Egg & Chips

I love presents...

I love getting presents,

but almost better than that I like giving presents.

I love the challenge of finding exactly the right present and then wrapping it up and putting on lots of curly, shiny ribbons. Maybe this is a throwback from when I was little and we always recycled the wrapping paper. Every giftgiving occassion in my house saw the same paper return again and again and again. And we never had bows or ribbons to add any frills. Not that the gift inside wasn't good, it always was, but there is something about the anticipation of pulling the ribbon and having it unfurl, opening up the wrapping, wrapping that was new and special just for this particular gift, that adds to the fun of being on the receiving end.

So when I had to go shopping for a gift for a 5 year old girl, my god-daughter, I had to think long and hard. I know what I would have liked at her age, but Spring is different from me. She was adopted from the Ukraine where she had spent the first year of her life in an orphanage, lying in a cot staring out at the world from its bars. Her mother is a dear friend of mine, French, who decided that Mr. Right wasn't around the corner, and that if she was going to have a family, she would have to do it on her own... The day that Spring came into her life, the meaning of life seems to have fallen into place for her.

So, I went searching and found what I thought was the perfect gift, or rather, gifts... An official Barbie stamp set, with all sorts of rollers and markers and ink pads and stamps, all bearing the plastic lasses image.

And if that wasn't enough, I thought a bit of mental challenge would be good, so I got Spring, a little princess if ever there was one, a Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 100 piece wooden puzzle.

And just because I love excess, I got her lots of stickers in a little handbag.

Nor is it good enough that everything is wrapped. Everything needs to be wrapped separately, in at least 2 different kinds of paper. And of course, topped with shiny coloured ribbons...

Ater all of that thinking & buying & wrapping,

I didn't have alot of energy or imagination left.

So what to cook for dinner?

Egg & Chips!

Mind you, these were extra special oven chips made with organic potatoes (both regular and sweet) and homepressed oil made from Syrian olives. The egg was freerange, and of course the salad was made with all sorts of Chubeza baby greens and a dressing made using fresh-squeezed CSA grapefruit juice and dijon mustard.

I think that was a pretty good present to myself, don't you?