I am good at many things.  And I enjoy doing a lot of things that other people consider fairly onerous — I kind of enjoy doing laundry, doing the taxes and balancing my checkbook are sort of fun, grooming and cleaning up after horses is downright therapeutic, and I don’t even mind changing diapers.  But I’m not a good cook, and I don’t really enjoy cooking, so I consider myself really fortunate that when Jo came to stay with us, she took over most of the cooking for the family.

Of all the meals she’s made and all the cooking she’s done, today was the best so far.  We had plans to go out for a Thanksgiving-inspired Austrian meal for dinner, so Jo volunteered to make brunch (and she was actually EXCITED about it).

She really outdid herself, making a two course brunch, starting with fresh fruit, chocolate, coffee and croissants, followed by a “second breakfast” of omelets, bacon and French toast dumpling things.  It was fantastic.  She seemed as enthusiastic about having cooked for us as we were to have eaten it.  We thanked her profusely, but Benjamin wins for the best reaction.

During our “second breakfast”, B initially refused to eat almost anything.  He didn’t eat more than a few bites of bacon and he only picked at his eggs.  He flatly refused to try the French toast dumplings, insisting (as children do when they’re 4) that they were “gross” even though he hadn’t tried one.  Dan managed to convince him to try a tiny nibble by comparing the flavor to cookies, and after one taste, he was as hooked as the rest of us were.  He started by saying, “Man, awesome yummy!” followed by, “Really, really Top Chef, Jo!”  After eating a few more, he looked at her and smiled, and told her, “Jo, you’re going to be a chef when you grow up!”

We all enjoyed our indulgent Thanksgiving brunch, and we all made sure to tell Jo how much we liked it.  I don’t think anyone else’s compliments meant as much, though.