I have been treated to a full week of of top-down driving weather, which shows no signs of abating. Rhonda and I went to a Halloween party last night with some old friends, and we had a great time. Sometimes you just have to sit back and enjoy the weekend.

Bellview Winery’s Merlot

Much to the chagrin of Paul Giamatti’s character in Sideways, Miles Raymond, Bellview Winery’s most recent wine on tap is a Merlot. It’s got a light, effervescent note on the tongue upon first sip, with a nice fruity finish. Got a growler for the week waiting in the pantry.

Breathink

Breathink is an outliner and research/writing tool for macOS. It’s a different bird in a number of ways from other outliners I’ve tried. It’s document-based, offers multiple views, and supports both notes. Breathink’s writing mode is a unique twist in the outliner space; you can select a node and pull the text into a separate editing pane, where you can more fully develop your thoughts. There’s no trial version, but for 10USD, I thought I’d give it a try.

Bar Keeper’s Friend

I upgraded my New York Times subscription recently; I had a super-cheap student subscription from the brief time I took classes and Kean University for a certification, and the Times finally wised up to the fact that I hadn’t been a student for a pretty long time (I finished the coursework/program just before the pandemic hit).

The price for my account went up to about 28 bucks a month, but I was able to get the family account, which includes the Wirecutter and Cooking sections, for four more dollars. So I took the plunge so dad and I could share on the up and up, and Rhonda could get the Cooking section.

I didn’t know that the Wirecutter was so focused on cleaning products, but in dutifully scanning the news in bed with my iPad mini each Saturday and Sunday morning, I saw an article about restoring your kitchenware with Bar Keeper’s Friend.

Oxalic Acid to the rescue! I ran a few errands this morning (whisky, gas for the Miata, and a prescription) and stopped by the local ShopRite to pick up a couple of things. While there, I grabbed a can of Bar Keeper’s Friend. As soon as I got home, I hit my beloved 10” Calphalon skillet with some of the stuff, and it’s like a new pan.