I'll never grow up, not me.

When you haven't played a musical instrument in ages. When you only find time to blog once a week--at most. When one book a week is too much, but you can still remember when three was too few. When you can't talk about anything but work. When you get nervous wearing shorts around Union Square because you know some of your ex-patients hang out there. That, ladies and gentlemen, is when you know you're getting to be an adult. It's hard sometimes, particularly when a patient says something really funny in a really juvenile way about a certain bodily function and you cannot display a glimmer of a laugh. My worst nightmare is becoming boring; fighting as hard as I can!

I know, I know.

Speaking of people who need to grow up, did I mention that I won two tickets to Siegfried at the Met last weekend? Right-sided orchestra, very close to the stage! It was my first in-person Wagner (and Andy's as well); as far as the Ring cycle goes, this was probably a good opera for a live Wagner neophyte. The production played up the comic side*, which I loved almost as much as watching Andy identify with the title character. Also, I got to point out at intermissions where little snippets of the various themes recurred to a fascinated Andy; he may not be able to sing or play an instrument, but he appreciates the self-referential! The horn call was flawless, by the way.

This might not look like much, but it is in fact a delicious Caesar salad, original style. I didn't want to make croutons, so I toasted some garlic in the olive oil and mixed that into the dressing instead. Otherwise, I only deviated from the recipe in that I mixed the dressing before tossing in the spring greens. Horrors, I know. Please, for your future Caesar needs, take a few extra minutes to do this rather than slop on some stodgy store-bought dressing. It's fresh and light and so totally worth it.

*Not all attendees appreciated this. I overheard one man carping about the use of a gigantic dragon puppet that Siegfried fought, and say that while the (phenomenal) Mime demonstrated his excellent acting abilities, it was farcical for a singer to fully embody his character through anything but singing. No, I don't understand what that means either. Grow down, sir, and have fun with the bass-voiced dragon!