Sunday, June 15, 2008

Cooking With Evy

"Dada!"  Although I had barely gotten the door closed behind me, my 21 month old daughter was eagerly beckoning to me.  She and my wife were sitting on the bench at the kitchen table.  Actually, she was standing on the bench.

My wife looked wryly at me and said "Welcome to cooking with Evy."  I was a bit confused, but I approached the table for further instructions.

"Dada, nee" she said emphatically while patting the bench next to her.  In case you don't speak Holbrook vernacular, nee clearly means "sit".  I did.  It was then that I realized what I had walked into. 

The child had a frying pan on the kitchen table, and she was making good use of it for "cooking" a scone that she rescued from my wife's purse while snooping.  The poor scone had seen better days.  It was freshly salted and peppered (did I mention that it was a blueberry scone?), and some water had been splashed on it for good measure.

While I looked on in fascination, she used a spatula to shuffle the goopy mess around the pan.  Apparently she had commandeered the scone, then she liberated the frying pan from a cupboard and arranged them on the table.  Finally, she was forced to ask her mother for the spatula.

"Dada!"  My attention refocused on the poor scone.  She was pointing at it.  Clearly she intended for me to try her delicious creation.  There was no way I was eating even a little bit of soggy, salted, peppery scone.

"Why don't I let you have the first bite?" I asked, while turning the offer back to her.  She laughed maniacally at me.  Clearly that was out of the question.  In fact, I could tell by her laughing that her serious insistence that I try the scone was a rouse.  She had already tried it, and she was just trying to find another sucker to suffer through it with her.

A Cornucopia Of Father's Day Goodness

What an awesome weekend!  When you're in school, and working full time, it is amazing what a psychological drag school can be.  My current class isn't difficult, but it is ever-present.  Friday I took the day off from work and wrote my final paper.  The rest of the weekend was correspondingly so much nicer!

On Sunday, I got the royal treatment.  Pancakes for breakfast, corned beef for dinner, a canoe trip, and a bike ride with my two favorite ladies.  They also picked up the Sports Illustrated Wings\Stanley Cup magazine and the coolest book ever (perhaps).

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The Boy Mechanic Makes Toys actually has plans for making a toy steam engine.  Yes, it actually uses steam.  The book also contains detailed plans for making an ice boat.  Not a miniature one, a full sized one.  When Evelyn gets just a bit bigger, we are going to have way too much fun with the book.

As if that weren't enough, Aimee made time for me to tinker last night as well.  I drilled the 144 holes for one of my new projects, finished a circuit design, and printed the circuit.  Twice, actually.  While waiting for the printing process to finish I also connected my recently assembled Hobby CNC Driver Board to one of my stepper motors.  When I turned on the power, the motor tensed up.  It was a shock.  Nothing ever works the first time.  So I plugged the board into my computer.  After rooting about for the right software, I finally dredged it up and tried it out.  After some mild swearing I realized that I was pushing the wrong button.  The board worked perfectly on one axis, and I suspect the other two will also work just fine.

To top it all off, we even got to bed at a mostly reasonable hour and had time to read.  A completely perfect day!