"The other night in Chicago, I had one of the best meals of my life at Alinea, where I had seventeen or so courses, all small, all done with a kind of rococo elaborateness that delighted me. One dish of rabbit came accompanied by a small overturned glass that, when picked up, was full of the aroma—but only the aroma—of burned oak leaves."
I know, I know. Nothing for weeks and then three in one night. But I how fabulous are these cooking pamphlet illustrations? I just can't wait to get my gocco. I'm going to plagerise like the wind.
Mr Steven Mack Mack Mack Mack Mack all Dressed in Black Black Black Black Black
I love these illustrations by Steve Mack - very fifties and with lovely flat colour. I've chosen the lion because I'm surrounded by leos, but all the other animals are great too. Steve added a different letter and animal to his blog every week for 26 weeks - what a great project idea. Wish I could be that disciplined.
Currently it feels like every day Maddles has a brand new trick to dazzle us with (although I admit we are easily dazzled). On Tuesday she woke up 'twinkling' her fingers. She'd been watching me very intently whenever I sang Twinkle Little Star to her and I could see that the finger actions in particular had her intrigued. Perhaps she was dreaming about it over night and finally figured out how to do it.
Then yesterday we had some people over and I could hear them laughing with Maddles in the front room. I went in and Maddles had the DVD remote control up to her ear.
'Dadada!' she was saying, very seriously into the remote. 'DadadaDADAdadaDAdaDADADA!' Then she slammed the remote/phone onto the floor and looked up with a 'well, that'll teach them to call at this hour,' look on her face.
It was a little alarming (albeit extremely cute) to see this mimicry in action. Are we really that aggressive on the phone? All I can think is that we get a lot of call centres ringing us up. But I usually just avoid them by not answering.
Maddles went on her first rally today - the Walk Against Warming. Usually I find these things heartening ('I'm not the only one! Hooray!'). But today I just felt sad as in my heart of hearts, I think it's all too late. Current predicitons say the fishing industry will have collapsed completely by 2048. 90% of the species that currently inhabit the earth will be gone by the time Maddles is my age. Australia's rivers will probably never return to their former levels. The barrier reef will disappear in about fifteen years. It's just so depressing. And a few thousand enthusiastic protestors is not going to make a lick of difference.
You know, it's like the toy library. It always amazes me that people don't wipe the baby spit off the toy library toys before they return them. It seems like a common courtesy. It's the same with the environment. We should be wiping it down before we hand it on, not decimating it. It's just plain rude.
I felt like apologising to Maddles for the crappy world we're giving her. The only problem was she was too busy bawling with boredom and trying to escape from her stroller to listen.
Maddles is one today! Thieu came home from the night shift with a cake, complete with one-shaped candle burning on top. Then we celebrated with a bowl of Birthday porridge.
What Maddles can do this year that she couldn't do this time last year: clap crawl pull up on things laugh shove food items (and non-food items) in her mouth sleep through the night make both eyes look in the same direction
What Maddles could do last year that she continues to do now: spew poo cry
