First Dates are Fun

Before we realized that the fever that Camille had the previous day (that was subsequently gone) and the tiny rash that soon covered her entire torso presented itself meant she had scarlet fever, we did some stuff. It's been a Daddy Daycare summer.

On the day in question above, before we learned that she was dealing with scarlet fever, we had all sorts of stuff planed. One was normal swim, a second was a new summer swim camp with possible lunch outing, and later there was a yripto the art supply store and even gymnastics in the afternoon.

First (regular) swim went well (as always). But summer swim camp was too much. Originally, Cass was supposed to be there with her, which probably would have made it a bit easier. As parents, we were told we couldn't be around the swimmers, that we would need to take our places in the shaded seating area across from the pool. I'm dropping my four-year-old off at what looks like a swim race and then going THIS far away?

She's there, I swear. She didn't do well. I'm chopping it up to a combo of the situation and the remnants of her fever the previous day. She was in such good spirits that it all seemed like not a ludicrous idea.

Anywho, afterwards, we went to a diner for lunch, both had breakfast, and I realized it was our first meal at a sitdown restaurant ever. It was out first date:

She just corrected me as I typed this: "No daddy, it was our first lunch date."

Well, I had a magical time. 

Other Daddy Daycare activities had centered on local things, like the library complex downtown: it has a big playground, a ton of books inside, places to play with Lego, places to color, and even activities and games outside, along with free lunch if you're there at the right time. 

Being a kid, am I right?

Noodle Time!

I met for the first time a few weeks back at the reunion one of my cousin's wife. She is Chinese and shared with me some of her spicy noodles that she'd been eating. She was generous and excited when I accepted her offer to sample the noodles. When I showed my appreciation for how awesomely hot they were---profuse sweating for half an hour---she went to their room and brought me some stuff. 

The first was this big bag of yellow gear:

The Liuzhou Luosi style noodles is a river-snail broth, very hot, with fermented bamboo shoots and crisp tofu squares. In reality, the broth is both river-snail and pork bone, but you get the idea. Would you like the spicy river-snail noodles?

Umm...yes!

Inside that big yellow bag is a bag of rice noodles, and the following other smaller bags:

The directions go something like: cook the rice noodles until mostly done. When nearly there, get another two-cups of water boiling and add all of the smaller packs. Then drain the finished noodles and add them to the working broth. It was two servings, Camille wouldn't sit next to me because she said it smelled bad (that was the fermented bamboo shoots), and I felt like I had to put forth a heroic effort to finish them and not stink up the house. The spice is not like a Mexican hot sauce, not like a Louisiana hot sauce (fermented peppers), nor was it like a Thai chili heat. It was Szechuan pepper, which is more like a tingling. But I'm sure there were traditional hot peppers used somewhere.

Holy hell, it was good.

But that wasn't all I was gifted.

They also gave me a box of "Hot Dry Noodles:"

I didn't know what to make of it, but I accepted it and thanked her profusely. Inside were two individual servings: two bags of rice, two bags of chili oil, two bags of sesame puree mix, two bags of seasoned broth, and two bags of fermented green bean pieces.

Like the other stuff, you cook the noodles, drain them, and start putting in the stuff. The bags are numbered and I did it that order: chili oil, sesame, seasoned sauce, fermented green beans. They were dry, because rice noodles will absorb a ton of liquid. Normally, these are the kinds of noodles you cook, then drain, then pend a few minutes rinsing with cold water so you can handle them when they'rte cooled down and no longer crazy sticky with starch. 

This dish was also SO good, but not nearly as spicy as the river-snail noodles.

Now I'm looking for these, or reasonable facsimiles...

4th of July 2024

We've got Daddy Daycare going strong this year with Camille---Cass is in a summer program, so it's just me and Cam. You know, fun stuff, like light reading:

 But we also paint in the mornings. Which got me thinking about, or appreciating, some of the best American painters from the past. I was helped by my phone app, reminding me about Frederic Edwin Church. 

efui

It was here that I narrowed my focus and decided to compile a lust of 5 incredible American masters of 19th century. Why then? Why not? I like Mary Cassatt and John Singer Sargent, and on this, out country's Independence Day, I was thinking about the first artistic movement from this country: the Hudson River School. Monumental landscapes? Peering portraiture? Allegory?  (I also didn't want to get into Hopper and O'Keefe today)

Anyway, here are five American painters and some of their masterpieces.

Winslow Homer, "Gulf Stream":

Frederic Edwin Church, "Rainy Season in the Tropics":

Albert Bierstadt, "Valley of the Yosemite":

Mary Cassatt, "Breakfast in Bed":

John Singer Sargent, "Repose":

Happy 4th!