Short reviews.

ITEM: Pumpkin Seed Brittle.
PROVENANCE: Trader Joe's

I bought this confection today on a whim, which is pretty much the conditions under which I buy lots of things at Trader Joe's. Witness: today's purchase of breaded cod pieces and "Handsome" cut fries.

Re the cod and fries: I was starving, point one. Point two, they were giving away samples. They cut a tiny paper plate in half and put a bite of the cod with, like, six fries and a tiny fork of some delicious, delicious sauce. So I took this sample on its tiny half plate and ate it. Lord, those fries were good. Handsome? Hell, those fries were ravishing. Whatever that sauce was? On its tiny fork? Adorable. Delectable. And yes, the cod was very good. Ergo: I bought it, a package of each, and I will dole these items out to myself on dark, dark days when something delicious will probably save my life. I'm just forecasting here. Winter's around the corner.

The brittle, however, they were not giving samples of. I just saw it and had this thought process:

1. Pumpkin seed brittle: I have made pumpkin seed brittle before. Pumpkin seed brittle is good.
2. Soon it will be October. October = pumpkins. That's why everything--literally EVERYTHING--at Trader Joe's is currently pumpkin-flavored.
3. What the hell, why not?

Reader, I bought it. I ripped into it tonight after our delicious salad dinner. The brittle had a faint dust of something a little pumpkin-y, which I divined from the words on the package was actually pumpkin pie spices. While I had it stuck in my teeth in the way of all brittle, I said to the historian, 'You should try this, it's good.' He tried it. He concurred.

GRADE: A-, small points off for the the pumpkin pie spices which might be just a bridge too far. But not too big a bridge. Also, I am an easy grader. Okay, A.

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ITEM: Law & Order reruns.
PROVENANCE: Sundance channel

There was no good reason whatsoever to be watching L&O reruns tonight, except for the following:

1. The Grantland article which rated all the L&O characters by category: Best D. A. (Jack McCoy, aka Sam Waterston, with Ben Stone, aka Michael Moriarty coming in second, a result I may disagree with, as I have always been a fan of the Moriarty years); Best Assistant D.A., Jill Hennessey, obviously; right on down to Best Detective, a decisive victory for Jerry Orbach, Lt. Lennie Briscoe. You really can't argue with that.
2. There wasn't anything else good on.

In the episode we watched, I called it, that it was the professor/scientist carrying out drug trials on rats and students who was really to blame for the murder (sorry, spoiler alert, in case you were also watching that episode but didn't catch the end). I like when I can spot the evildoer. It was a fairly cozy affair, our L&O watch party, as it resulted in a small nap under a faux fur.

GRADE: B. I feel like Law & Order is a solid B student. You come to appreciate the B students, because they are very reliable, but they never try too hard.

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ITEM: the new Don Henley LP Cass County
PROVENANCE: a song sung on The Late Show, now hosted by Stephen Colbert!

I only caught, like, 45 seconds of this. So, you know, this review might be based on inadequate evidence.

GRADE: C. Not as good as 'The Boys of Summer.'