Happy 5 Months!

Well, today is a big day for The Frog. He is now 5 months old! I can't believe it! To celebrate, he got carrots for lunch, and he LOVED them, despite my mishap cooking them up. I was using one of those little space-ship veggie steamers, but since carrots are so hard, the amount of water I put in the pot, wasn't enough to fully cook the carrots, and I had a little burning of the pan incident. So for all you other baby-food makers out there, beware of this. Or just use the microwave.

Also beware of the staining qualities of carrot puree, who knew?

We've also started having The Frog sit in his high chair with us while we eat dinner, just so he can get used to having dinner with the fam. He is completely fascinated by watching us eat, and I only wish I could tap into his thoughts. Is it "what are they doing?" or something more like "where does that go?" or maybe "I want some!" It's hard to tell... but I say taunt him with as much food as possible now, in hopes of creating a non-picky eater later. Let him savor every veggie that comes his way, even if it's not because he likes it, but because he's proud to be given the privilege of finally tasting it.


This shot is so cute. The Frog looks like he just woke up with his hair all messy like that. I love that he has enough hair to look messy :)

Mysterious Foodstuffs

Today, I acquired two mysterious items. These items were given to me... well, actually I took them. I have tried to be more experimental with my cooking, lately, and ever since my lovely fennel and leek casserole success, I have developed an gravitation towards unknown ingredients.

For all you who are familiar with Mormon culture, it will be no surprise for you to hear that today, upon entering the room for Relief Society, stood a table, upon which was a box, a sack full of plastic grocery bags and a sign that said please take a bag of ....

Well, that's the problem... You see, it was a box full of an exciting eatables that I have never before experienced, and I said to myself, "Why shouldn't I have some of these... ? I can just Google them when I get home and find me a tasty recipe. I really should be eating more fresh fruits and vegetables anyway".

However, I have now found myself at home with two shiny, orange, mysterious foods (note the picture) and without the memory of their names. Can anyone help me out?

It's Paste, isn't it?

I had an ingenious idea the other day. After a bit of googling, I'm finding out that I'm not the only one, BUT I want credit for thinking of it anyway.

Why does everyone insist on selling tomato paste in a can? I've never used a recipe that called for a whole can... it's always tablespoons at a time. Then I'm thrown into this frantic state of "I have an open can of tomato paste sitting in my fridge (ew) and I need to only make recipes that call for tomato paste until it's gone". Yeah, I could dump it into a small tupperware container (and waste some of the scrapings)... OR I could buy it in a tube! (just like toothpaste) Hello! What an amazing idea! I'll squirt out my tablespoon, screw the lid back on, and stick it back into my refrigerator until I need it again. Genious! Yet, grocery stores insist upon selling it in cans... Perhaps I'll have to do all my tomato paste shopping online, from now on.