babies, bunnies, brussel sprouts, and a big hole in my teeth

well, the biggest news of my day actually happened yesterday in berkeley - T's BABY was born, theo scott, 7# something, born at home, everyone healthy from the sounds of things. i just got the announcement email this evening, and i got totally teary reading it. i was expecting to feel a bit bummed to be so far away when it happened and not be able to go visit in the first few days, but even i was surprised at what a sentimental goober i am, and how incredibly sad i felt to not be able to just ring and invite myself over to see them. anyway. he's awfully cute, and from the pics posted looks just like his grandmother. i have actually been feeling a little bit homesick all day - i think it was passing the one month mark.

in the category of less exciting news, i went to the dentist on friday (that required a trip to the megametropolis of neuil les aubiers, pop 2000, twenty minutes away) and was told i had a cavity that might or might not require a root canal :(. the dentist is going to do a temporary filling for me tomorrow, and if the nerve does OK with that for two weeks, i can have a permanent filling, but if not, it's going to be un big deal. no fun. the extra sad part of the whole story is that i may have to give up on my corporate-food boycott, as i have dentist appointments now nearly every friday from here until halloween, which will mean missing farmer's market day. on the whole, better to have teeth with which to eat less healthy food than good food but no teeth. on the upside, i am feeling quite proud of myself for having an entire conversation with the dentist re: what was bothering me, previous medical history, demographic info, x-rays, payment info (fifty euros for the whole thing! i love socialized medicine) in french. i mean, ideally i would be having fluent conversations with tall dark handsome millionaires about how they wanted to fly me to monaco in their private jet after toasting me with premier vintage dom perignon, but barring that, having conversations about cavities with pudgy french dentists with coke bottle glasses is pretty good.

friday night we had a party - bunny-themed, per the instructions of the hosts; i went as MC's zombie rabbit, with a tumour painted onto my face and a ball of cotton wool pinned onto my bum. krystle was a futuristic techno bunny, packed into an electric blue cat suit and cotton wool ears and tail; Head Honcho was a bun-dertaker, with a rabbit skull from their garden pinned to his black suit; H was a rabbot - rabbit robot - in a tinfoil covered cardboard box, with a computerized menu on her chest from which you could select Eat Hop Dance or Destroy.... etc. lots of fun.

for those who are keeping track (and there seem to be an alarming number :) i think the brussel sprout prize is going to go to S. i haven't made them yet, but her recipe involves butter and pecans and she promises it will make the sprouts taste like french fries. although i think making brussel sprouts edible by pairing them with ketchup might be cheating, i am willing to go as far as butter and pecans... la mama was automatically disqualified because she started her instructions with 'boil the sprouts...' thanks to all who participated; if S's recipe is good, i will buy some more sprouts so we can have a silver medalist. the next challenge will be making beetroot palatable...

thanks again to all the lovelies who have written me emails - it is so nice to get messages from home. wish me luck avec le dentiste demain...