Last night was a rare treat. After I’d put in a marathon over the past 72 hours, building building sites for Sostevinobile on the Web, Facebook and here, the Ginkgo Girl cooked dinner. After 10 consecutive days of variants on the leftovers from the turkey and other delectables I had whipped up for our Christmas dinner party, her stir-fried shrimp was a welcome respite, albeit an extra-spicy one.

Not that she wasn’t well aware of how many Thai chili peppers she had tossed into the wok. Knowing how spicy foods tend to create a cascade of perspiration streaming from my gleaming pate, she asked, in her typically unpretentious manner, “Do you want a glass of wine?”

“That’s like asking ‘do I want to breathe?’” I replied. Actually, it took 2½ glasses of 2006 Markham Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc to quell the heat.

I’m readying a new batch of homemade limoncello this afternoon, then heading off to Macworld.