"...and it looks like all my dreams."*

I am trying to be a more relaxed parent.

I am trying to let things go that don't really matter, and not stress about little irritants (and I don't just mean the children...).

I am trying to not yell so much, and to say yes to (polite) requests more.

It's either that, or lose my mind before August.

So when the boys commandeered my laundry baskets to play in and with, I let them. I let them fill them up with trains and stuffed animals, and race each other around the dining room, and stack them up into towers.

If I had known they were climbing them, I would not have been relaxed about that. Because climbing them is when trouble happens - trouble with a capital T. Climbing them is when Terzo topples off and smacks with a sickening thud - in slow motion, but not slow enough that I can catch him before contact - into the trunk we use for a coffee table.

And thank God we use a beat-up old trunk with softened leather edges, or it could have been much, much worse.

He was so brave - we iced him down and mopped up the blood and applied a Spiderman Band-aid.

In the morning, H decided it would be best to take off the Band-aid and let the wound air out a bit. But he wanted to apply some disinfectant, just to be on the safe side. And he couldn't find the mercurochrome. So he used another bottle in the medicine cabinet, one that very plainly stated it was a topical disinfectant for use on minor cuts, scrapes, and abrasions.

Now I? Always thought gentian violet was only used for thrush - and that's why I had a bottle of it in the first place. But you know, it turns out it is a fine disinfectant, with FABULOUS staying power.

Three days later:



*********

*The Big Orange Splot, by Daniel Pinkwater

"And I'm President of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli."*

You know, normal people become addicted to things like cigarettes and caffeine - and don't get me wrong, I have had those monkeys clinging on my back, too.

But today's current addiction: sexy, spicy broccoli.

Or raw marinated broccoli.

Whateve.

*I* will call it "broccoli crack."

Broccoli Crack

1 1/2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste

2 heads broccoli, 1 pound each, cut into bite-size florets

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

4 fat garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons cumin seeds [I didn't have cumin seeds, so I used half the amount of ground cumin.]

2 teaspoons roasted (Asian) sesame oil

Large pinch crushed red pepper flakes.

In a large bowl, stir together the vinegar and salt. Add broccoli and toss to combine.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil until hot, but not smoking.
Add garlic and cumin and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Stir in sesame oil and pepper flakes.
Pour mixture over broccoli and toss well.
Let sit for at least 1 hour at room temperature, and up to 48 (chill it if you want to keep it for more than 2 hours). [I'd like to be able to tell you how it tastes after longer marinating times, but I ate it all. Sorry.]
Adjust seasonings (it may need more salt) and serve.


I served it with thinly sliced grilled rare steak, a green salad, and twice-baked potatoes. Perfect with a cold Heineken.
But you could just eat it straight from the bowl with your fingers.
Not that *I* would ever stoop that low....I am just saying...people COULD.
People who have been raised by wolves and whatnot.
Not ME.
Ahem.

***********

*George H. W. Bush

“Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other.”*

Just finished Mary Kay Andrews’ Deep Dish. God, she writes fun books. Everything always turns out ok and the jerks always get what’s coming to them in a most satisfying manner. I only wish Andrews had included the recipe for the shrimp salad.

Now I am reading Rachel Pastan’s This Side of Married. Did I mention how much I liked Lady of the Snakes? I liked it a lot. Yes, there were flaws, and it was clunky in parts, and I hated the character of Billy the husband from the get-go (what grown man goes by Billy?) but I look forward to Pastan’s future work. I am also - so far - enjoying her previous novel.

I bought a bunch of stuff at Half Price Books last week, mostly for Primo (including 4 volumes of re-issued Enid Blyton stories like “The Magic Treacle Jar,” and a couple of Charlie Bone books, but the biggest hit was a thick omnibus issue by Gordon Korman called something like Nosepickers from Outer Space. Primo howled out loud while reading it TWICE in two days. )

I scored Nigella’s Feast for ten bucks. I am so in love. I admit it.

I picked up a couple other books - Away (I know I said it looked too depressing for words, but for a buck, I figured what the hey), Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name (speaking of sounding depressing), and Detectives on Everest: The 2001 Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition (complete with photos! Of artifacts! Like dead bodies!) because the clearance shelves were full of stuff I wanted. I didn’t even look through the rest of the shelves, just the clearance ones. So much good stuff.

I also snagged a bunch of Laura Lippman Tess Monaghan novels at the church sale this past Sunday. Someone at church has more money than they know what to do with, because there are always brand new hardcover novels in the sale shelves all the time. This person must buy ‘em, read ‘em, and donate ‘em – much to my benefit. (Once I read these, I’ll re-donate them. I like Lippman but I don’t need to own them.)

But with the piles of books cluttering my bedroom (once the plumber takes out the kitchen sink on the 3rd floor and we can move bookshelves up there, I will only have to contend with half the fiction in there and I intend to build shelving right onto the wall), even I am slightly embarrassed to be bringing home MORE BOOKS. So I hid them in a plain brown cardboard carton and fish in there for something to fling at Primo when he whines, “I’m boooorrreddd!!!!”

Which only happens, oh, once every couple MINUTES.

***********************

*Walter Elliott