Say, "Uncle!"

For the past month Jen and I, as well as the Wombats, have been engaged in an all out battle against our every-swelling inventory of fresh lettuce. It is certainly my least favorite time of the farm year. I have had very little leafy greens that have truly excited me over the years. Last year I did have some incredible sorrel and arugula in Austin, TX. I would have happily eaten entire plates of either with absolutely no accompaniment. However, this is the exception to the rule. In general greens are a little boring.


On Friday I used some of the Tropicana lettuce and topped it with kohlrabi which I boiled, chilled, and tossed with sour cream, salt, pepper, scallions, and a splash of hot sauce.


I also bused open this Ursa Minor Weizen Stout from Rising Tide Brewery in Portland, ME. I picked this up on my recent trip to Rhode Island and it was quite enjoyable.


For the main course I used up the remaining summer squash and spinach along with onion, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon, basil, and butter.


Jen had another wheat beer at the other end of the spectrum, this Sun Block from Captain Lawrence Brewing Company. This was another really nice offering from Captain Lawrence.


On Saturday morning the Wombats were able to use their toy drum from Aunt Lauren and the Xylophone from Jen to start a pretty awesome new band. Baby Hit Parade magazine has called them: "The White Stripes with a xylophone."

The xylophone is really weird in that it's like some sort of mixolydian scale. I think that's what Martin is going for though. Major keys are so played out.



For lunch they had their first straight milk. The verdict: they're on the fence. I think we've lost a bit of their trust after giving them something that looks just like formula but is not formula.

Milk is the main ingredient in formula so it's a little surprising that they don't like it. I guess once you get used to something as disgusting as formula it's hard to go back.


At Christmas Aunt Lauren told us that she was pregnant and we made an elaborate announcement for Grandma and Grandad where we dressed up the guys in T-shirts announcing the arrival of their first first cousin. Grandma opened this gift and was delighted by it but made no mention of the fact that her daughter was pregnant. Apparently she just thought it was some random, framed picture of her grandsons and did not read the T-shirts.


On Sunday Aunt Lauren gave birth to Evelyn! Martin was very excited to see her picture on Jen's phone. Elliott, however, saw the picture late as he was preoccupied with his afternoon nap.


I had planned a French(ish) dinner to celebrate Bastille Day but how was I to know that I would also be welcoming into this world my first niece? Had I known I would have tried to plan something more thematic for that occasion. Of course, I can't imagine what that would be.

I started off with duck rillettes, a salad with Tropicana lettuce and lemon vinaigrette, whole grain mustard, cornichons, Turkish figs, and Bethmale cheese. I wasn't able to find a cheese from the Rhone-Alpes region of France (where today's Tour de France stage was being held) so I went with the mountainous region on the other side of France. That, at least, shows that there was some thought there.


I also did not have a French beer so I went with a French(ish) beer, this Saison from Mystic Brewery. It was great, perfect for the season and the meal. And it was in a Belgian style. I've heard that that's near France.

Jen had this Cep d'Or rose which was also very tasty and also very much not from the correct region of France. It was closer than my cheese so that was a plus.

You can see here that I was not going to let go of my absurd need to try to pigeonhole this dinner into the Rhones-Alpes region. Even though I had next to no food or drink traditional to that area.


For dinner I made tartiflette which is a traditional dish from the region. It's basically like a potato Dauphinoise with cheese, onion, and bacon added. I cooked some onions in rendered bacon then added in the sliced potato, cream, milk, salt, and pepper and cooked it all in the oven. When it was almost done I put in some chunks of Saint Albry cheese. I should have used Reblochon but, again, there was none available to me.

The end result, as you could probably imagine, was quite delicious.



The Wombats celebrated by eating (but mostly destroying) a baguette.
A mere year and six days after the Wombats made their entrance their cousin joins them. That's much more exciting than some French people storming a crummy old jail.

This is America where Canadians give birth to Americans, son!

Something to Chew On

We continue to move through the large quantities of ice cube-sized bits of pureed food on the freezer by feeding them to the babies one at a time. The large batch we made a month ago is almost at an end. It's perfect timing as they begin to grow their appreciation for foods with a little more body to them.


On Wednesday I made the guys some of the last of the pureed chicken (moving on to chopped chicken next) with acorn squash, broccoli, and chopped mozzarella cheese for dinner.

After getting a call from day care that they were completely out of formula I had to rush to pick them up a little early and get them home and fed before they both lost their minds.


I guess I could have taken my time since they were not exactly focused on eating.


Martin, in particular, was more interested in laughing hysterically while holding all the food inside his mouth. I somehow missed the humor in this stunt.


After letting them monkey around for a bit I poured myself this Hopfenweisse from Microbrasserie Les Trois Mousquetaires, a hoppy version of a wheat beer which was quite refreshing.


My favorite thing about this beer was the level of detail on the back of the bottle. I really wish every beer had stats like this. It would make them more like baseball cards. They should put a dry, crumbly piece of bubblegum in every six-pack too!


Before bed I had something more Abbey-style with this Grand Cru from Green Flash Brewing Company. I think I picked this one up at least six months ago. Maybe longer. It held up very nice and was an enjoyable dark ale to put a monastic spin on the end of the evening.


Last night, after picking up the babies, I poured this Le Patriote from Le Gobelet, on our recent trip to Quebec. I'm quickly working my way through the Quebec beers and I'm almost done with all the bottles that I do not intend to age. This was a very nice one, and I fear the last from the Le Gobelet private label line. I enjoyed their beers greatly, and it was extra fun drinking them from their stylish glass.

Perhaps the next time I am in Quebec there will be some new ones to try.


Last night I made the guys chicken with edamame, peas, ricotta, multigrain cereal, milk, and mozzarella. This went over a bit better but only, I suspect, because I picked them up at a much earlier hour.


While they ate we had this Explorateur cheese from France which features a cool 1920s style rocket ship on the label. I'd like to say I bought it for the cheese but I'm just a sucker for a Paleofuture-style rocket ship.


I was able to fire up the grill for dinner tonight. Well, I wasn't really able to. It's always a delicate dance each night. Do you put the babies to sleep before you eat? If so you are pretty much guaranteed a peaceful dinner time though a very late one.

Or do you put them to bed after you eat? This means an earlier dinner but a much more chaotic one and potentially a more difficult bedtime for the babies.

We gambled with the latter last night and Elliott made us pay.


As we had dinner afterward I opened this Antiquity from Relic Brewing in Connecticut, a gift from a co-worker. It was a dark, somewhat tart, ale with very little head and a lot of malty goodness.


The guys gave us a relatively restful night's sleep. We only had to grant admittance to one baby at 4:00 AM, Elliott. Martin actually needed to be woken up to get ready for day care.

The guys don't like getting woken up. They look at you all annoyed, unable to comprehend how they are the last two people on Earth that should give us grief about waking them up. I do hate waking them but when I do it I feel very little regret. I think of it more as an act of pure justice.

What does Piaget say about when babies develop a sense of justice? I can't wait until that day.

Easter with Tiny Beasts

On Saturday Jen prepared the guys for the annual Beaster celebration at Joe and Ryan's. Sadly I could not attend this year as I was working.


According to reports it went very well apart from a thirty-minute freak out session by Martin. Jen was cranking some Raffi music for a while to try to calm him down. After that didn't work she realized she might as well listen to whatever she wanted if he was just going to freak out anyway. I do the same thing with them when I'm driving them around but it's usually a podcast that does little to soothe them.


After a stressful bedtime routine we settled back with an embarrassing hodge podge of leftovers and this Brainless Belgian-Style Golden Ale that from Epic Brewing, another beer Jen brought back with her on her recent trip to Utah. It was a very nice, softly-carbonated Belgian-style golden ale and the perfect way to cap off an evening when you know you should be cleaning up instead.


Yesterday morning Martin was having none of his nap so Jen had to resort to wearing him in his carrier while she made hot cross buns. He had that look on his face that said, "Yeah, I know I'm being a jerk, but in the end I got what I want and for that reason I am happy."


Since it was Easter we decided to feed the Wombats their first eggs from some of the leftover undecorated eggs we had.



It did not appear to be their favorite food of all time, however, we put the cut up yolks in front of them and they did continually reach for more and ate most of the pieces. So either they're just gluttons for punishment or they just aren't all that bright.


My parents arrived with my Aunt Deb and Aunt Pat who brought them gifts.


Martin was psyched.


Elliott, in classic baby form, enjoyed the box the more than the toy inside.


For brunch we had a spread of hot cross buns, prosciutto and copa, a cheese slate with Cantalet and Meule de Savoie, peppadews, olives, Marcona almonds, pistachios, grapes, and ciabatta.


For a refreshing afternoon beer we had this Ryan and the Beaster Bunny from Evil Twin Brewing in Denmark. I picked this up a couple of months ago in anticipation of Easter. Since I've never seen an Easter-themed beer before I figured this would be perfect. It was a very nice, refreshing, farmhouse style ale that went very nicely with Easter brunch. I'd highly recommend it to anyone looking for oddly-named Easter-themed beers.


After eating we assembled outside for family portrait outside which was far easier than it had any right to be.



They've gotten a lot bigger since our last portrait out in front of the house. And at least this time Martin's head is not blocked by mine.


My Aunt Pat journeyed all the way down from New Hampshire and also brought a gift for me: New Hampshire beers! Unlike Elliott I did not play with the box, I played with the beer.


We tortured the poor, sweet babies by taking a series of pictures of them wearing bunny ears given to them by their uncles Joe and Ryan. This picture is indicative of how well the photo shoot went.


I did a leg of lamb on the rotisserie on our grill for the first time. I've never done lamb on the rotisserie before so I figured I'd be safe by setting my alarm for thirty-five minutes then going to check on it. I figured this would be the half way point in the cooking process. As soon as I rounded the corner to the back where the grill was I could smell that it was quite a bit more advanced in the cooking process than I'd wagered on. When I opened up the grill I was convinced I'd ruined it.


Fortunately, while it was a bit more done than I'd have liked, it was not ruined. The taste was good but I could have gone with a lower flame. It was a little north of medium where I would have preferred a medium rare.


My mother brought some delicious cheesy scalloped potatoes that I had to rush in the oven since I hadn't counted on the lamb being done so early. They were fantastic.


After removing the lamb and replacing the grill grates I grilled up this asparagus and zested some lemon over it.


To accompany the dinner I had this Hop Session IPA from White Birch Brewing, a gift from my Aunt Pat. It was uncharacteristically murky and dank looking for an IPA with a very nice piney, resiny flavor to it.



For dessert we had Napoleons (clumsily made by me), and blondies (expertly made by my Aunt Deb).


The Napoleons were a particular point of interest for Elliott who showed Grandpa just how strong he could be when he wills 100% of his bodyweight toward an object he wants. Grandpa was almost unable to contain him.


Elliott has a lot of vim when it comes to snagging desserts and he has just as much drive when it comes to fighting off his inevitable bedtime. Luckily for us while he fights hard he does not fight long.

Sadly, Martin has both the passion for avoiding sleep and persistence to spare. After a lengthy wrestling tag team match with the Wombats and both parents they did get to sleep and we were able to bid a fond farewell to our visiting family.

It was a bit more hectic than last year's Easter (where I commented on how I would puree Cadbury eggs for them) but far more rewarding.

Another first holiday down for the Wombats. Next up: Cinco de Mayo! This is gonna be huge!