Iris has been big on declaring that things are okay for the past couple of days. Like, today she told me that when she was playing at Grandma’s house, she sprayed water on her face. “That’s okay,” she added.

Before bedtime tonight, Iris placed a pillow on the couch and said…

> **Iris:** I made you a pie.

> **Me:** What kind of pie is it? Is it a rustic crostata with a lard crust?

> **Iris:** Yes. Mama, here’s some pie.

> **Laurie:** Thanks! What kind of pie is it?

> **Iris:** It’s rustic pie.

> **Laurie:** But what kind of fruit is in it?

> **Iris:** Lard fruit. (*turning toward me*) It turned into a cake!

> (pause)

> **Iris:** It’s okay if pies are cakes.

So, after the shrimpapalooza last week, there was a bunch of that *mojo de ajo* left. After a visit to the Ballard Farmers Market on Sunday morning, I was casting around for a quick lunch.

Solution: Morel-mojo quesadillas. Okay, the garlic kind of buried the morels, but you could still sense them. I brought the quesadillas to the table and…

> **Iris:** Dada, what did you put in my quesadilla?

> **Me:** Mushrooms and garlic.

> **Iris:** Thanks.

> **Iris:** I don’t like soda.

> **Grandma:** I don’t like soda either. Not everybody has to like everything.

> **Iris:** Everybody likes *dumplings*.

Iris’s current favorite word is actually. Cut to Monday morning:

> **Me:** Hmm, what should we make for dinner tonight?

> **Iris:** Salmon!

> (pause)

> **Iris:** Actually, shrimp.

So I made this Rick Bayless recipe that I’ve been wanting to try forever, shrimp in *mojo de ajo*. To make the mojo, you cook a ton of garlic in a sea of olive oil, then add lime juice and chipotle. Saute the shrimp in this garlic-infused oil, then spoon some of the garlic and chipotle bits over it. This is even better than it sounds. I had some corn tortillas in the fridge and a can of black beans, so I fried the tortillas and, uh, refried the beans, and we had shrimp tostadas. Iris sat and looked at the shrimp for about twenty minutes without touching them. It’s pretty typical for her to request something and then not eat it, so I’ve learned to shrug it off, but suddenly she gobbled all of her shrimp.

I was going to say you can find the shrimp recipe on Amazon, but when I tried just now, I got the following message:

> The page you have requested is not available for viewing. For security purposes, we are not able to provide further information about why the page is unavailable.

That’s understandable. If the terrorists get their hands on this shrimp recipe, we are all in trouble. You know, “If you tell me the launch codes, I’ll give you this big bowl of shrimp. With *extra sauce*.” I guess you catch more flies with lime juice.

Iris often tries to convince us to let her eat cake sprinkles out of the jar. This was tonight’s tactic:

> **Iris:** I want to add some sprinkles.

> **Me:** What do you want to add them to?

> **Iris:** Iris.