Mo' Fuss

I'm going to let you in on a little secret. On the blog, from time to time, I have been known to engage in hyperbole. When I talk about the babies fussing up a storm or being inconsolable I am often just exaggerating for artistic effect. Even though I've been doing this for four years on the blog now that there are babies involved there are repercussions to the license I am taking. Generally this comes in the call of a frantic call from my mother or in Jen not speaking to me for a couple of days.


Today I have been given permission by Jen to tell it like it is. The babies were kind of a mess today. Elliott spent large patches of the day wailing. After trying everything we'd often try feeding him which worked for short times. He couldn't, we thought, possibly still be hungry after we fed him twenty minutes ago.

Oh, how wrong we were.


They took turns hanging out in their Rock 'n Play Sleepers while the other fussed. It got so bad that while I napped Jen assembled the second Rock 'n Play Sleeper even after arguing with me incessantly about the absurdity of these purchases and promising to return one or both of them.

Who's the fool now?


So it was that we didn't get out to the patio until dusk to enjoy a brief pre-dinner drink. For Jen and her mum I poured this pinot grigio rose from PrimaTerra of Italy. I admit, I only bought this because I was intrigued by it being the palest rose I'd ever seen. It turns out it was quite tasty if not indistinguishable from normal pinot grigio. I think that perhaps it was the result of a wine-making accident that they have capitalized on it. I know so little about wine that it's hard to say.


After a couple of minutes Martin started fussing so Jen got the opportunity to use her nursing cape for the first time. I'm pretty sure that's not what it's actually called but that is what I choose to call it nonetheless.


While I grilled I enjoyed this Dog Days Dortmunder Style Lager
from Two Brothers Brewing Company, right in Jen's mum's back yard. After the disappointing experience I had with their other summer beer, Long Haul, this was a refreshing surprise. It was a very crisp, clean tasting lager with a slightly sweet finish. It was perfect for a hot day at the grill. It's just unfortunate that it was an overcast evening in the mid 70s.


I grilled up some chicken that I'd marinated for forty-eight hours in a spicy avocado marinade then topped it with a salad of grilled corn, farm tomatoes, lime, red onion, olive oil, and avocado.


I also grilled up these locally grown New York Japanese toy eggplants with a little salt and pepper and then finished them with fresh thyme from my mother's garden.


With the remaining cabbage from the farm I made a slaw with red onion, carrot, whole grain mustard, mayonnaise, lime juice hot sauce, salt, and pepper. We didn't really need this dish but I couldn't bare the thought of the cabbage remaining in the fridge for a second longer.


I had thought to use this cherry chocolate bread from Hot Bread Kitchen for a pre-dinner treat. I thought it would have a savory chocolate flavor but it ended up being so sweet that we had slices of it for dessert instead.

Last night's viewing of Time Machine Chefs was a tremendous disappointment. It was a good idea with very poor execution. After hearing about it my father-in-law suggested another program called Let's Cook History on Enlightenment dining. Tonight we are opting to watch that to make up for the raw disappointment of Time Machine Chefs. But first, a viewing of The Curse of Mr. Bean to make up for all the Olympic diving we've been missing.

That's right. This blog will now almost exclusively be about TV programs that we watch while feeding babies. There has been much clamoring for more entries on this subject.

Silent, secret clamoring.