Taking a gamble in the kitch, maybe 2, funny Jack

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I'm considering reentry into the world of wine drinking. It seems the bulk of whatever bug I had has passed, and a lovely glass of white actually sounds lovely. But that's not my primary challenge right now. No, I might have a failed dish on my hands. Experimentation is fun and also key to growth as a cook, so I decided to act on a random recipe idea I'd had sloshing around my brain today: mango gougères. They're in the oven now and are actually puffing quite nicely. I was concerned that the addition of my mango purée would render them too dense to rise; so far they are, however, and might I add that they're a lovely shade of orange. Jarlsberg was my primary cheese but Gruyère brought up the rear. I cannot wait to try them. I still feel just enough under the weather that an all-carb diet sounds peeerrrfect! Naturally I will keep you posted.

On our way home this afternoon, the boys and I were playing a game of how many words we could think of that started with the letter B. Helpful Oliver was saying things like "tree!", "croak!" but Jack had a good ball rolling. Being that he is a nearly-6-year-old with the scatological humor that entails, I wondered how long it would take for the butt/boob words to come flying. They did come, like a verbal snowball picking up speed and heft as it races down a hill: butt, bottom, breast, boobies. And then, as if we needed further clarification, "boobies, like on a lady when she milks her kids." I will admit that I snorted with laughter. Hilarious.

Ok, off to check the puffs. I've had three sips of wine and feel tipsy. For real?

Interesting reading on Food Safety and Ethics

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I continue to really enjoy (in the way one can) Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals. It is a terrifically(!) written book and really makes you think. It's clear what side of the issue fence he falls on but it doesn't feel moralistic to me in the least. Really solid read! In addition, ProPublica recently released this list of food safety reporting it considers exceptional. And, if you missed it, the NY Times' Ethicist (Ariel Kaminer) recently hosted (and took a lot of flak for) an essay contest on the ethics of eating meat. The winning piece is here.