Now that Isabel is too big to ride in the seat of the shopping cart we had to come up with something to keep her occupied at the grocery store. Last night her and I headed to Meijer. I'm pushing the cart through the produce aisle and she is following behind with my shopping list on a clip board. Her job is to find the item on the list I picked up and cross it off for me. I stopped at the display of green and red peppers. She quickly marks those off and gets preoccupied with the Jalapeno peppers. She had her head tipped back and was holding a pepper up over her mouth, telling me she would eat it whole for $1. (You have to enjoy it when a child is too young to place too much value on money.) I told her to put it down incase it was cracked or damaged and the juice got on her hand. She set it down slowly, as if the pepper would attack if it got scared.
Then she gave me a little tip. Here's what she said, "Mom, you know, if you want to make a salsa that you can actually enjoy eating without your mouth catching on fire, you have to seed the jalapeno pepper before putting it in the food processor."

"How in the world did you know that?" I asked.

"Umm, from my mentor, Paula Deen. Some day I'm going to do home cooking just like her."

I didn't know what to say, except, "I'm sure you will. Let's go find the lettuce."

So, I think I've finally figured out why I like winter better than summer. I do love summer, but something is so appealing to me about the cold snowy Indiana winters. Ironically, I do not like being cold. Coming into a warm cozy home when your family is home waiting for you makes being out in the cold all worth it though. It makes the nasty weather that much sweeter. Also, as much as I don't enjoy driving in the snow and slush, I would rather have snow every single day of the winter than brown dead looking grass. I love sitting in my warm living room looking out at snow covered lawns and rooftops...
Ok. Enough...Dancing With the Stars is back on, and dinner is dinging in the kitchen.