Had a near disaster last night. I tried to remove the Iomega drivers from my computer (I suspect they've been causing some problems and my Zip drive hasn't been used since like 2003), and my computer crashed hard. "Inaccessible boot device." Yes, the drivers for a freaking Zip drive entangle themselves with your system in such a way that they become mandatory to use the machine. I couldn't find a Windows 2000 CD, but I was able to use the recovery console on a Windows XP disk. Unfortunately, this system uses a proprietary RAID controller, so I had to track down the drivers for that and a floppy disk to load them during boot. Thank heavens I had a spare computer to download the drivers. Things are back to the way they were, and the Iomega drivers are still installed.

I made a vegan stir-fry for dinner. Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, corn, green beans, green onions, water chestnuts, garlic, yakisoba noodles and tofu, served over rice. I made my own sauce using the yakisoba flavor packet, some Stir Fry Sauce and Wok Oil from House of Tsang, sesame seed oil and some low-sodium soy sauce, and the rice was flavored with seasoned rice wine vinegar.

For dessert tonight I made a tea brack. It's sort of a cross between a fruitcake and a loaf of bread. It's lighter than fruitcake and a bit tart. Very tasty! (You can get dried currants from most supermarkets, just find the raisins and prunes and they should be nearby.)

Soak 2 cups of dried currants in 3/4 cup cold brewed tea and 1 cup of brown sugar for at least 12 hours. Beat 2 eggs and mix in. Mix together 2 cups AP flour, 1-1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp ground allspice and 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg (and optionally, the zest of 1/2 a lemon), then fold into the currant mixture. Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake at 300F for 90 minutes.