Chop Chop!

I hope you had a lovely Mother's Day, either being celebrated as a mother or celebrating with your mother. I sure did. The night before, Mother's Day eve let's call it, my daughter was dancing around the house singing and laughing about how excited she was about it. She even said that she wouldn't be able to sleep for all her anticipation. Why she was so wound-up, I'm not completely sure, except for that I'm concerned that she shares my love of a good party, which will only become more troubling as she approaches her teenage years....

The morning of, I got to sleep in until 8 o'clock, which is truly sleeping in, as my mother friends will attest. A basket tray, complete with coffee in my favorite mug brought home from Ireland, roses, NY Times front page, half of a toasted English Muffin, and several envelopes and wrapped packages, was delivered to my bedside. Kids, husband and dog all clambered onto the bed to watch me open the bounty, which thankfully included several coupons for work around the house (which I am fully planning on cashing in, especially the "unlimited dog walk" and "poo poo patrol" coupons from my middle son). My daughter had made me a special crown that said I 'heart' You Mommy, which was lovely except for the disconcertingly long gray hair that had become tangled in the tape. Could that actually have come from my head?!? At least it got pulled out, which was a gift in and of itself, don't you think?

Later in the morning we went to my mother's house for a brunch. Though there were just 10 of us (including the 4 kids) my mom must have cooked enough food to feed twenty or more. There were two baked egg dishes, a tomato tart, a savory bacon monkey bread, croissant french bread with fresh strawberry syrup and whipped cream, and a coffee cake (brought by me). In our family, we don't mess around when it comes to holidays. Stuffed, almost to the point of being uncomfortable, we staggered to our car for the short ride home, where we spent the afternoon lounging by the pool recovering from the gluttony of the morning. It was a lovely day.


Perhaps the most exciting gifts I received were from Matt's mom and mine-a copy of the spring issue of Edible Cape Cod and a Cape Cod cookbook, whetting my appetite for this summer's adventures, and two! new! Wusthof! knives! I haven't been so excited since I got my Dyson vacuum cleaner (sad, but true). My mom admonished me to not cut myself (I inherited my knife skills from her so she should know!) and so far, I have been careful, but it is only a matter of time, I'm sure. The knives have inspired me to get slicing, chopping, dicing and chiffonading. And let me tell you that your prep time, with sharp knives, is cut in half, no pun intended. What a huge difference there is between those knives and my old, worn out, faded, wooden handled Chicago Cutlery knives I received as a wedding gift nearly 13 years ago.

I really must use them for something exciting soon...a chopped salad perhaps? But for now, they have been doing their part, slicing through some seriously not local watermelon (from Mexico...shhhh) and some tough to open plastic bags. That's an okay way to use expensive knives, right?