Thursday update

– I’m hungry for lasagna today. When I was teaching at the U of M in the late ’90s, one of my students felt sorry for me because I didn’t have a wife or girlfriend, and brought me a pan of homemade lasagna – the best I’ve ever had. She used real ricotta and mozarella cheese, and sausage rather than just plain old ground beef. I have yet to find an Italian restaurant in town that even approaches that incredible lasagna. But, there are a lot of Italian places I’ve never tried. Any recommendations?

– Maybe I can convince one of my neighbors, who recently proved her ability at cooking Italian food, to give lasagna a try.

– There was an article on the Memphis Business Journal’s website that the crawfish harvest is about 30% of what it was last year. I hope that doesn’t negatively affect the two local crawfish festivals, which are both coming up. The midtown one usually happens the first weekend in April, and the downtown one, the third weekend.

– The Memphis in May Music Fest line-up has been announced. Here it is.

– Every year, Memphis in May honors a particular country, and holds international-themed events the week between Music Fest and BBQ Fest. This year’s honoree is Costa Rica. I need to lobby the Memphis in May organization to select Romania as next year’s country. One of the top Memphis in May people has a plate on the wall at the downtown Saucer, and if he hung out there at all between July and October of last year, he may already be familiar with what a wonderful place Romania is.

– And speaking of Memphis in May… kind of early to announce this, but since I’m on the topic already… I’m accepting invitations to tents at BBQ Fest. E-mail paul@paulryburn.com to respond. I’m not ashamed to use this blog for personal gain. I’ll probably repeat the announcement a few more times between now and mid-May.

– NCAA tournament tonight: (1) Memphis vs. (13) Bradley. Estimated tip-off is 6:27 pm. I’ve got an appointment to get a haircut after work, then after that I’ll probably head to a bar and watch the game. Probably I’ll be at the Saucer, unless I don’t like the beer they have on Fire Sale, in which case I’ll be at Sleep Out’s.

– And that’s it for now… time to fulfill my ultimate purpose in life, which is of course sitting in a cubicle all day. Back tomorrow, unless I have a heart attack and die from all the excitement.