Potatoes in the Mist

I was saying to my sister-in-law earlier how every summer I start off loving the season and then, suddenly, I'm ready for fall. That point has come. It's even in the air a little bit. I'm looking forward to the red and orange leaves.

Perfect weather today. Zoe had her second ballet class today. There is another little Z girl in her class - Zelda. 

Zoe now says cheese when I take her picture. Just like her brother.

A while back, Judy asked me to post a photo of a cherry wood bowl I had bought. Sorry it took so long, but here it is.

Yesterday I arranged a sample pre-ballet class for Zoe. I almost didn't go because it's so hot today, but we finally got out the door and I'm glad we did. She loved it. They had all these cute props, including ducks, bubbles, tiaras, tutus and wands. I signed her up for both the summer and fall sessions.

Yesterday I witnessed some drama from a distance. I can't get too specific, but it made me think. At the core of the drama is a person who is very sweet and childlike, but she just can't take care of herself. She can't function, at least at this point in her life. (I do believe that, if we are lucky, life is long, and there are many opportunities to turn things around.) Anyway, viewing her predicament made me realize that it IS a good thing to grow up. That might seem self-evident to many of you, but our culture really does prize youth. Age and wisdom aren't as respected here as they probably are in China and some other places. But growing up really is worth it, even if you aren't as cute or carefree as you were when you were little. It's good to take responsibility. And I do hope she can eventually do that.

So we got our kitchen "bombed" this morning (roach treatment). D took E on a long bike ride (which he loves) and I ended up on the lawn behind our building with Zoe. She started picking some little flowers, giving them to me, and then she would run in a little circle on the lawn, kiss me on the nose, and run some more. It was really cute.

I am a big fan of breakfast for dinner. Plus, I got a new blinged-out food processor with a grating attachment, so I've been grating everything in sight. (Actually just apples and zucchini so far, but potatoes are next.) Tonight I made apple cottage cheese pancakes, from the original Moosewood cookbook. They were fabulous.

I'm waiting for the exterminator. He gave us a 4-hour window starting at 8:30. It's 10:47 now and he hasn't shown up yet. I guess he's a busy guy.

So Z is really wiped out after gymnastics today, taking a long-ish nap. She races around the whole gym, terrifying its inhabitants. Not really - they think she's cute. But she tried to jump into the ball pit with an older class, whose teacher told her, "You don't want to go in there with those girls, they're crazy." I told her, "She's crazier than any of them!" and she laughed but I was serious. I made a little video of her doing an activity at the beginning of class: The balance beam is her favorite. She's strangely reluctant to swing from the rings. She'll grip them, standing, but then let go. The teacher thinks she will get her to swing next time.

So it was a nice laid-back Fourth. We went for brunch/lunch at a favorite restaurant of mine, Veselka, where we had not been for a while. We had potato pierogi, potato pancakes, and vegetable soup. Eric kept saying, "I love the soup," which was gratifying because he usually won't go near a vegetable. We ended up ordering an extra bowl. Later the boys took a bike ride to South Ferry and I took Zoe to the park. Now the fireworks are starting (my least favorite part, but can't complain, since it was such a nice day). I've been cooking a lot of fun stuff lately and was telling D that I might want to open a Mexican/Italian vegetarian restaurant (kind of a daydream/fantasy, with an element of reality). Not in Manhattan though - too intense for your first restaurant venture. Maybe Brooklyn or Hoboken.