Ouch! What is this all about?

First, while eating lunch (leftover spaghetti, very good stuff), I bit the inside of my mouth twice in the same spot. Hard (I do tend to eat at about the same pace as a bull shark in a frenzy). So, naturally there is a little bit of swelling. Enough swelling that the same spot offered an easy target to my voracious inhaling of a d'Angou pear (a very delicious pear, but the way). Three times. In the same place. On the same day.

It was just one of those days.

Oh, don't ask: computer problems, the need to move stuff that turned out to be heavier than one person can move (which I found out the hard way), cooking that seemed like it was happening through a vat of Jell-O (although the final product, a risotto of grilled chicken and radicchio, was tasty), a paint layer taking longer than calculated to dry... nothing major, but adding up to a feeling of blah, and compounded by the very good things to make me feel like an ingrate.

I mean, really, who can complain about an hour wasted on software conflicts when an excited five-year old tells you, breathlessly, of the splosions that they got to make in science class. "Two splosions!"

I think the last splosion I made was when making mole. It took an hour to clean the ceiling (think of the little volcanoes that happen with polenta, magnify their force by four, magnify their duration by ten, and make them out of staining chili oil). Oh, it was good mole, but the ceiling (and backsplash and floor...). I have not had an espresso machine splosion for quite a while (remove the portafilter when there is residual pressure - POP! and coffee grounds all over the place), so I guess Amalia has to keep up the splosion thing in the family. Mentos and diet Coke, anyone? We will do that this summer.

She is also learning about acids and bases, so a vinegar and baking soda rocket will be on the agenda too. Or a vinegar and baking soda volcano. Right now she is wanting to test the pH of things around the house. I am trying to think of something that will really set the extremes going (pretty colors, too!), but that we can use safely (with adult supervision, of course). I have some etching acid in the studio somewhere, but I need a strong alkaline. Lye is good, but I can't think of another good high pH thing around the house. If anyone has any good ideas, please let me know.

I remember science classes and how much I loved them. It is fun to see that enthusiasm all over, but from a different perspective. I should probably find that old microscope, wherever it is.