Back Home with the Boys

Wednesday, January 23, 2012 – Back Home with the Boys

Back home again, and it seems that Elliott and Marshall not only survived my absence, but thrived while I was away in New York.  They cooked steak, mashed potatoes, and bacon and eggs.  They went out with Matt to the new Smashburger on Route 50.  They shopped at Wegman’s and filled up “my” kitchen with some special treats.  The counters are still cluttered with packages of cinnamon buns, cherry strudel, and French vanilla muffins (Marshall’s favorite).  In the refrigerator, the soy milk and plain yogurt are now vying for space with the newly purchased bottles of tonic water and sugar-laden juices.  I had hoped Elliott might be a good influence on Marshall, but it looks like we haven’t made much progress.  A sugar addiction can be hard to break.

I did not despair, however.  I just got back to work in the kitchen, finally making that curried cauliflower soup – delish!  I’ll be happy to provide the recipe upon request.  Elliott said he liked the soup, but he’d like it better without all the spices.  This doesn’t come as a surprise to me. 

We’ve all been busy in the past couple of days.  Marshall has been making daily excursions to Arlington to look at apartments.  By the end of the week, he should be able to make a decision and start planning his move.  Elliott saw his pain doctor again and reviewed the latest MRI findings.  It’s not very encouraging, i.e. severe deterioration in his spine, but at least the pain medication seems to be helping.  He’s also had fun tearing up the pink bathroom.  Actually, he was just pulling up some of the floor tile to see what was under it.  We’ll get started on that renovation project very soon. 

As for me, in addition to running the household and keeping the boys well-fed, I’ve been tutoring a Bat Mitzvah student as well as practicing the Torah portion and Haftarah that I’ll be chanting in about a month.  At the same time, I’ve been consuming library books at an amazing rate.  I’m on my fifth of the month already.  Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo was a terrific account of life in the slums of Mumbai.  I also read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil in anticipation of our March trip to Savannah.  I enjoyed two books of fiction – Beautiful Lies, a historical novel set in Victorian England, and In the Shadow of the Banyan, which is set in Cambodia during the time the Khmer Rouge came to power.  Currently, I’m reading the novel Peaches for Father Francis by Joanne Harris, the author of Chocolat.  Food, fiction, and France – a perfect combination!