Chitterlings, Broccoli, and CS Goldsmith

If you take the red-eye out of this, this becomes a really adorable picture. Maybe with the power of snapfish, it would be possible. Callum's nightly cycle (that I handle) is as follows: Bath, with plenty of time for kicking, drying off, standing up while leaning against daddy so daddy can later Callum with vaseline for his eczema, going upstairs, getting into pajamas, saying goodnight to his mobile friends on his crib, saying goodnight to his pet-net friends, hand off to mommy for some delicious dinner. Anyway, Callum is really sitting up so well now!

Somebody please tell me: What the hell is wrong with me? (by the way: Ponticelli, come on up and help me eat these!)

I have become pretty much a regular at Joseph's Market in Waterville--and for good reason, as they are the finest local market and butcher shop I've ever seen. I am taking a class there right now, and I'll write about that later! Anyway, I am on Kevin's (the owner) special email list, which advertises "unadvertised" specials he can offer. They are usually fantastic deals on meat--why, just this afternoon, I got a 3# box of bacon "ends and pieces" for 2.39. These will be perfect for my baked beans, split pea soup, etc. AND, I got a couple of whole chickens for .69 cents a pound...under five bucks for two 3# chickens! Okay. I am starting to sound like my Jewish grandfather, who spent 86% of his life looking for deals at Roxy's market in Quincy. I digress. Kevin asked me if I wanted to try the great deal he had on "chittlins." But he wouldnt tell me what they were until I bought them. At 5 bucks for a 10 pound tub, I figured what the heck. At the very least, for five dollars, I could tell a pretty good story (or play a pretty good joke on someone). Neither Kevin, nor Danny, nor Oscar, nor anyone else in the darn store knew a) what they were or b)how to cook them. But I think they knew "very well" what they were selling me. Haha....I knew it had something to do with "soul food," and I am all for that. So I looked it up on-line.

And here, my friends, is why, although I grew up with a Jewish family who ate things like tongue, ground up chicken livers, and head cheese.....and even though I married into a "Philly" family of Scrapple and Pork Roll eaters, I will not be eating Chitterlings:

Chitterlings (often pronounced /ˈtʃɪtlɪnz/ and sometimes spelled chitlins or chittlins in vernacular) are the intestines and rectum of a pig that have been prepared as food

Care must be taken when preparing chitterlings, due to the possibility of disease being spread when they have not been cleaned or cooked properly. These diseases/bacteria include E. Coli and Yersinia enterocolitica, as well as Salmonella. Chitterlings must be soaked and rinsed thoroughly in several different cycles of cool water, and repeatedly picked clean by hand, removing extra fat, undigested food, and specks of fecal matter because the part of the pig the 'chitlins' come from includes intestinal polyps and the last few inches before the pig's rectum.

So now that we have that out of the way, let's play "name that caption."

NO. MORE. BROCCOLI.

He actually loves broccoli....but he also loves to hold his spoon and "help," as it were. He doesnt have very good aim with the spoon yet.....

And here he is....wondering just where his broccoli disappeared to. If you enlarge this picture, you can see a) beautiful little eyes and eyelashes (we dont know where he gets these!) and b) what looks like dried up crap all over his face. But I promise its broccoli. And prunes.

MAINE: MAKING SOMETHING POSITIVE OUT OF SOMETHING NEGATIVE SINCE 1821.

Yeah. So the last few nights have been pretty cold. Kind of. So here is a picture I took at 6 this morning when I finished stoking the stove (it had been ten whole minutes since I last stoked it). Its like fighting a losing battle trying to keep the house warm when its 30 below zero outside. But I'm steadfast in my fight, and committed not to use any jihad oil. It is astronomical when I consider just how much wood we've gone through in the last week. This morning, neither one of the cars would start....and the Subaru actually didnt start at all. Its still sitting in the driveway. While I was bringing in wood tonight (a process which takes maybe ten minutes) I counted four (different) oil trucks crawling down our street. And we dont live on a very long side street.

And it looks like another huge snowstorm on Sunday....