The kid's got good taste. . .

. . . because he just loves his daddy's homemade guacamole. Nick has also inherited his mommy's love for authentic Mexican tortilla chips. I think his t-shirt says it all.  : ) 

You don't think of guacamole as being a typical food. It's green, for one thing. Plus, it has chunks of onion, garlic, and peppers in it. It doesn't have anything unhealthy in it--even the avocado is a good kind of fat. I doubt I would've touched guacamole with a ten foot pole when I was Nick's age. He must have a more advanced palate. No comments about the guacamole smears you can see on our couch, please. We know we need a new one, but it would be kind of silly to buy a new couch with Nick around. Perhaps when he's older. . .

On Sunday, my mother-in-law came up for her mother's day gift. (Greg was stuck at home last week with Strep throat and couldn't see anyone.) She had especially requested that Greg cook for her. First, he made us guacamole, which we promptly demolished. Then, for dinner, Greg cooked her his fancy carne asada meal, complete with a lime cheesecake for dessert. He wasn't even mad that I bought poblano peppers instead of serrano. (The Dominick's had a list of the kind of peppers and didn't label which one was which.)

Would you like to know what my favorite part of the day was? (Besides the cheesecake, I mean. Although that was good. Delicious, in fact, considering that it was my husband's first time ever making a cheesecake. There were only a few lumps.) My favorite part was that Nick's Grandma Toni played with him for a few hours while Greg was cooking, and they let me take a nap on the couch. That was a nap for the ages. I must've really needed it. I didn't even feel guilty about it, either, since my little man was having the time of his life with his grandma. I woke up in just enough time to sit down to dinner and watch Nicholas throw steak at the cats and smear refried beans all over his face. He loved the cheesecake, too. I do believe he would've kept using the spoon to take one tiny bite at a time all night, if we hadn't stopped him.

My husband is awesome.

Man, can he cook! Can you tell that Nick thinks so, too? Look at what he cooked us for dinner last night from his Williams-Sonoma Cookbook. It was absolutely delicious. My mouth is still recovering from the taste sensations. Plus, I got to have leftovers for lunch today, and the rest of the guacomole when I got home from work. I love when he decides to cook.

Above you can see our dinner (his manly portion--mine was smaller). We had carne asada (from rib eye steak) and grilled mushrooms, orange pepper, and green onions, grilled on a charcoal grill. He made homemade guacamole from scratch, brown rice with black beans, and refried beans, too. (You can never have too many beans.)

Greg and I have totally different ways of cooking, though. We can't even be in the kitchen at the same time. Greg is very meticulous, and he measures with exacting throughness. He has mastered making brown rice and it comes out perfectly every time. He uses recipe books and does not substitute. Dicing and measuring all of the ingredients neatly in little clear bowls, Greg cleans as he goes. Often, it looks as if he were on one of those cooking shows, with everything laid out neatly, in the order that it will be used. Greg cannot handle if I come into the kitchen for a glass of milk while he's making dinner. He prepares dishes for one meal, sometimes two, without regard for how many leftovers there will be. In fact, before we started living together, he used to shop for groceries on a daily basis, filling one grocery bag with the ingredients for one recipe, cook dinner, and then dispose of the leftovers. Thank goodness he'll eat leftovers now.

My cooking, on the other hand, is far more haphazard. I am a multitasker, and often cook dinner, talk on the phone, make bread, watch Nick, and listen to NPR all at the same time. This has resulted in some interesting mistakes. . . I still can't make brown rice without screwing it up. While I sometimes start with a recipe, I change proportions, double a recipe, and substitute ingredients. I also love to throw extra stuff into everything. For example, I'll toss spinach into any dish. I also definitely do not clean as I go; the kitchen is often trashed after I have made our evening meal. Eyeballing instead of measuring, I've been known to either totally screw up a dish or come upon something marvelous by accident. I've had spaghetti stuck to the wall and I somehow got banana puree on the ceiling. I also cook for an army--I enjoy leftovers and I feel that if I have to go to the effort to cook and mess up the kitchen (and I do mess up the kitchen), I should get a few meals out of it.

I suppose, though, that it is a lucky thing that we both cook. Greg and I enjoy healthy recipes, but also international foods and experimentation. We just can't both be in the kitchen at the same time. I wonder who Nick will take after in the kitchen?

An Unproductive But Relaxing Weekend

I love weekends. . . especially weekend mornings. Greg lets me sleep in, so I don't get up until 8 or later. I get to feed Nick his breakfast, and there's no hurry. Nick loved it when I stuck Cheerios on his nose. He is easily amused. The only thing that could make a weekend like this better is if it was warm outside. I'm looking forward to March, because there's usually at least one warm day. I am so ready for that one warm day. This time of year I feel like hibernating. I only left the house once, to run to the grocery store. I read Nick the same four books at least seventeen times. We stayed in our pajamas most of the weekend.

We played blocks, cars, catch, and peekaboo. Nick threw balls at our heads and laughed loudly when we shouted, "Ouch!" Greg made a delicious Carne Asada and homemade guacamole that was to die for. Nick was eating the guacamole by the handful.

Then today, I made Pasta e Fagioli in the crockpot. It was delicious and made a ton of leftovers. Truly, I got almost nothing done this weekend. But I don't mind. . . unproductive also means relaxing.