Children cussing, gumbo making

I'm still cringe-laughing because, as is true for much of parenthood, you just can't make this shit up. You see, in Spanish club last term, Oliver developed a big, mutual crush on a 4th grader, P, who was assisting the teacher. I know the girl's mother pretty well so offered up that if ever her daughter wanted to play or get babysitting experience, I'd be happy to have her over as a "mother's helper."  Ol kept asking, the dear girl felt equally enthused, and so yesterday P came over for two hours after the boys returned home from camp.

Though Jack ultimately left Ol and P to themselves, initially the three played several rounds of Spanish bingo. Approximately 22 minutes after P arrived, I was making roux in the kitchen and thinking to myself, "this is just a lovely situation!" when I heard Jack yell down, "Mom, Oliver just said the "f-word."

"WTF?!" I said to myself.

"Excuse me, what f-word?" hoping beyond hope that the answer was 'fart.'

Jack: "The bad one."

Oliver: "Fuck! Isn't that a Spanish word?"

People, I'm wracking my brain and can think of no Spanish word that sounds like 'fuck.' I suspect Oliver is quick on his feet in the BS department rather than honestly thinking fuck is a Spanish vocab word he learned, and I'll give him that, but good god. 22 minutes in?

In as calm a voice as I could muster through mortification and under-my-breath laughing, I reminded Oliver that what he said was really quite a bad word and that he would not be repeating it. I then texted a friend because this story had to be shared immediately. She was in the pit of hell with her tykes and seemed to appreciate comic relief.

"OK, Mom."

Naturally, I let P's mother know, as soon as she arrived, that should P mention that my five year old said 'fuck' during Spanish bingo, I really didn't know where this came from and had handled it. She laughed, I laughed, say it with me: "You can't make this shit up."

Fortunately, this cussing did not interfere deleteriously with my roux-making, a good thing since making roux on a hot day is fairly arduous and you'd always prefer to not make a second batch unless you have or want to. By the time we ate, it was actually really nice out, so T and I moved to the deck with steaming bowls of gumbo. Gumbo is one of my favorite dishes of all time. I love it so much. It is highbrow, lowbrow, home, comfort and spice all in a bowl.

I spent two hours with my dear friend, G, this morning and am now making Strawberry Pinot Noir jam. Back to it!

A mighty risotto

Peeps, because I couldn't stop thinking about the arancini I devoured last Friday night at The Magpie, I decided to make my own. But I don't love to fry things at home and wanted more of a meal than an appetizer. As such, risotto.  After all, the two dishes utilize the same primary ingredient -rice- so this was sure to be an easy adaptation. And it was. I sauteed some shallots, garlic and rosemary in equal parts butter and olive oil, added the rice, deglazed with white wine, added broth a half cup at a time until the rice was creamy and then stirred in a blend of young and more mature Manchego cheese. Tom took one bite and sighed happily. This risotto sang, perfect in its simplicity and utilization of high-quality harmonious ingredients. I will post the recipe for you ASAP, under Non-Pasta Lunch and Dinner Entrees. I'd hoped to serve this with shrimp but the kids lost it in the seafood section so we had to bail on that final idea. Alas, this would be lovely with grilled shrimp and lovingly prepared scallops. But then again, it was sublime on its own, too.

Food stylist dynamo, Oreos

Are you familiar with Denise Vivaldo, a renowned food stylist in LA who also writes for the Huff Post and is an absolute dynamo? I hadn't heard of her until Friday afternoon when she lit up a panel at the MidAtlantic Food Writers Symposium. Later that night, in reviewing the next day's schedule, I was thrilled to see that she would be co-leading the Perfect Plates seminar, a three-and-a-half hour food styling and photography session.

People, Denise is one of the most charismatic, hilarious forces of nature I've ever met. I about fell out after every sentence. I would give an arm to have recorded her presentation, simply to belly-ache laugh again and again. There was something about the importance of lighting in relation to "just thinking about Barbra Streisand," some priceless commentary about Sandra Lee and a Kwanzaa cake, another bit about something being as elusive as seeing a panther in the wild during the day. I loved Denise's candor, her confidence, her strength and her seemingly complete awareness about her strengths -and playing on them- and her weaknesses. I really admire the sense of her I got. What a tough and cool cookie.

She offered a wealth of great advice and Adam Ewing, the photographer who co-taught the session, was a real talent as well. Made me want to go buy a couple new lenses, a buffet of fabulous props and get busy!

`````````` On another note, as Jack doesn't like most cake or any frosting, he asked for a huge Oreo for his birthday. I ordered the Nordic Ware creme filled wafer cake pans, but we worried that they wouldn't make thin or crunchy enough wafers. I'll return those and in the meantime started testing recipes. Today's maiden voyage was my take on a recipe I found on Momables. These were really tasty though Oreos they were not. Ol, T and I totally enjoyed them, but J said "No," probably because the filling wasn't firm or fake enough. Heh. So, I'll keep chugging along, but for now, eye candy for you!