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January 13, 2008
Only in New England
After class on Friday afternoon, we piled into the car and headed East. Though the snow had melted in the valley, as we climbed the pass outside of North Adams, ice hung in the trees.
It was foggy as we drove through Savoy and just on the edge of starting to snow.
We were on our way to Andover to visit my mom and Dean.
Because they like us, they took us to a Japanese restaurant. It was one of those menus with hundreds of options, all of which seemed very delicious.
Robbi got some udon, which pleased her.
I was torn. Sushi or noodles? Sashimi or teriyaki? I was scanning the sushi menu when something caught my eye. Red Sox roll? My fandom was piqued. Patriots roll? My mind was made up.
Here are the glorious foodstuffs in question.
The Red Sox roll (upper right) is topped with tuna. The Patriots roll, lower right, is a bit more puzzling, since their colors are not white and orange. But the white fish is blue marline, apparently, which is one of the Pats' colors. In any case, they were delicious.
The other two rolls on the plate?
The Celtics roll and the Bruins roll, of course.
Very full of raw fish, we turned in. The next day, we went to see Juno. I hope that I do not ruin anyone's fun by revealing that Juno deals prominently with pregnancy. At the end there is a delivery. Watching it, I wept like a small boy whose candy has just been stolen.
After the movie we went grocery shopping with mom. Perhaps the citizens of Lawrence, Massachusetts know something we don't, but people were crammed in there like the end of days were nigh.
Safely back at mom's house, we started mixing the batter for popovers.
For those who do not know, popovers are a light and fluffy pastry thing which, though tasty in their own right, are mostly a vehicle for putting enormous quantities of butter and jam into one's mouth.
I used to spend my boyhood summers on Mount Desert Island in Maine. My favorite day each year was when mom took me to high tea at the Jordon Pond House, where I ate popovers, butter, and jam in enormous quantities.
My mom is a wizard in the kitchen. I love my mom.
Robbi, on the other hand, kept sneaking bites of things she was not supposed to be eating.
In spite of better judgment, I love her, too.
The occasion for the popovers was a high tea we were having for our friends Bill and Betty Lychack. Bill is Andover's artist in residence and an incredibly talented writer. If you have not read The Wasp Eater, you really ought to.
Though we like Bill and Betty quite a bit, our real motive in inviting them over was the fact that they had twins six months ago. The popovers were mostly a bribe to ensure that we got to spend some time with Burgess and her brother William.
William was a very good natured little boy, though he wasn't quite sure what to make of us.
Burgess just seemed embarrassed to be seen with me.
I was delighted to learn that it is perfectly fine to put your baby on the floor.
And that, if you have two babies of approximately the same shape and size, it's a good idea to vary the color of their packaging.
We were inspired by the babies. "We can do this," we said to each other. "This is going to be easy."
Five minutes later, we fell into a profound late afternoon slumber.
Mom says it has something to do with the babies, but I blame the popovers.
Posted by bogenamp at January 13, 2008 08:26 PM