run in with a super hero

the husband and i were walking the dogs around the neighborhood tonight. there was a big labor day bash going on at one of the houses near the softball field that we frequently walk by. the party coupled with the extremely nice weather meant that we weren't surprised to see kids still out on their bikes at 8pm.

we were walking up the hill when out of no where something jumped up from behind me and tapped me on the shoulder. i jumped about a mile out of my skin and when i turned to see what in the heck just happened, i found the tuckertino jumping on superman.

um yeah, superman snuck up behind me and scared the living crap out of me.

ok, it may not actually have been superman. it may have been a 10 year old wearing a superman costume. had it not been for his height i may have been fooled. i mean not only did his get up include the obligatory red cape but it even had fake chest muscles and shoe covers. how authentic!

fortunately for the kid, i had spent the day relaxing at a cook out, eating potato salad and desserts. had i been stressed, anxiety ridden, and slightly aggitated i can only imagine the black eye my ninja like reflexes would have given him in return for such a stunt. clearly though, that only would have made him look cooler to the gang of onlookers he had. we were most certainly set up.

oh well. i can handle that brand of mischief.

a holiday grill story

it sure is nice to have a holiday weekend. it is especially nice when that holiday weekend includes fabulous weather, an iron chef marathon, and a chance to cook on the grill.

on saturday night the husband and i got a little wrapped up in watching old episodes of iron chef. i was totally enthralled by the first shows they taped for iron chef america in 2004. as we kept watching i was entranced by the fact that there could be 3 episodes where the iron chefs had to use peculiar seafood like sea urchins and langoustines. part of this fascination was stemming from the awesomeness that is iron chef and the other part was stemming from the fact that i just thought everything that looked like a big shrimp was called a prawn.

also, i guess i didn't realize that people ate sea urchin. the husband and i were trying to figure out how many people had actually tasted the weird orangey paste from within the spiny rock-like creature. i kept wondering what it tasted like. was it salty or sweet? is it strong or mild? chewy or pasty? was it one of those weird things that tastes like poo but considered an expensive delicacy? is it the most delicious orangey weirdness ever to be spread over white rice, thus making my vegetarian ways obviously ridiculous and certain to condemn me to forever mocking of all who i encounter who eat sea urchins....all those people who would stare down their pointy noses at me and from over the tops of their thick black framed glasses say something like "oh my, you've never had sea urchin...well...you are certainly missing out on the very best the whole ocean has to offer..." with an air of disdain and contempt for all vegetarians who actually recognize that seafood is part of the "meat" family.

of course neither the husband nor i had ever tried it, and being the vegetarian/vegan family that we are probably never will. so as i struggled to get my mind out of the scenario that was running in my head as described above, we came to the quick and highly "scientific" conclusion that certainly very few people, especially on the east coast, had tried it. neither of us ventured a guess of whether it was good or not.

this brings us to the next day when we were enjoying the nice weather with our friends C&M and C says something to effect of "i tried it once at a sushi restaurant. it was terrible". he then went on to say that it was expensive and so awful that he tried to give the second piece of his order to the waitress to try. he had no love for the sea urchin. i didn't get to ask him about the actual flavor of it. my guess is that his response would have been something close to "it tasted like butt". and my scenario of being chastised for never having eaten a sea urchin morphed into the scenario where i picture C trying to unload his half-eaten plate of sushi on to the waitress while distracting her manager by lighting his neighbor's table on fire.

we opted for a simpler dinner on sunday evening.. grilled vegetables and burgers (boca for me). i was happy to have the simplicity of just plain old grilling to start the first weekend of summer. no crazy japanese style wooden grill stacked high with cedar branches for flavor. just vegetables, some evoo,and a few simple spices. hopefully it was ok that i took over the grill and used every pair of tongs available to me.

i should also add here that there is another iron chef related scenario that runs pretty frequently in our house. it starts like this...."the secret ingredient is..........veganism! alle cuisine!"

time

time has been getting away from me lately. there seems to be so little of it to go around. the last couple weeks of summer have flown by and there has been no extended vacation here.

last week flew by extra fast. it must have been all the stuff we jammed into it. buying the new car, bringing home the little guy, a wedding and an anniversary party. I am tired from the weekend of family affairs, but don't get me wrong I had a wonderful time.

the thing is, it hasn't ended there. I have a business associate in town this week and we have been traveling to visit clients and the like. the up side of entertaining business guests is eating out at places you wouldn't normally go to (hello mushroom risotto)- the downside is insurance as the main topic of dinner conversation (hello drag).

tomorrow we head to the cape for a meeting, which should be interesting. on the way we will pick up one of my brokers and I will get to ride in the car for an hour with two insurance geeks. seriously. help me if I become one of these guys one day.

unfortunately I doubt that I will be taking many snapshots as that doesn't seem very business like. who knows, maybe I'll sneak a few in and feel liberated at the prospect of secretly blogging about insurance geeks who are old enough to be my grandfather!

ooops

Oh New England... You are so fickle when it comes to weather. It was beautiful when I walked into the mall, and it was beautiful when I walked out of the mall. However the 30 mins I was in there appear to have been very wet. ooops. just keepthis between us. don't tell Tri, Okay?

back up plan

still feeling summery but not wanting to take the hour+ drive to the ocean, the husband and I opted for a different summer outing. we were all set to go to the beach, but I'm glad we had a change in plans- especially plans that included sleeping late.after sleeping in, we packed a picnic lunch and headed to bedford, MA where we stopped at a starbucks and I was so flustered after not having been in such a long time that I forgot how to order an iced grande soy caramel macchiatto (who could forget such a thing?) then we hit up a bike shop and checked out the latest and greatest in road bikes for a few. we hopped in the car and headed over to Minute Man National Park. the park is picturesque on a lovely summer day in august. we walked the trail, over the north bridge, stopped at the river, checked out the visitor center and saw a ben franklin. unfortunately I got no pictures of this ben. we had hummus & tabuli on pita with ripe native tomatoes and chatted on our picnic blanket. we then took a walk through historic concord center and I got to hit a couple antique shops. a lovely day was had by all...and no one got a sun burn.

.

summer time

we are headed to the beach tomorrow, because it is summer. and the blue sky meets the blue ocean all year, but it never looks as good as when its 85 and humid. we will pack a cooler filled with light summery foods. we will pack sun screen and use it liberally. we will arrive and take a lengthy walk, read our respective novels and take a swim. perhaps we will drink a coke and stretch out on a towel on the nap for a while. we will drive home-maybe stop and get some dinner. we will shower and scrub off the sunscreen, the salt and the sand between our toes. we will lotion and powder and walk the dog and read until it's time to retire to clean sheets and start the week refreshed.