We made an effort to take it easy yesterday. At one point I began dusting, and #2 son insisted that I quit.

labor day 015 I did make lunch, and here it is, complete with leftovers from previous days (yeah, that cake was really not a hit), but I made no effort to talk while cooking.

The boys went out to get Nerf guns and spent most of the day engaged in combat, with me shrieking at them about the windows, the pottery, their eyes, the antique china,  etc. The soundtrack for this was pretty simple: powpowpow pow pow powpowpowpow, “Boys!” maniacal laughter powpowpowpow pow thunk “Ow!” maniacal laughter…

I wondered aloud when they would outgrow such rough-housing, and was assured that it would be around age 40.

Inspired perhaps by the derring-do around the house, my husband showed #2 daughter how to use her newly-purchased rice pot. labor day 001

This is the dangerous rice pot, which you may recall has been forbidden to the girls even though they were grownups.

The rice-cooking lesson encompassed not only the dangers of the steam and the boiling water, but also the dangers of the “hair” on the basket. My husband sanded the basket down so there would be fewer “hairs” around to give #2 daughter splinters.

There were also long disquisitions on how to ensure that the rice would be ready to cook when she got home from work, and how to store it, and things like that.

labor day 016 Here is the rice. We sent both sticky rice and sweet rice back with her, but I think that Elephant God rice was the best brand name. Why don’t we have names like this on American goods? I like having Happy Tiger and Healthy Boy and Elephant God brands in my house.

Why should we have to have things like Morton salt or Planar monitors or Best Choice flour, when we could have Virtuous Umbrella, Laughing Monkey, and Careful Muskrat?

We also took pictures for the Christmas cards, and I contemplated what gifts I might make for Christmas this year, because that is what we are told to do for this week of the HGP.

labor day 017 Usually by this time of year, I have seen some way cool idea somewhere, but this year I haven’t. If you have ideas for holiday gifts to make, I’d love to hear about it.

I did have another go at the Truffle Cups, since I had ganache left over, and they turned out prettier this time than they did yesterday. Maybe I will make elegant boxes of cookies and candies for people.

The other things to do this week are to thoroughly clean the living room, buy extra sugar and flour, and put a meal in the freezer. You are also to contemplate what is important to your family about Christmas, but this hasn’t changed significantly for me since last year, so I can skip that.