Pearly Whites

My little boy cut is first tooth today. It's been threatening to pop through the surface for about a week. Tonight as I was feeding him dinner I noticed a tiny sliver of white in place of the red bumb that's been a permanent fixture on his lower jaw. Sure enough when I felt with my finger, I could feel little ridges poking their way through. I offhandedly mentioned to Kevin that I thought Alex might be teething because he's been running a low fever for about 24 hours. Our pediatrician claims the connection between teething and fevers is an old wives tale. I'm not sure what to think. Alex does have a little bit of a runny nose, so he's definitely fighting a cold (a much more likely explanation of the fever). But either way, the lower right central incisor (wow, I sound like a dentist, don't I?) is officially out in the open.

In other news, I made a yummy Cheddar and Ale soup this weekend. When we lived in Michigan I loved the Cheddar and Ale soup at an Ann Arbor restaurant called Grizzly Peak Brewing Co. I've been trying to replicate it ever since. I found a similar recipe online and decided to try it. Well, I must say it was a success. It wasn't quite Grizzly Peak, but pretty close. The recipe needed to be altered a little. It called for two cups of sharp cheddar. I used medium cheddar because Kevin doesn't like sharp. The final product wasn't cheddar-y enough, so I ended up using four cups. It called for 3 Tbs. of cornstarch dissolved in water and added at the end. We haven't figured out if cornstarch doesn't work as effectively at altitude or if recipes always underestimate, but we ended up using closer to 6 Tbs. And finally, it called for light beer. I used Coors Extra Gold. Is was a choice between Miller Lite and Coors Extra Gold. I figured the Coors might have a little more flavor given that it isn't a light beer. It still didn't have quite the bite that I was looking for in the aftertaste, but the aroma was spot on. Next time I would use Fat Tire or a beer with a stronger aftertaste. The leftovers were even better than the fresh cooked batch. We combined the soup with a smoked salmon quesadilla with roasted red peppers and pepper jack cheese. All in all a perfect culinary experiment.