Ellie drew this in kindergarten today. Her younger siblings, from left to right: Claire (curly hair, 4), Maddie (1), Micah (2), Ellie (5), Abigail (3), and Bekah (4 months). I love how she drew Bekah lying down, since she can’t walk yet, and how everyone else is in height order.

I’m hoping to start blogging more regularly, and model my blog after The Old New Thing. So I’m planning on posting in pairs: one technical post related to my work or Mozilla, and one non-technical post relating to personal posts about my family, music, or other things I find interesting.

I think I am raising Food Network junkies. I was making BLT sandwiches for lunch the other day, and my three-year-old daughter Claire was hungry. She asked me “are you going to start plating soon?”

She adores Michael Symon, and often when we turn on Dinner: Impossible she says “I love Michael Symon, he’s beeeaautiful.” Claire wants to be an Iron Chef when she grows up. Ellie really enjoys when Cat Cora is the Iron Chef, or when there’s a female challenger in general. And they all watch Good Eats with rapt attention.

It’s amazing to me how much and how quickly they learn. We play a “how do we cook it” game: I pick an ingredient, and they tell me how you’d cook it. Ellie, who is four years old, recently said to me, “Daddy, if you don’t heat the carrot pieces in a pan with oil, they won’t be soft in your carrot stew.” In their play-kitchen, they are always concocting soups and baked goods, and arguing about ingredients.