I had a long list of girl names and named Sophie in about 4 seconds flat but for some reason boy names always escape me. My first cat also went through a half dozen names before my best friend/college roommate said "how about Basil?". We were both big Basil Rathbone/Sherlock Holmes fans so that was perfect. When she got a black and white kitten a short time later, she named him Nigel after Nigel Bruce. Basil and Nigel were best buddies--until I moved away. I think Basil will always be my most perfect cat name ever.

You know, I don't think I ever had spaghetti that wasn't in a box (it came with a can of sauce and a packet of cheese) or a can when I was a kid. But I know what you mean about getting a craving every now and then. I still get mine for Swanson's Chicken Pot Pies. They are so full of sodium that I'm drinking a gallon of water later and I swear they're a quarter of the size they used to be but every so often...

And I have a ton of cookbooks but the two I use the most are one for diabetics (the recipes are low fat and low sugar and really good) and the other is this binder than has all the recipes I've collected from websites or magazines or friends. I love it! I think my real love of cooking got jump-started after my first trip to Italy. My Italian friend in Milan introduced us to some excellent Italian food--the really fresh, light stuff, not the lasagna's or heavy tomato sauce stuff--and I've been enjoying cooking ever since.

I just hope I can do that ball of twine prompt justice. I really liked that motorcycle trip prompt too and I also can't wait to see what mingsmommy comes up with but whatever it is, I know it'll be good. I'm so glad you guys did this ficathon. The brasslove comm needed a kick in the shorts and this is just the thing. And you've gotten a great response. So much Brass love and so many fics for us to enjoy!