A Few Of My Favorite Things

Oprah ain’t the only black woman struggling with her weight who has a favorite things list. The difference is, you can afford the stuff on mine. I just finished a 30 day detox fast during which time I ate no solid food so forgive me if said list includes lots of foodstuffs.

1)      Comic strips. I cannot start my day without reading “For Better or For Worse,” “Boondocks,” “Luann” and an assortment of other comics I have delivered to my inbox daily.

2)      Half a cheese steak with everything including hots, an order of fries with saltpeppaketchup (as we say in Bmore) and a half and half, which is half-lemonade, half iced tea for those not in the know.

3)      Novels by intelligent, talented female authors. Tops on that list has got to be Laura Lippman and Megan Abbott . If you see either of their names on a book cover, buy it immediately. In the interest of full disclosure, Laura and I go way back and she is my rabbi when it comes to mystery writing. I was blessed to read about Tess Monaghan before the rest of the world and every year Laura’s writing gets better and better which hardly seems fair or possible. But I can’t hate on her because she is one of the nicest, smartest, and most gracious people you would ever want to meet. Thank goodness she is also as talented an editor as she is a writer or else I never would have made it into Baltimore Noir. I am indebted to her for her continuing support and she knows I love her to pieces. As for Ms. Megan, I almost lost a friend cause I blew her off to finish Die A Little and I eagerly anticipate her next book. She too is a sweetheart and her writing is so brilliant that it leaves me breathless.

4)      Popeye’s biscuits slathered with melted butter. If the Lord made anything better than a Popeye’s biscuit, he must have kept it for himself.

5)      The Law & Order franchise. I have every episode of L & O: Criminal Intent except one on tape and I am usually glued to the screen during a marathon even though I have seen almost every episode dozens of times. My husband says it is an illness but if loving L & O is wrong…

6)      Crab meat in any form except imitation.

7)      My sistafriends.

8)      Pajamas fresh from the dryer on a cold winter’s day.

9)      Books, books and more books.

10)  Saturdays.