i'm gonna be a great dad

i spent all of yesterday doing fun, house-chores type stuff like making a batch of chicken soup for the dotytron, who is capable of psychosomatic-ing/manifest destiny-ing illness at the slightest provocation or in response to any perceived stress. i also prepped and painted the white wall in the dining room, edging and giving it 2 coats. i also puttied up a hole that resulted from us moving a picture, tidied, dusted, and supervised the installation of new shelving in the bathroom. it was IMMENSELY satisfying, even if sunday will go down in infamy as the time the dotytron made his preggos wife paint the dining room by herself. any time i can wear my home depot painting hat:

and walk around with a measuring tape and level and prep a room for painting and otherwise work on the house on the kind of gorgeous, hot, early-summer day that makes everyone else play hooky from house stuff and flock outside in droves, is a good day. i was seriously born to be a dad. i'm totally going to be angry dad sports team coach. or, futzing around the house in overalls dad. the dotytron has generously offered to step up and be the mom, which is kind of awesome.

here are my painting rules for success. the first rule is really, SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS. which means do all the boring prep work and make sure you have all the tools so that when you're ready to go, you're READY TO GO and all you have to do is paint:

1) USE THE 3M BLUE PAINTERS TAPE. green tape is poo. don't even bother. you're just throwing money away.
2) get one of the paint can plastic lip things:
- you stick it to the edge of the can and then it curves around and lets you get a clean pour
3) get a paint can opener:


4) tape down your drop cloths and do all the boring taping (note: i'm assuming that most people are NOT like me and find taping supremely boring - i am a freak that loves doing this kind of prep work)
5) have all your tools out and ready to go

saturday night was the funnest. we hitched a ride with lolls to kdubs and had a FEAST OF EPIC PROPORTIONS including: grilled sausages, chicken breast, veggie burgers, portobello mushrooms, vegetables, red quinoa salad, asparagus risotto, orzo salad, bacon-wrapped grilled jalepeno poppers, green salad, macaroni salad, chocolate hazelnut mousse cake, and key lime pie. it was so the best. there was also a spirited discussion on the proper use of the semi-colon and hair cuts. lolls also played the marriage ref for me and the dotytron on the way home. it was cute.

however, we got home super-late and i've been battling a low-grade headache and feeling like i need to sleep like, all the time since friday, so i was a bad daughter and bailed on my mum for brunch. i was supposed to take her to the black hoof for breakkie but i knew we'd have to leave the house super-early to get a table and i needed the extra sleep. she was very cute and sweet about it though...even though she woke up at 7AM ON A SUNDAY to make sure she got downtown in time! lol.

this was sunday breakkie:

 

a bacon, egg, avocado, lettuce, tomato, and mayo sammie on a whole wheat kaiser.

later in the afternoon our buddy L came over to help measure our kitchen and help us conceptualize how the redesign might go. then our supper club met for dinner. i suggested queen margherita pizza. the dotytron got the prix fixe and i got just a pizza. the good news is: they've improved on the bread situation. this time the bread came out and it was nicely toasted and was of a better quality than the tuesday night visit. he started with the capicollo appetizer, which had 2 strips of capicollo, a small pile of diced roasted peppers, and a small pile of olives:

 

this appetizer was kind of ill-conceived and poorly executed. the peppers were cold and the portion was kind of small. i much enjoyed the ricotta with honey and the potatoes, sausage, and peppers from last tuesday. i can appreciate that they want to change the apps every day, but i kind of think that they should make sure they have a roster of like, 3 or 4 equally good ones, first.

the dotytron got a pizza that was supposed to have spicy sausage, olives, and tomatoes, but was absent the sausage and with no good reason or explanation:

 

i got the pizza quattro formaggio with funghi, which was curiously absent the funghi:

 

mine was really good though. the four cheeses (ricotta, fior di latte, gorgonzola, and something else) really melded together nicely. the advertised mushrooms would have definitely added to the dish, but they weren't missed. what WAS missed was the complete lack of acknowledgement that they were supposed to be there in the first place!

the dotytron picked an arugala and pomegranate seed salad for his post-pizza salad:
i have to say, the prix fixe is A LOT of food. the pizzas are pretty big (12") and very filling. i ended up getting a nondescript panna cotta for dessert, served with a strawberry water.

tonight i was working the late shift at work which means i packed my dinner. it was the aforementioned chicken vegetable soup and that moroccan potato, pepper and egg sandwich with harissa that i make:



fin.