symmetrical

The children caught a comment that their mother made about Casper's asymmetry (by which she was referring to his floppy ear, multidirectional teeth, and the eye that tends to squint on its own) and were curious about what the word meant.


We explained that the fact that their brother's features aren't exactly balanced doesn't make him a freak -- in fact, studies have shown that faces which have been digitally altered to be perfectly symmetrical seem uncanny and unpleasant. To give them an example, we took some of their better pictures and flopped them over to show what they might look like if their features were perfectly balanced, and this is the fun we came up with:


Our conclusions? Well, that it's funny and silly to see yourself this way. That freckles are not evenly distributed. It also appears to us that Linus has the most symmetrical features of the three. And that Casper looks like the Weekly World News's Bat Boy when he's totally symmetrical:

(To be fair, this was a strange angle to begin with. I should also confess -- something which usually gets a parent in trouble -- that Casper has a grin which is the most infectious and adorable thing I've ever seen, and that he may end up being the best looking of the bunch.)

three tales of my father's dragon

We love to get audiobooks at the library and a few months ago, we picked up Three Tales of My Father's Dragon, which turned out to be three books in one. We later checked out each of the books, My Father's Dragon, Elmer and the Dragon, and The Dragons of Blueland so we could enjoy the charming stories as well as the fun illustrations. The books are written by Ruth Stiles Gannett and illustrated by Ruth Chrisman Gannett.

These are all short chapter books, perfect read alone books for early readers and perfect read-aloud books for ages 3+ (Linus adores the stories).My Father's Dragon begins when the mother of a young boy throws out an alley cat that he had been feeding. When the cat tells Elmer about the fantastical Wild Island, and a dragon imprisoned there by the ferocious animals, he decides to stow away on a ship and try to save the baby dragon. He succeeds through a series of encounters with the animals -- each time they threaten him, he distracts them by offering some bit of the toiletries he had packed. The lighthearted tone, not to mention Elmer's cleverness in tricking his powerful adversaries, is part of what makes the book such a success.

Bum cack! Bum cack! We dreed our nagon!

In Texas, November is still late summer

This weekend, we grilled chicken breasts with a new marinade that I wanted to share with everyone, even if your weather makes grilling more a labor of love than an excuse to luxuriate in a beautiful afternoon. (This sentiment isn't meant to sound mean spirited, but if it encourages anyone to visit us, so much the better.)

Here is the recipe that I made for the meal, which we think turned out pretty well:

Citrus Tarragon Marinade

INGREDIENTS

1 ¼ cups plain yogurt
¼ cups vegetable (canola) oil
¼ cups tarragon vinegar
juice of 2 large lemons

1 bunch scallions, finely chopped
¼ cup flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 bay leaf, broken into pieces
2-4 cloves garlic, pressed

1 ½ tsp kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground (or more to taste)

DIRECTIONS

After mixing the ingredients, place 4-5 skinless, boneless chicken breasts in a sealable bag with 2/3 of the marinade. Reserve the remainder for the grilling.

After as many as 3 hours marinating (but no longer), remove the chicken breasts and cook them over a hot charcoal fire. The marinade may stick to the grill, so brushing oil over it before cooking may prevent problems. Turn after the breasts show a nice char, and watch to ensure that they remain moist. (Remember, too, that they will continue to cook for a few minutes after they are removed from the heat.) Brush on some of the reserved marinade, and allow the added moisture to cook and crust before adding more to the other side, and cooking for a few minutes. I prefer heating this final stage only until the surface is a little goopy, not until the added marinade is cooked fully dry.

Serve with herbed long-grain rice, such as basmati.

The result is a lemony and fragrant accent to the chicken, which gains the advantages of its savory surface from the charcoal, and a nice moisture from the marinade. The real secret is the tarragon vinegar, which is magical. I'd recommend it for any kitchen.

(Gwennie gets photo credit for this image.)