Just as it becomes time to reopen the doors to the Paper Chef, I have a moment to get back to normal here and write a little tiny bit about cooking and what we have been doing in that regard. I am not the chef of the hour, however. I have mentioned before how both my daughters' can make crepes and have even been known to do so and bring them to us in bed (if only we could find the secret to getting them to do this more often...)

Well, the younger one has always been more interested in the kitchen and in cooking. She asked the other day about making something special - maybe a souffle. So I helped her pick out four or five recipe books from the more than seventy that have made the cut in our household (that means they don't get purged every six months when I decide I don't look at them often enough to keep them). She went through a bunch and settled on a strawberry souffle with strawberry sauce from Pierre Franey's Cuisine Rapide (an excellent book that I should look at more). Then she made it. I helped with only two things - I put in and took out from the oven and I did about 20% of the egg white beating (since I persuaded her that it is correct procedure to do it by hand).



We talked later and she told me that she wants the Pierre Franey book to go off to college with. Personally I think she'll be beyond it long before then - she's ten at the moment.

She also made brunch today for friends and family - six people - crepes with about fifteen toppings. I contributed some sauteed asparagus and onions in lemon and salt.

I did inaugurate the barbecuing season (technically grilling in our household) with the usual assortment of hot dogs, sausages and some very nice burgers made from high quality range fed beef, minced onion and garlic, herbes de provence, cajun spice and salt. I also made a lovely buttermilk-marinated chicken with spicy salsa, black olive paste, onion, garlic, meyer lemons, salt, paprika and bay leaves all added to the marinade. I slashed the chicken pieces before marinating to get the flavor inside and I let them sit for six hours. Mmmm, mmmm, good.