Drum roll please

I am now the proud owner of a second nonstick skillet* large enough to brown a pound of ground turkey. Being able to run two of those at once during a cook-for-the-week session is going to be a real win for my tender feetsies.

So far I have learned two lessons with my new skillet:

1: It takes a lot longer to cook stuff if the pan takes a lot longer to heat up.

2: Scraping the meat to one side of the pan and tilting the pan to drain off the fat is downright awkward if your skillet is slicker'n black ice. The meat keeps sliding around!

I am also the proud owner of a garlic press. I am getting more frou-frou by the day. A garlic press! *eyeroll* But by golly I am going to get over my fear of using stuff that grows in the ground as opposed to stuff that comes in jars. (I reserve the right, however, to go back to jars due to the economics imposed by waste. How fast do I have to use up a bulb of garlic?)

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*Those of you who wish to argue that my first large skillet is no longer nonstick will get a fair hearing. I've clearly eaten a lot of Teflon over the years.

A wedding! Mazel tov!

I love weddings, and this one was particularly special. Yeah, I'm a romantic. :-)

Yesterday afternoon rfrench and I attended the lovely and simple wedding of fyellin and his longtime partner Mark. One is Jewish and the other Unitarian whoops, Lutheran, and the ceremony embraced Jewish and Christian traditions in a harmonious blend. (I wish I knew what the love song said! It was beautiful, and I don't understand Hebrew.) It was clear that everyone there was ecstatic that after more than eighteen years together, Frank and Mark could finally be married legally. The cheers that erupted when the officiant said and by the power vested in me by the State of California were spontaneous and heartfelt.

The reception was held at their home, where we walked past the framed marriage certificate from their last go-round, in 2004 in San Francisco. The cake had several dates on it, which I suspect were their first ceremony, the San Francisco marriage, and yesterday's California-legal ceremony. At the reception the groom and groom wore T-shirts emblazoned PARTY A and PARTY B.

Thank you, Frank and Mark, both for inviting us and for quietly showing such a steadfast example of love and partnership. Thank you, humanity, that we're getting this far in recognizing such things.