found out yesterday that my grandmother is in the hospital with an irregular heartbeat - it was fluttering all over the place and she ended up in the emergency room on Sunday. I spoke with her last night and she sounded tired, but fine. So we'll see how this goes and if I have to fly to Dallas on short notice. I really hope she'll be okay, but she is 92, and one never knows.

As for the present that Gordon bought me, it was an iPod. And I did squeal with delight! I've been wanting one for AGES, and probably would not have bought one for a few more years - there are other priorities! After dinner we spent a couple hours loading CDs onto it and playing with it.

In spite of the rice and a dab of ice cream last night, I did pretty well overall for the day yesterday - I'm still down from where I've been the last few weeks, and today is another day.