treasures

absolutely shattered i was on saturday and very tempted to go out for a meal rather than cooking for my two little ones. however - i decided not to give in to temptation. we're going skiing next week and no doubt will have a few treats then, so we should save our pennies.

next thing i know, youngest asks me, totally out of the blue, 'mummy, can we go out for a meal tonight?'

(we hardly ever go out for a meal. literally. only when we're on holiday, and perhaps once or twice during the year)

how tempting to say 'you know what, i had just been thinking exactly the same!' - what fun, and not at all unlike me, but as it happens i had my 'responsible adult' hat on & decided to explain about saving pennies. 

'but mummy, you can always go to the bank!'

so then i explained about how pennies get into the bank and cooked them a lovely supper

sunday morning, i was lying in bed listening to their activities, wondering what they were up to. at some point, they got me out of bed. 'mummy, we made you a treasure hunt!'

which they had. they had emptied their piggy banks, hidden the money in my study, drawn a map and read the map for me to lead the way to my treasure. 'so you have a few more pennies, mummy'

(oops! do you think i overdid it...?)

stirring Herman

or: 'Herman revisited'

you must look after him!

or he will come back to haunt you...........  

ignorance is bliss

to me, lobster is just the most delicious lovely treat ever. yum. I had ordered some for Christmas but the fishmonger hadn’t received my email so I had to go without. I’m making up for this tomorrow, when I have a bunch of friends over for a lobster-indulgence. hurrah! even more of a treat when there is no excuse such as Christmas or anything J

browsing through recipes I discover that

- apparently some of these creatures are incredibly old and it is impossible to tell exactly how old they are because they continuously renew their DNA thanks to an enzyme called telomerase. the lobster we eat tomorrow might be 300 years old! on the one hand, I think that’s cool – I presume it has had a nice life, etc. so I tell myself I don’t need to feel guilty and am allowed to enjoy every bite. on the other hand, gosh, it’s antique, may have been in existence since before Avicenna – and here I am just greedily gobbling it up?!

- I also discover they die painlessly if you stick them in the freezer for 2 hours before cooking them. how on earth did they measure that? but ok, let’s give that a go

- cooking live lobsters is illegal in Italy (according to Wikipedia you could be fined up to €495)

I decide I have read enough & go for simple & delicious. steamed lobster served without guilt but with clarified butter, baby new potatoes, samphire and salad. antipasti for starters and lemon meringue pie for pudding. as long as I have to make do without telomerase I’d better enjoy life while it lasts J