Bliss

Twenty-five years later, it is hard to recall a time before the rumors and accusations. A time before athletes competed without suspicion hovering around each record-setting performance. A time before sprinters and swimmers had to share the sports page with the likes of nandrolone and stanozolol. The 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, it seems, were the last innocent Summer Games before the dawn of the steroid era.

For many couples, the financial crisis has come down to a test. How good are they at tackling tough money issues? The question for Lorne Epstein is this: business or pleasure? His wife, Alicia Korten, planned to take about a month off to recharge after more than a year of 80-hour workweeks at the consulting firm ReNual while writing a book called "Change Philanthropy." Joining her on the trip would cost him about $2,000.

When my parents sold their home of 30 years, they followed AARP guidelines and New York state law and retired to Florida. Bad luck conspired with even worse weather, and they arrived at their new house a full day before their furniture. Tired and hungry, not a table or chair or even a box in sight, my mother served takeout lunch in a bright and spacious room, all sleek tile and custom cabinets, tall windows and wide skylights, and the deciding factor -- a comfy, built-in banquette.

Spoiled Stories Caitlin Macy Random House: 240 pp., $24 Writers often seem arrogant, looking down on humans from their lofty perches, ivory towers or righteous margins. You can almost hear them chuckling at the calisthenics they put us through: Should we trust this narrator? Do we like this or that character? Sometimes, as in most of the stories in this collection, the chuckling is too loud.

Dear SOS: The best cookies I've ever had -- ever, anywhere -- are the ooey-gooey double-chocolate cookies at Milk. Can you persuade them to part with the recipe? Meghan Rose Los Angeles Dear Meghan: Have your napkins and a big glass of milk at the ready for this recipe. Three types of chocolate are folded into this rich cookie dough, which is baked just long enough for each cookie to set up on the outside while remaining oh so "ooey-gooey" inside. Messy? Yes, but perfectly so.

Pssst, China -- got a secret. Shannon Boxx isn't as scary as she looks. The U.S. women's national soccer team plays China at the Home Depot Center on Saturday. It might surprise China's team to know that Boxx, a U.S. defensive midfielder whose tackles can terrify, who shoots to kill, whose forehead is weirdly resilient (remember that game-winner she headed past you in January?) is, get this, a laugher. "I've just been enjoying myself so much," Boxx said after a recent practice.

The guys at the roofing supply company in Santa Ana are always giving co-worker Cynthia Richardson the business. What is it with you and inmates? Her boyfriend is a felon and she writes him every day. She's been writing to another guy, a lifer in Folsom, for seven years. Framed pictures of them in prison garb are on a shelf behind her desk. One of her sons just got out of Tehachapi. The other will be sentenced next month. She has a couple of friends in Theo Lacy in Orange County.

TODAY marks the start of Eid al-Fitr, a three-day holiday signaling the end of Ramadan, Islam's holiest month. According to culinary historian and former Times food writer Charles Perry, " 'Fitr,' or the 'breaking of fast,' is traditionally associated with sweets." We've compiled three recipes to commemorate the holiday.