Dangerous Thing #42: Break the Recipe Rule Book

Create and eat your own confection

This was so incredibly fun. Jack said this afternoon, “I wonder what peanut butter and milk together would taste like” and I was so glad I had the book to bolster me up because I realized, “Oh, it’s one of the dangerous things, let’s do it!”
He was so into it, very intent. It was harder than I would have thought, sitting on my hands and not interfering! First, he added milk ( a LOT of milk, and it was hard being chill about the use of all that expensive organic milk, but what’s a few bucks to further the tinkering cause…) and then peanut butter and lemon juice. He tasted it and, “Oh. I forgot to add sugar.” Added sugar, still wasn’t quite right. Maybe some jam? “Now it will be like a smoothie, this is like the fruit for a smoothie!” But after a taste… still needs something else. Absolutely seriously and not facetiously at all, he decided to add a pickle. Then tries to correct the pickle flavor with some honey. And then again quite seriously decided to add a chunk of cheese. It’s beyond repair now and we chuck it, but then he decided to go back and reunite some of the flavors that worked for him… lemon juice, milk, and sugar. Delicious! Isn’t that amazing?

Dangerous Thing #4: Kiss Hello Like the French

Faire la bise

Location: Austin, Tx.
Date: April 5, 2010
Object: Deux persons et deux joue

I admit, it’s hardly hard to do, I am a Francophile. J’adore everything French! Sam and I have been having a blast reading Le Petit Nicholas series and we went to see A Town Called Panic at the Alamo… I think he has the Paris bug as he’s asked to visit! So he was game to try Dangerous thing #4 on for the camera.

It was shocking to learn we have been attempting this sassy greeting w/o the sage guidance and context of Gever Tulley. As opposed to our doing it privately, it became far more silly when we were mugging for the camera. Sam is intent on actually kissing my cheek, which goes against the directions, but rules are made to be broken, non?

In the end he made like the French.

His review of the experience? “It didn’t count because we aren’t strangers.” Well, I am more than happy to indulge him if he suggests we must go to the land of liberté, egalité, fraternité, to get this one right.

Dangerous Thing #30: Dam Up a Creek

Change the course of history (momentarily)

I was glad that this was included in the book. While not dangerous per se (unless you’re planning on upping the ante by sandbagging a raging river) it is, to me, one of the great joys of childhood. We had this big dirt pile in our backyard when I was a kid. That dirt pile saw a LOT of action. We were back there every day with our Star Wars figures. I would construct these intricate waterways with rivers, dams, and lakes… would work on it dry for hours, and then the big moment would come when I would bury the hose in the side of the pile so that the water would spurt out from the head of the river as if emanating straight from the aquifer. I was filled with satisfaction as the raging headwaters coursed down the winding path I had built. So anyway, that was loads of fun and I always notice kids are drawn to it. This summer we had the fun of going to Mt. Bachelor in Oregon where we actually got to play in a snow drift in July. The snow was melting and there was a tiny little creek running from the snowdrift and down the mountain. This kid and his dad arrived and this kid just went straight to work building a dam. I could see he was completely absorbed and could have stayed there for hours. His dad, on the other hand, pitched a few snowballs and was ready to get back in the car. I felt bad for the kid, but anyway…. something about dams and creeks is primal and universal. Unleashes the inner workerman or workerwoman in every kid.