Over dinner last night, talk turned to food quirks. For rational or completely irrational reasons, we all have certain foods that we refuse to eat, make us queasy, or just plain gross us out. Maybe it’s too sweet, too salty, you don’t like the consistency, you refuse to eat animals, they look weird, it smells too fishy, or it smells like feet. I’ve heard a lot of excuses, and we’re all entitled to feel however we want about these foods. I’m always fascinated when people say they won’t eat something, and I love to probe them for the true reasons behind their dislikes. Why don’t you like it? Do you not like the taste? Did you have a bad experience with it? Are you allergic? Are there health reasons behind it? I just need to know why. Over the course of dinner, we reviewed the Lovely Suse’s well documented dislike of cooked fruit (or any fruit in anything other than it’s “natural state”), cake (not including Carvel), pie (not including pumpkin), peas (the afore mentioned “they smell like feet”), and raisins (”they smell like poop”). We also explored the Lovely Suse’s mom’s hatred of honey, strawberries, fruit cups, chocolate covered strawberries, some unfortunate run-ins with pork, and a number of other amusing quirks.

I struggled to come up with something, anything, that I won’t eat, and I couldn’t think of anything. Could I possibly be food-quirk free?

I certainly wasn’t always this way. Growing up, my favorite vegetable was probably ketchup. Coming in a close second was probably peas, but that’s where it ended. Personally, I don’t think it was my fault, nor my mom’s fault. Those were the days where the only known method for cooking and serving vegetables was to boil them until soft and then serve them plain, without any seasoning. Otherwise, they were fresh from the freezer and cooked in the microwave. I’m guessing that there are entire generations of kids who grew up hating vegetables solely for this reason. We just didn’t know any better.

I wouldn’t eat tomatoes, despised mustard, wouldn’t eat fish (other than “fish cakes”), never really ate pork other than the pork strips at the Chinese restaurant, avoided the lamb with mint jelly at all costs, and generally was a big pain in the ass.

As I grew older, I eventually learned to appreciate vegetables and seafood, and when I began cooking for myself in college, a whole new world of eating opened up to me. Still, I wasn’t without my quirks. There was the whole ill-advised stretch of three years post-college that I went without eating a single bite of red meat or pork. It began as a health choice, but then became just a badge of arrogance that I liked to tell girls. Oh look at me, I’m so special and health-conscious! Please date me! What the hell was I thinking? I understand that it’s healthier to eat a diet low in meat and high in fruits and vegetables and whole grains blah blah blah, and that’s pretty much the diet that I still follow. Everything in moderation. But I had to keep that three year streak alive for some stupid reason. Thank god I came to my senses. Just think of all of the delicious things I would have missed out on: bacon, ribs, braised pork belly, slow-roasted leg of lamb, cheeseburgers, salumi, the list goes on and on. I understand vegetarians and people who choose certain diets for moral reasons. I don’t count that as a quirk. That’s a lifestyle choice. But refusing a bite of something for some funny-sounding reason? That’s a quirk.

So back to the original problem: Is there anything that I now won’t eat? I’m sure there are plenty of exotic foods in foreign lands that I probably wouldn’t be very excited to eat, but I would at least try them (assuming that there was no direct health threat). I definitely have quirks in terms of eating good quality foods and only certain foods when they’re in season. For instance just because I don’t want to eat Velveeta doesn’t mean I don’t like cheese. And that certainly doesn’t mean that I won’t eat it. I would just prefer to eat something that is, in my mind, “better” (yes, I am aware that sounds incredibly snobby, which it is). Or I’ll only eat strawberries and blueberries and all summer fruits and berries when they’re in season. Not only do they have no flavor at other parts of the year, there’s the whole environmental impact that I take into consideration (And yes, I’m fully anticipating trying to explain to a three year old why we don’t buy watermelon in January even though it’s sitting there in the store). But, if served at some one else’s house, I would certainly eat them. I would never refuse something that some one else has made for me, as they’ve been generous enough to invite me into their home. I don’t really love turnips or rutabagas, but would eat them if cooked well. Turnips and rutabagas. That’s all I could think of. Seriously?

So what are your food quirks? Or better yet, what do you think that I wouldn’t eat? The really interesting thing to see is which of her parents the Lovely Tess will take after? Will she torture her mom by loving her mashed peas or drive me crazy by complaining that her raisin bran smells like poop? I’m guessing she’ll come up with her own set of unique quirks which while drive us both completely insane.

• I’m frigging tired this morning. Not because the Lovely Tess woke us up, but because George had to go out a bunch of times in the middle of the night. Not a good way to start the day. Then, as soon as I left the house to go for a run at 5:15am, it started raining and never stopped. I just kept going anyways. Then George puked. Twice. Happy Monday morning!
• This was a continuation of my good fortune from last night. First, the chicken we had bought the previous day at Whole Foods was completely spoiled. Like, rancid smelling. If it wasn’t already so late, I would have brought it back and made them smell it and then make them give me a million dollars for trying to poison me. We had to recover and made grilled shrimp to go with our quinoa salad, and of course, halfway through grilling, I ran out of propane. What the hell? This does not bode well for the rest of the week.
• Nearly four years after getting married, we finally ordered a wedding album from Blurb. After sifting through 1400 proofs, we had picked photos a couple of years ago, but never felt the desire to spend a couple of thousand dollars on an “official” album. We have all of the original digital proofs, so why couldn’t we do it ourselves? We’ll see how this one comes out. For $35, it’s worth finding out, right?
• The Lovely Tess happily slept through another meal out at Jose’s despite her being all fussy and crying while waiting for a table. Our luck continues, but I don’t expect this to last for long.
• To quote the Lovely Suse on Saturday night’s pizza night: “This is the best crust you’ve ever made.” A modified dough recipe, a modified cooking method, and a much shorter dough fermentation gave me this. Basically, I simplified everything, and it just worked. I guess sometimes, simpler is better. Plus, I acquired a Laser Thermometer for cheap and figured out that after heating up my pizza stone for an hour, it got to 550 degrees. At that point, by firing up the broiler for a while, I could get it up to 640. Nice.
• A lovely day on the Cape with Mark, Maureen, and Andrew.
• I was astounded last week at some new technology at a localStop & Shop. They have these new Easy Pay scanners when you walk in the door, which work like this: You scan your Stop & Shop card, and one of the scanners on the kiosk lights up. You grab it, along with some bags, and start shopping. As you take things off the shelf, you scan it, and put it in your bag. The scanner keeps a running total of what’s in your cart, and if you decide that you don’t want something, you scan it again to remove it, As you stroll around the store, it alerts you of special prices on items nearby. When you’re done shopping, you go to any checkout line, including the self-checkout lanes, scan a bar code on the register, scan your card again, and then pay and walk out. You’ve already bagged your groceries as you go, so no time is wasted. It worked incredibly well, was simple and fun to use, and streamlined the entire shopping process. I think they need to open dedicated Easy Pay checkout lanes to speed things up even more, but otherwise, I have no complaints. The future is now!
• After a two month wait, I finally got my new passport. They’re all digital now, which is pretty cool. I’m pretty sure the government can track me with satellites now.
• I got a haircut on Saturday at Salon de Paris, which happens to be within walking distance of our house. While I like my hair as it gets a little longer, I like it more when it’s shorter. I’m just lazy and don’t feel like getting it cut, plus, I haven’t been able to find a place to get it cut. After first growing my hair out, I realized the difference between a salon cut and a barber cut, and I can never go back to a barber. Still, it seemed ridiculous to pay a lot to cut my hair, so I’ve ended up going to a bunch of places over the years, trying to find a place nearby and not overly fancy or expensive. Luckily, the place closest to my house turned out to be the least expensive, could take me on a moment’s notice, gave me a great cut. Sold. Maybe I’ll start getting it cut every two months now instead of every three.

• We went to see our first movie in about a year on Saturday night, and it was a good one. Along with all of the kids, we saw Ratatouille, and it was every bit as great as everything I had read. Without a doubt, it’s the best food movie I’ve ever seen. The animation is, obviously, incredible as always, but it’s the detail that went into the kitchen and the food that is just so impressive. Most movies that show restaurant kitchens are completely unrealistic, but the detail and accuracy that they put into this one is just freaky. I know the Pixar folks spent lots of time in famous restaurants in Paris, and they certainly paid attention. The love they showed towards food makes it very apparent that the writers were obviously food lovers, and the passion oozes through the screen. I know this is a kid’s movie, but this is as much for adults as the little ones. Kids aren’t going to understand what saffron or leeks or Chateau Latour or beurre blanc are, nor will they notice the little details like how the food critics typewriter looks like a skull and his office is shaped like a coffin, but they just like watching the rats cooking. It’s these details that make me want to see it again, the sooner the better. I’m guessing that we’re going to be watching this one again and again and again in our house.
• For the first time in about two years, we didn’t make chicken on Sunday. Instead, we had it on Saturday. The world is still turning, so apparently, the world is not coming to an end.
• The Lovely Tess passes the two month mark this week, so the Lovely Suse is back to work, part-time. How the hell did 8 weeks pass already? It seems like just yesterday we were changing diapers and burping her and entertaining her in her bouncy seat. Oh wait, that was yesterday.
• Summer TV is just terrible. There’s nothing on our Tivo right now, not even any bad reality shows. There’s just nothing worthwhile on right now, other than Man vs. Wild. In last week’s episode, while stuck in a sudden blizzard in the Scottish Highlands, Bear makes a shelter for himself by skinning a deer and using its hide as a blanket. That dude is badass.
• Steve-O has a blog! Oh, and he has a company too.
• An update on the organic lawn and garden care: the grass is still mostly nice and green. It’s thick and lush, and weed free for the most part. I’ve finally outsmarted the cord with the electric mower, and I have yet to run it over. The crabgrass is starting to appear, and on the side of the driveway, I’m just going to let it go. At least it’s green. On the other side, I’ll pull it out and try to keep it from spreading. Also, we have about 30 jet star tomatoes growing, along with hundreds of super sweet 100’s on the vines. The basil has finally taken off, and the oregano has taken over half of the garden. We’ll have to do something about that next year.
• And obviously, as seen above, Gigi likes beer.

Finally, at long last, the post you’ve all been waiting for. Behold the Fridge, Part 2! Sorry it took so long, but we had this little thing called Tess, which has taken up some of our time. Although this photo was taken two months ago, our fridge looks pretty similar. Some of the produce has changed, but for the most part, we’ve managed to keep things nice and tidy. No, our fridge isn’t filled with takeout containers (yet), and yes, we’ve managed to continue cooking like we always have been. Granted, we’ve had to eat some meals with one hand, but Tess has been pretty cooperative so far. So let’s get started.

We’ll start at the top left and work our way across and down. At the far left is the ever-present Brita pitcher. We recently changed the filter on this, as I think it had been about a year since we had last done that. And that’s being generous. I’m not crazy about having to drink filtered water, as our own water is actually very good. For me, the pitcher is more about having cold water in the fridge at all times, and we certainly don’t buy bottled water.

Next, Trader Joe’s Free Range Organic Chicken broth. Sure, it would be nice to have fresh homemade chicken stock on hand at all times, but we know that this is just impractical. We always have boxes of this in the pantry, and they last about a week in the fridge after being opened. Good stuff.

Susie’s tomato sauce is the only jarred sauce we use. We make and jar one big batch around Christmas time (certain family members now demand it for gifts), and the 12 or so jars of it last us almost an entire year. We just don’t use tomato sauce on a regular basis, but when we have a hankering for spaghetti and meatballs or eggplant parm or two minute squid, this is what we use.

We now move to the breakfast zone. We start with Westsoy Organic Plain Soy Milk (unless I accidentally buy the vanilla flavor, which I recently did because the packages are almost identical), which we use for our cereal and pretty much nothing else. For any sort of recipe or ice cream making, we use real milk. Along with the soy milk is cranberry juice and Trader Joe’s Calcium Fortified Orange Juice. Not too much to say about those. We drink them. They’re tasty in the morning.

Moving down to the second shelf, on the right side are our fresh herbs. I know it looks like a mess, but these are bags with parsley, cilantro, mint, and scallions, which we buy every week. As long as we have fresh herbs in the house, we’re never more than 10 minutes from a simple and easy dinner. We’ve been experimenting with keeping these in a vase on the counter with varying success. If it’s too humid and warm, they tend to wilt. If it’s on the cooler side, they seem to do ok. We’ve kept basil alive and healthy for weeks like this, whereas in the fridge, it lasts about a day. Weird.

We don’t drink much soda, but but we usually have some sort in the fridge for certain occasions. I think we’ll share about one per week, usually this San Pellegrino Limonata Soda. It’s a lemon soda that’s nice and refreshing and not too sweet. I try to ignore that it has high fructose corn syrup along with the sugar, one of the few things in the house that has it. Oh well. We can’t be perfect.

Ah, the Ensures. These no longer have a place in our fridge. The Lovely Suse was drinking these while pregnant for some extra calories, and I have to say, they weren’t half bad. Sort of like chocolate milk. I’m sure she doesn’t miss them.

Next to them is a Low Fat Stonyfield Organic Vanilla yogurt. This is what I use in our frozen yogurt, so we always have these on hand. When I think of it, I’ll buy the full fat Stonyfield Vanilla Yogurt, which adds an extra creaminess to the final product. I have to start buying those again.

Behind that is the ever-present box of baking soda. Is there a single fridge in the world without this? I need to come up with an idea of something that you need to keep in your fridge that you never do anything with. I’ll convince people that it keeps your food fresher or something. There’s my million dollar idea. Don’t steal it.

The slideout shelf below that is a weird one. I’m not exactly sure what it’s supposed to be for, as it has no door on the front of it. We end up keeping our cheese there, along with leftover bits of tomato or lemons or onions. This is where things tend to get forgotten, so we’ll fish out some nasty moldy rinds of cheese every so often. In this case, it holds half of a tomato (unsliced tomatoes stay out on the counter since putting them in the fridge pretty much kills their flavor), a block of our current favorite cheese, Brebis Ossau Black Label, and a block of Whole Foods 365 Monterry Jack cheese, used for making quesadillas or enchiladas.

Below that is a little space that always contains tortillas, both corn and flour. Corn for our tacos and flour for quesadillas and enchiladas. We’ve been buying La Banderita brand tortillas for a couple of years now, which we love.

The sad looking shelf to the right contains leftovers of two-minute squid, one of our usual go-to meals. Apparently, only one of us needed leftovers that day, since we both usually take them for lunch.

The cleanup and maintainance of our fruit drawer has been a recent occurance. We always have tons of fruit in there, and much of it would be going bad or already be rotten. With bags and bags of fruit, it was hard to keep track of it all, and stuff would inevitably get buried and forgotten. Recently, we started getting ridofthe bags and keeping the fruit in there on its own. That way, we can see what everything is, and as soon as it gets past ripe, we chuck it. We clear it out on a weekly basis, and the drawer still looks like this to this day. This photo was taken before summer fruit season kicked in, so all we had in it was lemons, limes, and pears. I think we bought pears for about 2 weeks after ditching bananas and oranges for the rest of the warm months and before the peaches and plums and nectarines started showing up. We usually only have apples in there during apple season, when we’re loaded up with local macouns.

Finally, the vegetable drawer. We’ve gotten pretty good at only buying what we’re going to use that week, so this drawer stays pretty lean. Radishes, carrots, baby japanese cucumbers, fennel, and corn. I don’t know why I bought corn so early in the season, but I think I just needed a dose of summer. The frightening thing is that I’m pretty sure I can tell you what we made for dinner that week based on what’s in there. Obviously the two-minute squid was one meal. We must have made enchiladas that week as well. And then probably grilled salmon with a radish, fennel, and cucumber salad. I’m not sure about the other meal, but I just realized that was the week before Tess was born. Funny.

So there you have it. Our fridge. It’s a nice fridge. It doesn’t do anything fancy. No ice maker or water dispenser. It keeps the food cold. So what’s in your fridge?

• I’m sure I’m going to jinx ourselves, but seeing as it’s now been 5 days in a row, and I guess that makes a trend… but the Lovely Tess has been sleeping through the night. The first time it happened was a bit of a shock, with us waking up and trying to remember if we had gotten up or not. And then of course going to see if she was still breathing. She was indeed still breathing, and woke up with a big smile on her face, obviously well-rested from a full night of sleep. It was nothing compared to the size of the smile on our faces. I fully don’t expect this to continue, but we’ll enjoy it while it lasts.
• You know what’s tasty? Kettle Corn. It’s salty, it’s sweet, it’s crunchy, it’s everything good. I’m enjoying the all-natural variery from Popcorn Indiana, and George goes completely insane when the bag is out. None for the puppy though.
• Saturday was one of those days that we’ve talked about having for a very long time, but we never seemed to have been able to pull it off before. We started out with our first visit of the year to Sergi Farm, where Tess was a big hit, we talked with the farmers for a while, they went out into the cornfields and picked an ear of corn for us to try (which is better raw than any other corn i’ve ever had), they gave us a potted tomato plant to take home, gave us some zucchini flowers, we picked flowers, bought the biggest head of broccoli i’ve ever seen along with a giant head of lettuce, zucchini, grean beans, and bunches of herbs (which they go cut from the fields upon request), and generally had a fantastic time. After loading up, we headed over to Formaggio to pick up stuff for lunch, and then headed over to Beaver Brook Reservation. It’s right in our town, and we’ve been meaning to get over there since we moved in, but we always seem to forget about it. We wandered around the paths, picked a big shady tree to picnic under, and then George spent the next hour running and playing off-leash. It’s dog-central over there, and I think he had more fun than I’ve ever seen him have. We kept him off leash and kept walking around, and he just followed right along with us. We finished the day off with some homemade pizza and a trip to Rancatore’s for some black raspberry ice cream with chocolate jimmies. That, my friends, is an ideal Saturday in our book.
• I’m currently renting a Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens from RentGlass.com. It’s one of the most popular and sought-after Nikon lenses, and now I understand why. It pretty much replaces every lens in my bag, it’s fast, it’s sharp, and pretty much doesn’t miss a shot. Anyone have $800 they want to give me?
• The new season of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares on BBC America. This is the show where Gordon Ramsay goes into failing restaurants, kicks some ass, and saves them from going out of business. I’m guessing that the American version of this show airing on Fox this fall will be completely over the top and he’ll be playing the same “character” as he does on Hell’s Kitchen. In the BBC version, he’s much more real, compassionate, and not acting for the camera and throwing stuff at people. Plus, he gets to curse.
• We made some mussels and frites for dinner on Friday, a meal that we’ve made a number of times over the years. The past few times, however, I’ve been pretty unhappy with my frites, as they haven’t been coming out crispy enough, and get all soggy after a few minutes. Theorizing that my deep fryer is cooking at a lower temperature than it says, my thermometer confirmed it. Unsatisfied with the batch that we made, we put dinner on hold while I went back to the old standby, oil in a pot. The Lovely Suse made the comment that I’d been cutting them much thicker than i used to, so I also modified that. They didn’t get quite the pre-fry soak that they needed, but they still came out a little better. More research and experimentation will have to be done, obviously. We need our crispy frites!

For those of you who didn’t get an official announcement, this one is for you. If you didn’t get one, that just means that we don’t like you.

It’s Thursday, and in our house, that means Farmer’s Market day! The Belmont Farmer’s Market is back and even bigger and better than last year. More vendors, more products, and more good old fashioned small town charm. George and Tess are already celebrities there, and they make new friends every week. We made a vow this year that on Thursdays, our dinner would be made solely from things purchased at the market. Obviously fans of seasonality and local products, this would force us to be a little creative, use only the best of what’s currently available, and really appreciate what the season has to offer.

I’ll be honest, the first couple of weeks were slim pickings. There’s only so much you can do with salad greens and radishes and beets and cucumbers. Sure you can make a nice salad, which we did, but sometimes, you need something a little more filling. The first week we picked up some spicy pork sausages from Stillman’s Farm along with some broccoli rabe from The Farm School and had ourselves a nice little Italian meal. Grilled sausages and sauteed broccoli rabe with garlic and olive oil made a fine meal (we are allowed to use things like olive oil and salt and lemons even though they are not from the market. Cut us some slack, OK?).

Last week, however, Summer finally arrived at the market. The first rasperries for the season (the Lovely Suse wisely convinced me to buy a full pint instead of a half pint after tasting them. They didn’t last long in our house.), blueberries, zucchinis and summer squashes of all sorts, cucumbers, arugula, scallions, fresh herbs, fresh shell peas and snap peas… the list goes on and on. Lucky to be there early enough, we got ourselves a freshly killed organic chicken from Butter Brook Farm. To go with that, we decided on a salad of raw vegetables: thinly sliced golden zucchini, fresh peas, basil from the garden, and fresh mozzarella from Fiore Di Nonno, drizzled with olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper. The chicken was cooked simply on the rotisserie with fresh oregano from the garden, lemon, salt, pepper,and olive oil.

We figured that this type of cooking would be a challenge every week, but with the produce that’s in season right now, the challenge is deciding what to buy from all of the great stuff available. We know we’re lucky to have such a great Farmer’s Market a mile from our house, and it’s great to see it so busy and successful. People must be realizing how great the produce is, and how important it is to support local farmers. Go find your local Farmer’s Market and give it a try!

• Five day weekends are nice. Work is for suckers.
• I got to play with an iPhone on Saturday, and let me tell you, that thing is sooooooo sweet. I want one. Beautiful to look at and hold, slick as all hell, but I couldn’t type worth a damn on it. I guess you must get better with practice, but I think I mis-typed about 20% of the letters. Still, despite all of the whiz-bang ipod features, I think the best thing about it is having the full internet in your pocket all the time. I don’t necessarily need to have my email or stock quotes or weathter information with me wherever I go, and while it’s nice to have your photos, I can live without them. But being able to pull up any piece of information that you want wherever you are is one powerful tool. They just need to get some GPS in that thing for true local info and directions and maps and navigation. Why the hell would they leave that out? Still, once my current wireless contract expires and the next generation comes out and the prices come down, sign me up.
• Speaking of which, I made my own mobile WAP homepage with all of my essential sites. I pretty much only use the internet on my phone when I have a few minutes to kill with nothing better to do (i.e. on the toilet), but it’s nice to have when I need it. Mobile Gmail works very nicely, and even flickr is sort of usable when I need to show people photos of the Lovely Tess.
• We had the hardest time choosing one, but we finally settled on a mobile for the Lovely Tess’ room. There are so many of the flensted mobiles that we loved, but we’re happy with our choice. Still, the pigs and the sheep and the whales and the elephants would have all been fine additions to her room as well. So many of the mobiles that we saw were big ugly plush mechanized beasts that attach to the crib and play music. These hang from the ceiling and constantly move by the slightest movement of air in the room. You can literally sit there for hours watching them move.
• I had my first full steak in about 10 years, and it was pretty tasty. I’ve had bits and pieces of steaks more recently, but this is the first time I’ve sat down to a full-on ribeye staring back at me. Luckily, the man in charge of the grill knows how to properly season and cook one, so it was probably one of the better steaks I’ve ever had. A nice salty charred crust is the key for me, cooked on the medium-rare-ish side. Still, it doesn’t really excite me like a well-cooked piece of fish or a smoked pork butt.
• It’s strangely peaceful running at 5am. Until you hit the first hill and your still-asleep legs remind you that you suck for waking them up so early.
• Nothing says “Monday morning after vacation” like clogging the toilet!
• I now have a cup next to my Jelly Belly machine where I discard all of the flavors that I don’t like. I used to just suck it up and eat them, but why waste my time on crappy flavors? Bubble gum, Tutti Fruitti, peanut butter, and buttered popcorn, I’m talking to you.
• Today is the first official day of the Lovely Suse being the man in charge. Good luck to the Lovely Suse! She will rule with an iron fist!

• I like the fact that I haven’t worn socks for the last two weeks.
• I’ll admit it. I would love to have an IPhone

. I don’t really need it, I barely use an Ipod anymore, I don’t watch movies while running, and I don’t travel much, but I like the idea of having the internet at my fingertips wherever I go. And the thing just looks so slick. Maybe in a couple of years when they release it for other carriers and they’re selling them for cheap and data plans basically come for free, and they work out all of the bugs, then I’ll get one. Maybe.

• I am currently without my chef’s knife as it gets sharpened. I have a good sharpener, and I try to keep up with it as much as I can, but at a certain point of neglect, they get beyond the point where I can sharpen them well. A good professional job is the only way to get back that razor edge. I swear I’ll do a better job of keeping them sharp! I don’t like being without my knives.
• I’ve been watching reruns of Cheers lately, and I’m going to go out on a limb and claim that it’s my favorite sitcom of all time. Twenty years later, the shows still hold up and are just as funny as they were back in the day.
• We’re going to teach Tess to say things with a Brit accent and use Brit terms for food. Things like “tom-ah-toe” and courgette (zucchini), coriander (cilantro), aubergine (eggplant), prawns (shrimp), “it’s the bees knee’s”, “bob’s your uncle”, and “easy peasy”. Luckily, she’s a girl, so she probably won’t get beat up.
• Finally, after a year and a half of “meaning to do it”, we finally ordered radiator covers. When we moved in, only two of the radiators had covers, and they were sort of junky and actually kept the heat from radiating out. After seeing a bunch of one year olds tear around their respective homes, we know that we’re going to need them sooner rather than later, so we might as well order them in the middle of the summer, when no one else is thinking about radiators. The fine folks at Evergreen will have them ready for us within a month.
• I have to give Mark credit for describing my job. Unfortunately, he described my old job. Now, I actually design the chips. I’m willing to bet that 95% of the people who read this regularly think that I’m a professional eater and TV watcher. Still, as a consolation prize, he’ll get to make out with me for 5 minutes.
• Yesterday was the first official day of the reign of the Lovely Suse. I expect her to rule her kingdom with an iron fist!
• Oh, and Tess smiled for the first time last week. Although she held out on me for a while.