Sunday, April 27, 2008

Easy like Sunday morning

On Saturday I get to lie in, while on Sunday morning Ethan and I hang out while Rachel and God take a well-earned rest. This Sunday took us to the Bread & Ink Café for breakfast; it's a little upscale compared to its more popular neighbour the Cup & Saucer, though this may have been lost on Ethan as he continued his empirical investigation into the law of gravity, duly dropping a coffee mug onto the tiles as I strapped him into his high chair. Things improved from there on in, all cutlery, salt and pepper shakers, condiments, tug-worthy tablecloth corners etc safely placed beyond reach; I selected the fruit cup for Ethan while I opted for the chilaquiles - a kind of Mexican scrambled eggs with assorted 'stuff', easier to spell than pronounce. All v. good. Then to the park for an hour's run-run before heading home to relax in front of a good book, preferably printed on board with lots of brightly coloured pictures and monosyllabic text, whilst Ethan completes the New York Times' crossword.


Chilaquiles in foreground, fruit cup and decaf to the rear.


The grapes look particularly enticing this morning, Daddy.


A quick jog to the park should work that off.


Well, that was exhausting. And it's only ten o'clock.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

24-Hour Alienation

I’m too out of touch to know if Radiohead have set any of their videos at one of the 425 24-hour fitness gymnasia that litter this nation, but if not then they are missing a trick. Row upon endless row of muppets engaged in more-or-less frenetic repetitive motions, a vast amount of time and energy expended to absolutely no purpose, a giant labful of brightly clothed hamsters on methamphetamine. There is something massively dispiriting about the whole sorry venture of sweating out that unnecessary but frankly delicious slice of French toast; not in and of itself, but in the industrial scale of the enterprise and its faceless seriality.

Only the new office doesn’t have an on-site gym like the old one did, and I do eat rather a lot of French toast. And so should you. And just to mix things up a bit, here’s a recipe:

Several slices of bread
8 fl oz milk
1 large egg
2 tablespoons sugar
1 ½ tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
a pinch of salt
unsalted butter for frying
maple syrup or similar

Blitz the milk, egg, sugar, flour, vanilla essence and salt together in a blender and pour into a dish. Take thick slices (3/4 inch-ish) of bread and dip/soak both sides in the mixture, then fry in a little unsalted butter, about a minute per side (looks mottled brown but not burned, like a pancake I suppose). Pour over the syrup and enjoy.


Rachel and Ethan, so tiny in the woods.