Just a little creepiness to start the day

Me: "Did you know you're the best thing that ever happened to me?"
Scott: "Lady, as far as I'm concerned, I'm the ONLY thing that ever happened to you."
Me: "Yeah, but... I was born. I grew up."
Scott: "Not without me around."

Twilight Prince...ss?

Me: "They keep calling me Mister Kate."
Scott: "Who is 'they'?"
Me: "The people in town."
Scott: "Why are they calling you Mr. Kate?"
Me: "Because I had my shirt off earlier, and ... apparently I'm a man."
Scott: "Is there something you aren't telling me?"
Me: "I spent all afternoon playing Legend of Zelda."

Raw Nerve

It's been a rough week. Erin and I are trying to get back in the swing of school and homework and responsibilities, she had braces installed on Thursday, I have PMS, the weather is unpredictable, the dog smells like fish oil, and Scott has had evil noxious gas for a week running. I thought to myself, "Self," I thought, "You should do something special for dinner tonight."

So I went to the bookstore and picked out a cookbook for something special. Something that Erin and I both love (not Scott, but really, he can suck it up). Something that takes time and love and artistic intuition. Something raw and spicy.

Then, of course, because it's necessary to do these things right, I had to buy a fancy (read: sharp) new knife. (A certain Nepali who shall remain unnamed used my 8" Santoru as a cleaver and knocked giant chunks out of the previous fancy sharp knife. I also bought a cleaver so that won't happen again.) Also, a bamboo rolling mat. Some new chopsticks. Some soy dipping trays. And a few grocery bags full of weird veggies, fish parts, dried fish parts, pureed fish parts, and seaweed.

I babysat the rice. (No one thought to mention to me that sushi rice takes TWO HOURS TO COOK PROPERLY? THAT'S INSANE.) I boiled fish flakes and shiitake mushrooms in sweet cooking vinegar. I carved cucumbers into exactly equal spears. I peeled avocados. I sliced and diced and steamed and mixed and squeezed and boiled and stirred and dipped and rolled and garnished and arranged and rearranged and arranged again. I was awfully proud. It was awfully pretty.



And Erin? ... spent the night at a friend's house.

Mmm, dal bhat.

Krishna whipped us up another Nepali feast yesterday. I was temporarily assigned Assistant Chef duties, until Krishna actually witnessed how I chopped his vegetables. Then I was promptly laid off. Damn this economy.

Chipper!

Hopkins's brother Chipper came over to play yesterday. They haven't been together since they were five weeks old, but it seemed like they hadn't missed a day. They played for HOURS, while Chipper's buddy Lola stood guard and made sure the boys didn't get too rowdy.

I tried to get a picture of the two of them together - but they're all blurry with the frantic jumping and panting and teeth. Hopkins is bigger, all around - longer, leggier, taller; but Chipper is waaaaaay fluffier. Also, eyebrows. It makes up for a lot.

ScottArt

Scott was waxing creative yesterday with light. And, yes, we all agree: lovely.