Craptastic day ends ok

Little Dude authoritatively has a grasp on movement. He can crawl quickly. He can walk while holding onto things. He can climb. What he doesn't have is any sense of danger.

Yesterday, as the culmination of a series of lousy events, while I stood a few feet away folding laundry, he went sliding off the bed. Fortunately, the hardwood floor broke his fall. He actually slid down the side of the bed, holding onto the comforter, so it wasn't quite like he just leapt off a cliff. Still, it sucked.

He got a nice little shiner on his noggin, one of many he's had, though this is the first time he's fallen like that. They go away quickly, but still, I now see him falling when I close my eyes.

This happened shortly after I botched a batch of M&M blondies. I didn't know what a blondie was, but I guess it's like a brownie, but with light brown sugar and less chocolate. I was moving smoothly through the recipe, proud of myself for knowing how to soften butter and follow a confusing recipe. But then I baked them at 450 instead of 350. I noticed early enough to save some of the bars. The corners were a bit charred, though.

But this is a week for cooking adventures, so I pressed onward and upward for dinner. I made lemon chicken, which was easy but new. Basically, it's just chicken breasts dipped in an egg white/soy sauce/water mixture, then coated with crushed corn flakes, ginger and black pepper. You bake it at 450 (yes, 450) for a bit, and while it's in the oven, you make the sauce.

I love making Asian sauces, like for sesame chicken or sweet and sour sauce. The cool part is that you start with this cloudy, opaque combination of chicken broth, cornstarch, honey, freshly squeezed lemon juice, ketchup, garlic, and maybe one or two other things (wood chips?). As with gravy (and I guess it is gravy), you stir it while bringing it to a boil, but as it thickens, it turns translucent and entirely changes not just consistency, but color.

Little Dude opted for creamed spinach, but we feasted on pretty good lemon chicken.