Tiny Belgian Cabbages?

I’m a foodie.  I like to eat, I like to experiment with cooking, and when there is nothing else to watch the Food Network is my natural time filler.  And one thing that I’ve noticed on the Food Network lately is a number of shows highlighting brussel sprouts as a side dish and doing anything but steaming/boiling them.  Due to my parents’ shared dislike of them, I never had either the pleasure or misfortune of eating them as a kid and thus far it hasn’t really come up as an adult.

Until now.

After noting yet another show where oven-broiled sprouts was on the menu, I mentioned to my wife that it might be interesting to try it (she HAS had them, but it had been decades).  Fast forward to the next day and my wife is IM’ing me at work to let me know that dinner will be chicken and brussel sprouts.  Fast forward another hour later and I’m home with a full plate including a nice juicy chicken breast and a generous helping of slightly charred little balls of green.

I have to say that I did in fact like them a lot.  They tasted like little grilled cabbages – not too pungent, not too bland, just enough salt and a slightly nutty flavor.  On the down side, my kids did not seem nearly as thrilled with them (which is a bit odd as they both LOVE broccoli and cauliflower).  So the likelihood of this veggie being in regular rotation is fairly low.  Ah well.  At least I gave it a shot.

From Terrible Twos to Thrilling Threes

Today my little Grasshopper turns 3 years old.  Happy birthday, buddy!  It seemed like only yesterday you were barely crawling but trying to climb everything.  Now you are running, jumping and in constant motion (and still trying to climb everything).  You are certainly a combination of me and your mother – at times so happy and mellow, at others ready to kick butts and take names.  You are active (nearly hyperactive at times) as well as cautious and deliberate in your actions.  While I wouldn’t want to pigeon-hole you in any way, you already seem to demonstrate innate talents for sports and performance.  I look forward to continuing to watch you grow and encourage you in the things you want to pursue – no matter what those things are.  You are my boy and I love you and will always be there for you.  Happy third!!

To My Cricket

As I watch my little girl grow and develop ideas and opinions of her own and go off to school to be further immersed in the world, I can’t help be think of the years to come.  That in mind, here are 5 promises that I would like to keep to my daughter:

  1. As long as you remain honest with me, I will give you my trust.
  2. As long as you act responsibly (relatively), I will give you my respect.
  3. As long as you have something to show me, I will give you my admiration.
  4. As long as you have something to say, I will give you my ear.
  5. As long as you or I are alive, I will give you my heart (not strictly conditional).

Temporarily Single Dad

For the past 5 days, I’ve been Mr. Mom.  My wife went away to a blogging conference in Asheville, NC and left me in charge of managing our 2 kids.  Being actively involved with my kids on a regular basis, this was not a daunting task, per se.  The hard part was not paying attention to work for that period of time – especially since my shine, new iPhone would chirp every few minutes telling me I have some new email to read.  But eventually I turned off that notification and got to the serious business of responsibly entertaining my posse.

First priority – getting them to school on time.  Grasshopper only just started going to daycare (2 days a week) and already being without his Mommy, he was very reluctant to go (though apparently his tears ended within minutes of Cricket and I leaving him there).  Cricket just started Kindergarten this year and has been loving every minute of it, but with the possibility of being able to stay home and play Lego Star Wars with Daddy she suddenly was on the fence about going as well.  But I got them there, they did there time, and got them safely home (all perfectly according to schedule).  But outside of that, it was play time – we went to the park almost every day, we went to a play place for the better part of one cloudy afternoon, and we spent a fair share of time watching a couple of movies and playing Lego Star Wars.

By the end of the long weekend, I was ready for reinforcements.  I love my kids, but I can only be jumped on so many times before needing to tag out.  I only took advantage of the in-laws once for a break (which I spent cleaning).  And I actually made semi-nutritious meals for them for all but 2 meals (pancakes are good for you, right?).  So all in all I think I did okay.  And today it was back to work … to deal with my other batch of kids.  Maybe I should go to a conference.

P.S. – Mywife (who now has 2 blogs) went to a blogging conference, but didn’t post anything the entire time.  Ironic.

33 Flavors and Then Some

To my lovely wife on her birthday (yes you):

  1. You are a strict realist – a difficult quality to find these days.
  2. You remind me every day how important it is to express enthusiasm (something I’ve never been good at.
  3. I may not express this often, but you are a shadow in my conscience – I often will hit a gray area at work where I think about how you would handle the situation (then I remove the ass-handing part and do the rest).
  4. You have put up with more of my shit than you deserve.
  5. You understand the difference between emotional response and character.
  6. You don’t put up with nonsense (except the good kind … and some of mine).
  7. You have talents you have yet to cultivate and sharper faculties than you give yourself credit for.
  8. You never forget anything important (except where you put things).
  9. You are the best friend anyone could want – you are great in good times, and even better in bad.
  10. You have an electric smile.
  11. You have eyes that betray more confidence than you believe yourself to possess.
  12. You are independent.
  13. You are dependable.
  14. You are blunt and often sarcastic.
  15. You always know what to say to people.
  16. You could win any argument in which you engage – I have no doubt.
  17. You amaze me with your ability to teach someone something without giving them a single answer.
  18. You also amaze me in your ability to set pasta on fire – it is a rare talent.
  19. You could probably make a Thanksgiving dinner with your eyes closed.
  20. If there was one thing about you that I first fell in love with, it was probably your sense of humor.
  21. You understand that two people can disagree without being at odds (more rare than it should be).
  22. You can curse like a sailor.
  23. You have more tact than anyone I know.
  24. You have a zany streak that I plan to enjoy until we are old and gray.
  25. You don’t care about shoes, designer clothes, or hair products (that’s a good thing).
  26. You have a respectable appreciation for football.
  27. If you decided to go get an office job, I have no doubt you would ace any interview.  But you’d hate working in an office – they are highly unproductive and inefficient places.  You’d go mad.
  28. Because of you, our children are happier, smarter, and more well-rounded than I’d have expected them to be or than I could have accomplished on my own.
  29. You are self-sacrificing (you need to cut back on that, by the way).
  30. I have had and will always have respect for your opinions and wisdom.
  31. No matter how stressed we’ve gotten or divided we’ve found ourselves on issues, I’ve never felt disrespected or unappreciated.
  32. You may recognize that the song I paraphrased for the title of this post is off by one digit, but you are not the type of person to point that out (though I am).
  33. You may refer back to this list every so often to remind yourself of some of these great things about you, but I will never have to – you’ve made an indelible  impression on me and I thank you for it.

There are hundreds of other things that I love about you – many nuances and qualities of your character.  I hope that this short list at least brings a smile to your face on your birthday.  We all miss you at home and hope you enjoy your 33rd without us.

With love from your boob of a husband,

SilentBen

(I hope this is flattering enough that she doesn’t notice that I didn’t get her a gift … yet.)