Tulips

I'm posting this for the amusement of my parents, but the back story is this:

In Atkinson, my mom grew tulips by our back door. Yellow & red. Every spring they'd look real nice, then they'd open up and look really creepy, especially the red ones. They looked like they were coming to get you. I always had to run past the door and into the house as quickly as possible to avoid seeing them.

She'd also cut them and put them on the dining room table, and I would sprint through that room with my eyes closed whenever the tulips were on display. Not sure why (overactive imagination), but they really freaked me out.

A couple weeks ago the weather started to turn nice here, which made me realize how long and dark the winter was. I had a craving to bring some of the budding outside in, so after a few days of debate I bought a bunch of tulips from the flower stall down the street. They looked really nice! They had luscious leaves that filled out an otherwise kind of measley bouquet:

AND THEN... one morning I came upstairs and they were all open! AGH!!! And I was home alone!

I promptly disposed of the wretched flowers, but I believe that the score is now Tulips: 857, Jess: 1.

Give me that fish!

It's been a while since I've put up a post about culinary pursuits. We're still having fun trying out new things, becoming experts at mussels, whole chicken, and we even made a pretty tasty pork roast when we had friends over for dinner recently.

We have a fish truck at the end of the street, and you may remember a post from the summer when I mutilated a couple poor snapper. I've found the secret to whole fish is... either get the fish monger to fillet 'em for you, OR bake 'em whole!

Voila! Above, last night's sea bass baked with fennel, basil and red onions. MUCH less messy than previous pre-cooking filleting experiements. PLUS when I put the spices and other stuff inside I get to sing from my favourite Disney movie: '... then you slash off their skin, give their bellies a slice then I rub some salt in cause that makes it taste niiiiiiice! Zoot alors! I have meeeessed one!' It's the best part of the total experience. I'm pretty sure Jason agrees.

Bon appetit!