Why sex ed is important, and other stuff

Nutmeg returned home this afternoon with a "gift;" a dead bird. Oliver opened the back door and was like "WTF?!" in a child-appropriate way. "There is a dead bird here, Mom, and it's WHOLE." "Oliver, are you serious?" Obviously I thought he was pulling my chain.

He was not. There was a darling, seemingly woundless, dead little bird on my doormat, and my heart broke a little. The kids wailed, "PUNISH, NUT, Mom." Like I can punish a cat. So instead I tried to explain instinct and evolution.

"Boys, cats hunt. It's what they do. I mean, how would Nutmeg eat if we didn't feed him? He would go find food and kill it if need be."

"But WHY? We FEED Nutmeg."

"I know, honeys, but it's what he's evolved to do. It's like, when you were born, how did you know how to nurse? No one taught you, you just knew."

Oliver: "I don't know."

Jack: "Mom, duh, it's NOT like we put our mouths on your boob!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I'm thinking, "Well, actually, that's exactly how it works. How does he think it works?" And then I realized anew why it pays to stay silent sometimes because...

Jack continued: "I mean, Mom, you put on the machine with the straw and stick that into the baby's mouth."

I love the knowitall'ness of kids. I mean, this description of nursing is ludicrous, and yet it makes perfect sense to Jack. Enough so that he "DUHs" me repeatedly with his eyes and tone whilst relaying his knowitall'ness of nursing. Which is not even something he'll ever do. It was great.

I cleared things up lest Oliver's single take-away of this conversation be, "Mom once fed me with a straw attached to her boob." And I feel even more strongly than ever that kids be taught all about their bodies and babies and reproduction and so forth because otherwise they think babies nurse from boob straws (Jack) or that you can get pregnant by touching butts with someone else (I actually believed that to be true, many moons ago). ~~~ Tonight for dinner, I attempted my own version of the potatoes with piquillo sauce that I had last Saturday at The Black Sheep. I smoked a sweet red pepper and then cooked it down with a Spanish onion, some parboiled russet potatoes, garlic, olive oil, a bay leaf and some pimentón. Before serving I stirred in some crème fraîche and to go alongside made coffee-rubbed steak. Not bad, not bad at all.

www.em-i-lis.com

www.em-i-lis.com

www.em-i-lis.com

Patatas fabulous!

Ooh, this all turned out quite well, especially my pimentón potatoes. I served them with a garlic aioli for drizzling, and that was a fine decision if I do say so myself! I will post that recipe soon, but for now, some pics.

 I also made a radish slaw (using a green Luobo and a watermelon radish plus a kohlrabi- pretty, eh?) and a salad of bitter greens fresh from my garden, slicked with a lemon-garlic-oil dressing. Muy bueno!

Pimentón

What are your thoughts on smoked pimentón? I think it is totally fabulous and since using it in last night's dinner, am on a new tear to incorporate it into more recipes and meals. For those of you not familiar with it, a quick 101...

Simply put, paprika is a familiar spice made from dried red bell and chili peppers. Pimentón, also known as Spanish paprika, can be sweet, hot/spicy, or smoked (each made from different sorts of peppers), and is a critical component of Spanish culinary traditions. Hungarian food also utilizes quite a bit of paprika, most often the sweet and hot varieties, and those are wonderful in their own rights. However, smoked pimentón lends such a unique and aromatic depth of flavor to whatever it's added, and as such, it's my favorite. You always know when pimentón is present. Last night's recipe called for stirring it and cumin seeds into sauteed garlic and onions which were still over high heat, and as soon as the red powder hit the skillet, the aroma shuttle had lift-off. We had some really great country bread from Bonaparte (fab French outpost at a local farmers market (FM), and a cafe in Georgetown) which we thickly sliced, dunked in hot olive oil and then peppered with pimentón, no pun intended. Friends, this was enough to render me speechless. Holy s&*))&t!

You know what else Spain does well? Potatoes! Tortilla española! Potatoes in garlic aioli! Patatas bravas! All are dishes I could literally eat every day. I don't, but I could. Tonight, however, we're going to have some hot oven-roasted potatoes (gorgeous little spuds I bought yesterday at the FM) with olive oil, garlic and pimentón to kick off our Meatless Monday meal. I can hardly wait; my mouth is watering.

Next time you're at a market with a good selection of spices, get yourself a little canister of this stuff. You won't be sorry.