The Water's Fine

After an action-packed week Thursday allowed me a chance to get the boys to day care and have a relaxing day of simply doing the laundry, cleaning the kitchen, scrubbing out the humidifiers, cooking dinner, and generally tidying up our dwelling.
Sadly I'm not being the least bit sarcastic when I say that this was a very relaxing day for me.


For lunch I explored this new Pepper-Salt that Jen brought home from Eagle Street Rooftop Farm. The label proclaims that you should "USE on EGGS, in CORNBREAD & all FOOD." That has got to be the strangest and laziest bit of copy ever scrawled on a spice or condiment label in culinary history. However, it is technically accurate so I can't argue with that.

I started off by sprinkling some on some mango for a tasty after-lunch treat. It turns out that it was perfect as it should have been since mangos are safely covered under "all other foods."


Before dinner I made this avocado salad with a little olive oil and the pepper-salt.

For dinner I made this seafood soup with lobster stock I'd made from lobster shells a couple of weeks back. I use fennel, onion, garlic, and potato in the broth then tossed in some cooked coho salmon, shrimp, and sea scallops. I finished it off with cracked pepper, fresh dill, and grilled bread.

I figured I would crack open this Existent Farmhouse Ale from Stillwater Artisanal Ales as I thought a saison would go nicely with the night's dinner. I was very shocked to find this saison to be a deep brown color with a surprisingly malty caramel flavor. It was a delicious beer but I would not have selected it with this dinner at all had I known. I'm not really sure how they get off calling it a farmhouse ale, however, it was delicious so I didn't really let it bother me too much.

On Friday I made the guys some toast with their first goat cheese.


They seemed to like this quite a bit though they seem to like anything smeared on toast and cut into strips. Mostly they like squashing it in their hands and making the largest mess possible. Martin, in particular, ended up with a good amount of goat cheese smeared on his grubby little face.

I used some of the coho salmon from the previous night to make the guys their first salmon as well. I combined them with rice, avocado, and a little milk. They seemed to really enjoy this a lot.


Even Martin, who had enough goat cheese smeared on his face for another full meal really took to salmon nicely. I think they enjoyed it more than the flounder they'd had previously.

To top off the evening I poured this Private Stock Imperial India Pale Ale from Narragansett Beer. When I heard that Narragansett made an imperial IPA I was intrigued. It was a bit on the chalky side but still a nice effort from a beer company one doesn't associate with such styles.


This morning we took the guys on to their first ever swim class. Elliott was immediately interested and seemed to want to dive into the pool from across the room.


Martin was a little more reluctant to get into the whole situation.


After thirty minutes Martin warmed up and seemed to enjoy it. Elliott seemed to have a blast the entire time. I was pretty sure Martin was going to lose his mind at some point but he held strong. Like his father he seems to hate anything involving strangers but once he gets comfortable he generally has a good time.

Unlike me. I never get comfortable and have a good time.