I love my children!

I just love my 15-year-old daughter. We are out of milk and bread, and nothing seemed to want to come together into a meal, in my groggy morning condition. But she started grits, made just plain with water, and I thought "Blech!" But then she went out in the yard and got parsley, thyme, and sage, and made rich a herb gravy with half & half and roux. She found a packet of cottage bacon from our Bacon Of The Month Club*. Then she scrambled up some eggs for protein - all without ruffling her orange bathrobe. The grits-n-gravy is Fabulous! A year ago, we'd never even eaten grits, being Northerners. She made every pan dirty, but it was worth it.

DD11 tidied her room this morning without me having to ask more than once. It was shaping up to be a scary day - where were MY kids, and who left these two Changelings that clean and cook??

Ahh... but then the mail came and they commenced to yelling and smacking each other over the art center course catalog - all is well. My kids are home.

*Last December, the food website Serious Eats offered a series of holiday prizes donated by advertisers looking for promotion. All you had to do was make a blog comment in a particular thread. and I won one! I have been getting a package of bacon shipped to me in an insulated box each month. I blogged my way to Bacon Of the Month! I would never buy such a thing, but if you have the money (almost $300 by the time you add shipping) - it really is a cool gift. It would make a good raffle prize for a fundraiser. We have gotten to try no-nitrate bacon, several smoked or sugared bacons, and cottage bacon (a wide less-fatty cut that is good for sandwiches). There is apparently no such thing as bad bacon.