If you're married to a chef . . .

I was just reading a book on home management, when under the caption "cooking" I found the line, "If you're married to a chef, you can skip the following section." HA! Seriously, let's review what it's like when you are really married to a chef.

If you're married to a chef,

• You can expect to have your cupboards rearranged so that they are partly organized by his system and partly by yours, which means that you permanently can't find anything. He doesn't have time to overhaul the whole system, but believes that your system is unprofessional and therefore embarks on fixing it for about five minutes. Then you get to wonder where in the world it would be professional to store your angel food cake pan, which by the way is far, far away from anything useful because he doesn't like angel food cake and thinks the pan is silly.


• Your cooking will always meet with a running commentary on how to do everything differently or better or like so and so, or my personal favorite, the "real" way.


• He will have many suggestions and plans about how to buy and use food to prevent spoilage and waste, but he will expect you, like any good prep cook, to implement his plan. And laud his wisdom in creating more work for you.


• On holidays, he will conveniently disappear during major food prep periods. And IF you find him, he will amazingly orchestrate the event so that everyone is following his instructions, working like little busy bees. This he will call expediting.


• If you cook him a nice meal and wait to eat together, he will not be hungry when he gets home. And he won't want to eat with you, insisting that more leftovers would be nice.


• He will not cook at home. Ever. The only exceptions to this being if you are seriously incapacitated for an extended period of time and there are no church ladies or mothers or sisters left in the world. Or, if he is trying to prove a point about how you should use something up or do something. Or if he wants something out of you.

So, if you are married to a chef, you should read and study the section on cooking more than anyone else because he isn't going to solve your problems in the kitchen. He will create a few. He will offer advice and suggestions. But, he will not cook at home. And you have to feed a chef, in my case a darn good one, dinner.

Lots of Good News

It's been a busy, but fun weekend, and I have lots of news.

First, we looked at the abandoned kitchen and it will definitely work. It was kinda funny when we were talking with the building manager because he mentioned having to talk to Lucho about us using this space. And then we mentioned that we were still in litigation with Lucho, and he responded that maybe he didn't actually have to run anything past Lucho. I seriously wish I could see the look on his face when he finds out we are going to be catering, which he had to give up after he got rid of Jeff, in the same building. Well, I honestly think it is karma or something like it.

Lucy and Jack got to ride horses for the first time at my mom's family reunion up at Ensign Ranch. It was a pretty big deal to them. They were so cute when it came to actually getting on the horses; they were quite nervous. Lucy threw an absolute fit about wearing a helmet, until finally I just forced it on and buckled it before she could get it off. Then I told her that she was scaring the horses with all her screaming, very likely to be true, and that she needed to talk to them like you would a baby. So, she rode around saying, "It's okay, baby. It's okay" in this high, sweet voice. Adorable. And Jack thought that it was all very serious business. He was so intent on holding onto the saddle horn that he could not smile for me once. After Lucy rode the brown one and we were almost ready to do, she asked so sweetly to ride the black one. The guy said that the black one was a little more skittish, but she said please with those big blue eyes and she got to ride the horse. I think she loved the black one, Tia, best of all. She told the horse "Good baby. Good baby" as she rode. I loved it.

Then after that we drove out to Mattawa for my cousin Bryce's baby blessing. We stayed with my Grandma Jo, and Jack had the best time driving all of her decorations that could possibly be construed as cars and throwing decorative balls from Africa. The thing is, he's so cute about it that even when I have to say no, I'm trying so hard not to laugh. I mean, he drove a block with a horse and buggy painted on it all over her living room and lined it up with a bunch of antique toy cars. It was hilarious--I mean, it was very naughty--except it was really hilarious. Case is a beautiful baby, and it was really special to see all those men stand up there, surrounding that baby with love and strength as Bryce blessed him. I need my own baby because I really don't like having to give the babies back after holding them. My babies are huge, and Jack almost always refuses to give me kisses anymore. He is too big and important for that sissy stuff. I need a little one.

A Wonderful, Awful Idea

Today I got an email from the builders for the restaurant that Jeff and I are trying to open. They are delayed again, and now the restaurant will open in June instead of January. I wish, now that this is the third or fourth time that they have told us that they are significantly behind, that I didn't react. I wish I could pretend that I hadn't gotten my hopes up, I hadn't started counting down to the time that I could work from home instead of the lab, and it didn't make me cry. It's just that every month that they are behind is another month that I have to spend most of my time away from my kids, letting someone else enjoy their childhood, while I work at a job that has nothing to do with anything that I dream for my life. But like I said, this isn't my first time lamenting a delay. Today, I was more frustrated that I again felt powerless in the face of the wave of disappointment. And then, I had an idea.

(Okay, whenever I write that last line, I can't help but think of the Grinch. "An awful idea. And then the Grinch had a wonderful, awful idea" because Lucy likes that book, and I have read it a lot, all year long)

So sometimes when you can't get the ship of the line that you are supposed to get, you take a sloop and make do. Jeff and I know of an abandoned kitchen from which we could easily run a catering business. Ironically, it is in the basement of the building that Zesta is in, but I'm not letting them stop me. We could have it up and running by the end of September maybe, October definitely. In time for the whole of the holiday season and all the lovely office parties. And after the office parties, is February and February is the best month for Wine Dinners because it's Valentine's Day which is all about wine, chocolate and date nights. And after February is spring, which means weddings, and I love weddings because weddings need food. Catering would allow us to remind people that we exist, build on our reputation and prove that we have the best game in town. It would allow us to create and build relationships with wineries and people of interest in the community.

And most of all---it would mean that the builders are not in control of our lives anymore. We would be doing what we want to do, not what they tell us we can do. It would make all of this waiting useful. So that next time when the inevitably announce that they are behind, I don't spend all day somewhere between homicidal rage and paralytic depression. I'm not saying that I will be able to smile, but maybe for once, I won't cry.

More Photos of Riley

If you click over on the link to the camping photos in Flickr, you can now also see new photos of little Riley. He is so dang adorable!
I don't know if he likes me so much right now. He is very sleepy--maybe a little jaundiced--and so I showed his parents how to wake him up by holding him under his arms. He hates it and gets quite upset, so I'm sure that I am not his favorite for introducing that little trick. His cry is so soft, like a little lamb bleating. It is absolutely precious. Lucy cried like that at first. It doesn't last, but at the moment it is so very cute.
I am a big fan of having my own blog. It is really too fun to share all our photos and news. Now I can keep everyone updated.

Aunt!

Danna had her baby on Thursday. Everything went smoothly, and the baby is so cute. This is my first niece or nephew, and I had never stood in the hallway waiting for a baby. I have always been the one having the baby, or not close enough or old enough to be in the hospital. It was a strange, unnerving experience to be on the other side of the door. I was so anxious for my sister because I knew that she was worried about having a birth like Lucy's. I stood there outside the door with my ear pressed against, and later with a stethoscope that a nurse let me borrow trying to keep tabs on what was happening. But, everything went well. She pushed for a third of the time that I did and didn't tear at all. Not a stitch! I was so relieved, as I had been begging and bartering with heaven while I stood on the other side of that door that things went smoothly.

Riley is adorable! Perhaps all babies are, but I think this one is especially. He is soo long--22 1/2 inches and big 8 lbs 10 oz. Lucy was two full pounds lighter than him! He knows his mama and the first time I handed him back to her, he snuggled right in and cooed. So sweet. I remember those moments with my babies. I've often tried to write a poem or something to express or capture those feelings, but they always turn out more sentimental than a hallmark card. Oscar Wilde said "All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling. To be natural is to be obvious, and to be obvious is to be inartistic." So I will spare you my bad poetry. But the baby is beautiful and I took a few cute pictures.

He has huge feet, which we have dubbed his Phelp's Phlippers because he is an Olympics baby. I love baby feet. His are so newborn still, all wrinkley. cute.