Friday, February 20, 2009

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Poor innocent Elodie

Mark: Last night we went to dinner to celebrate Elodie's birthday. We went to an Afghan restaurant that several people had recommended, and for which she had obtained (of course) a coupon. We were excited to be eating out just the two of us. After carefully reviewing our choices, Elodie chose a chicken Kabob. An innocent enough choice, right?

When the food was served Elodie's plate was heaped with delicious looking chunks of marinated chicken with miscellaneous vegetables, all piled on a long piece of Afghan bread. She was smiling with delight. She innocently picked what she thought was a slice of green pepper for her first bite.

Except it wasn't a green pepper, it was a slice of jalapeño pepper. Her smile turned to horror as her mouth began to burn. Soon her eyes began to water and turn red. "What do I do?" she implored in distress. "It burns."

I lamely suggested she drink water. It was kind of funny and I couldn't help but laugh except very soon tears began to stream down her face. She tried eating the bread, drinking water...but nothing was helping. I got serious, hopped up to see the manager, told him what had happened and asked if there was something they could give her to counteract the jalapeño. He dashed into the kitchen and shortly returned with a plate of rice and sweet carrots--thinking the sweetness would help. But the carrots were warm and the heat only added to her suffering.

Poor Elodie. Her birthday dinner had definitely taken a bad turn. Soon another server rushed out of the kitchen with a rather large vanilla custard. That did the trick. It was cold and sweet and creamy. Both of the waiters in the restaurant apologized, the manager apologized...everyone felt bad for her. At least 10 minutes into the ordeal, and after eating half of the custard, Elodie's tongue finally felt better and we were able to enjoy our delicious meal together.

"It didn't know that was a jalapeño; I never cook with them. I didn't know what they look like," Elodie explained to everyone.

Poor innocent Elodie. She knows now.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Antoine is officially a toddler!


Antoine has wanted to walk for months and months and months in order to keep up with his brother! Since December, he has been cruising and walking holding our hands but on Valentine's day, he found the courage or the confidence to let go and wander on his own! He is just so happy to walk all over the house!