Feb. 27: Chocolate Crackles, Part II

I woke up this morning and immediately thought, "It's March 1!" Hooray! Winter is almost over.

I thought about how the bulbs are coming up, the snow should be over (ah, but remember last March?), and the lilacs are just two months away. It's like hitting the crest of a tall, cold hill. We're coasting down now, toward summer.

And then I went grocery shopping and found myself cursing the cold, hard rain. Maybe my relief is premature.

I guess that makes March 1 a tentative mixture of good (spring) and bad (winter). That also pretty much sums up my weekend. Some parts were enjoyable, some parts were just blah, and one small part can be described only as sheer domestic horror.

I baked Chocolate Crackles (pg. 68) on Friday for book club. I thought gooey chocolate was a good match for our February book, Enchanted: Erotic Bedtime Stories for Women. Sherry said "Beauty and the Beast" is ruined for her forever; Denise gave us an enlightening lesson on toes; and Amy admitted that she hid her book from her daughters. We all agreed that we couldn't really fault Snow White for ditching the Prince for the Seven Dwarves since they turned into Seven Hunks after dark. The book was an unconventional choice for us, but it did generate some great conversation, none of which is suitable for printing here. This is a family blog after all.

We're back on track with less controversial choices for March (The Worst Hard Time) and April (Tiny Girls in Shiny Pants).

So far, the low point of the weekend was my decision to finally clean the fish tank. Ian has a beta that Christian calls Super Fish. The poor thing has a bacteria that is draining him of color and making him swim around kind of lopsided. I researched it, and it's incurable. He's been ill since fall; we've been expecting to find him floating for months now. But he's still kicking. I hadn't cleaned the tank since late last year because I didn't want to cause any extra stress on him. But by yesterday, the green water and black slime was too much for me. So I decided to give it a cleaning.

You'd think I'd remember how bad it is to drop little aquarium rocks down the garbage disposal. But I always remember that too late--after I've accidentally sloshed rocks into the wrong side of the sink. Those damn little rocks get stuck in the blades and jam the disposal. I thought I had them all--until I tested the disposal. Stuck. Sigh.

So James came to the rescue with a metal stick to unjam it. He's really good at that, being a landlord and all. Ah, but my "one little rock" turned out to be several little rocks. The more he banged on that disposal, the dirtier his looks were. He went back to the garage and returned with a longer stick for more leverage. I was really disturbed by how much black gunk was coming out from under the disposal drain ring when he leaned the stick on it--I thought my sink was clean!

And did I mention that the dishwasher was running through all this? As I stood next to James, horrified by the black gunk creeping out from under the loosened drain ring, I suddenly felt a delicious warmth on my feet. Nice as it was to have warm toes, I knew that it meant something bad. Actually, it meant that hot water was pouring out from under the sink. In just seconds it was flowing all over the hardwood floor and making a run for the dining room.

Turned out that the long stick had broken a pipe loose--just as the dishwasher was draining into the disposal. Long story short, Christian and I used every towel in the house. James gave me the dirtiest look yet, headed to the couch and waited for me to clean it all up. At least he was quiet about it. Seething, most likely.

I'm happy to report that the story does have a happy ending: There's no damage to the floors or walls (at least none that's visible), the disposal is fixed (after several little rocks flew out) and the pipe didn't need to be replaced (yet).

Fortunately, that episode didn't interfere with our date night. MacKenzie came over to watch the boys, and James and I went out for Italian food in Bellevue and a comedy show in Kirkland. Home by 10:30. Bed by 11:00. Asleep by 11:05. My kind of date night.

Today is just blah. I'm not really into anything today. Cleaned the house. Worked in the yard. Went grocery shopping. Blah, blah, blah.

One bright spot: I discovered that I can make my own creme fraiche, which I need for one of my cookie recipes. I could probably buy it somewhere, but making my own is more interesting. Also, I was thrilled recently to find that Whole Foods carries Dutch cocoa for just $7.99 a box. It's $16.99 at QFC! I was one smug little cookie baker when I made that discovery. Now if I could just find baking-quality milk chocolate.

Isn't that just how life is? Taking the good with the bad. Winter's not quite over, but signs of spring are everywhere. And sure, the dishwasher drained all over my kitchen, but think how clean my floor is now!