Missing him like crazy

It's been like fifty different kinds of horrible, not being able to talk to Mr Wonderful since yesterday morning, but he just called me! God, I love that man. And I am heading up to the mountains to see him first thing tomorrow morning. Babydaddy picked up Rugrat from daycare today and decided to take him back to his house, so I'm going to get an early start. It can't be TOO early, because I have to swing by the dentist's office tomorrow morning at 8 AM to register & pick up my prescription for anti-anxiety pills (before my "real" appointment - exam & cleaning - next Friday). But I am going to be on the road immediately after that, and I am totally going nuts, missing him sooooo much. It's like a pit in my stomach. But at least now I know he's safe, out of the woods and around other people. He cut his backpacking trip short because he wanted to make sure & get a campsite for us, and he called because the place where we're camping is different than where we'd originally agreed to meet, so he had to let me know where it was. And I am just so excited because I got to hear his voice for the first time in over 24 hours and it feels like it's been FOREVER.

I am so completely hooked on this man. What a girly girl I've turned out to be, all squee-ing over a frickin' phone call.

Withdrawal

OK, I'm just ever-so-slightly freaked out. Mr Wonderful is now officially off the radar, hiking around in the wilderness by himself with nothing but a backpack full of freeze-dried food and some very basic gear between him and the elements. I get that it's important to him to be able to do this - to get out of his head and into a very primal way of living, all man-vs-nature, yaaar, but it still kind of freaks me out. Because I love him like crazy and I would really, really hate it if something happened to him. And I would totally be the first one to figure out that something had happened to him, because nobody else is expecting to hear from him until Sunday, and I am driving up day after tomorrow to meet him at Gold Lake. But until that happens - until I see him at the campground, he's totally off the grid. As in, no cell phone access. And here I am, all hooked on him like fucking crack, what with the half-dozen or so daily phone calls we usually have. Including the one right before we go to bed, which is almost as good as actually being next to him in bed (or at least it's the closest facsimile we have, and we make the best of it). And now I am supposed to be completely out of contact with him for over 48 hours?

Friday can't come soon enough.

Meeting the family

Looks like Mr Wonderful will be meeting even more of my family in July. As I mentioned previously, we are headed up to Portland for the Oregon Brewers Fest (yay!) at the end of July, and also visiting my sister & her family at that time (especially since we'll be staying with them). Now it seems that Mr Wonderful will be meeting my dad & stepmom next month as well. I got an email from dad yesterday saying that they are planning on coming out for a visit next month, near the 20th. So poor Mr Wonderful will be put under scrutiny by about half the family within the span of about a week. Hey mom, do you & F want to come up for a visit next month too? We'll just get it all out of the way at once, shall we? ;-)

So now he's talking about having me meet his family...I will be driving *right by* his sister's house to get up to the campsite this weekend, and he mentioned that I could meet her & her family on the way back home, if I wanted. I kind of didn't respond to that, because I'm not sure if I want the first contact I have with his family to be while I'm grungy and greasy from camping for a couple of days with no shower. Talk about feeling at a disadvantage. And his sister is the one that I'm most intimidated about meeting, actually. I'm not sure why, but that's how I feel. Anyway...when I mentioned that my dad was coming to visit next month, Mr Wonderful started talking about taking me down to P--- S------ to meet his mom & stepdad. Which is a lovely idea, really it is. But I'm not sure if I'm ready to go to the desert again so soon. I just don't want to get sick again, dammit; I'm pretty gun-shy about the desert after my last trip out there.

Playing Catch Up

Chicken Caesar Salad
Originally uploaded by snarkmeister

God, I know. It's been a while, right?

I made this yummy Chicken Caesar Salad for dinner last Thursday. Pretty standard - romaine, roasted chicken breast (boneless/skinless, roasted at 400 with olive oil, salt & pepper), cherry tomatoes, homemade croutons, and caesar dressing from scratch. Yes, with the anchovies. Mr Wonderful was hesitant about eating the anchovies, but he ultimately enjoyed it and said it was "right on the edge," meaning that the fishy taste was there, but not TOO strong. So that passed muster (or mustard, heh). I got the recipe from foodtv.com, from Barefoot Contessa's caesar salad with pancetta recipe.

I've made some other yummy stuff in the interim, but haven't taken pictures: a chicken wrap made with feta cheese, lettuce and cucumber strips, dressed with a mustard vinaigrette (we ate this on the way to Monterey), and an easier wrap with deli-sliced turkey, baby spinach, olives and Alouette garlic-herb cheese spread. Rugrat actually enjoyed this one, and it will probably go into the lunchbox rotation. I made some more fresh corn, since Raleys has the good local stuff at 4 ears for a dollar. And of course I've made tons of caprese salad, my summertime go-to meal.

I promise to get the camera out a little more often and document the meals better in the future. :-) This weekend I'm heading up to the mountains to go camping with Mr Wonderful, and I promise to take loads of pictures. I'm planning a white chicken chili for one night, and a campfire Bananas Foster dessert, so stay tuned!

Owwww!

On Saturday, Rugrat and I went out on the Delta with my cousin K, my uncle J, and his friend M on J's speedboat. At the last minute I decided that I should've worn shorts instead of jeans, and I borrowed a pair from my aunt. But we left right after I changed into them, and I neglected to put sunscreen on my legs until we stopped to gas up the boat about an hour later...and by then the damage was done. My legs are FRIED, y'all. Absolutely lobster-red. I think I've just upped my skin cancer risk by about 1000 percent. Wow, is it painful. Yesterday I spent most of the day whimpering and moving as little as possible. Every time I stood up it felt like knives in my legs. Ouch.

On the plus side, we had a blast on the boat - Rugrat had a great time (and of course didn't get even remotely pink, because he's got quite a bit of Native American in him, or Spanish or Italian or whatever - he just browns easily - from both my side and his dad's side), and I had a wonderful time until I got off the boat and my sunburn started to really develop.

Mr Wonderful came over and spent the night last night; he's on vacation for the next week, that lucky dog. He's going up north of Tahoe, to go backpacking and get away from civilization for a while. I'm joining him up there on Friday, so we'll have a nice weekend up in the mountains together.

Three things

Here's a meme I found on a random blog...

Three people/things that make me laugh: Mr Wonderful, Ren (from Ren & Stimpy), the episode of Coupling (BBCA) where Jeff shows up at the bar in the leather mask

Three things that scare me: heights, Rugrat's tendency to leap before he looks, random violence (because you just can't prepare for it)

Three things I love: family, friends, books

Three things I hate: cockroaches, scallops, traffic

Three things I don’t understand: why the country voted Bush into office for a second term, why anyone would want to keep homosexuals from having the legal right to get married, why so many people are ignorant and mean

Three things on my desk: computer, blood pressure machine, stack o' papers

Three things I want to do before I die: take a cooking class in Tuscany, skydive (must conquer that fear of heights), write a bestselling novel

Three things I can do: cook, create a website content management system (CMS) from scratch, hula hoop with two hoops at the same time (for quite a while)

Three things I would like to learn: fluent Italian, string theory, how to design my own sweater knitting patterns

Three favorite foods: filet mignon (preferably swimming in butter, at Ruth's Chris Steak House), spicy hamachi roll, CHEEEEEEEESE

Three beverages I drink regularly: Dr Pepper, coffee, water

Three TV shows/Books I watched/read as a kid: Dukes of Hazzard, A Little Princess, the Nancy Drew series

In general...

Thought I'd catch y'all up on some general stuff:

• The Goddamn Rooster™ is gone! I noticed a conspicuous absence of crowing about two weeks ago, but I didn't want to jump the gun. The neighbors could have just taken him on vacation or something. But I'm pretty sure he's really most sincerely gone now.
• Rugrat is student of the month for June! He won this award for his "sense of humor and initiative." Whatever that means. Basically, I think he won for being the class clown.
  
• Rugrat also got an award for perfect attendance during the entire school year. Pretty incredible. I don't think I've ever had perfect attendance for a year, either in school or at work.
  
• Still not smoking! It's been two and a half months now, and I haven't had a single slip. I don't think about it much anymore, but occasionally I have a brief craving. It goes away in a minute if I ignore it.
• I have the world's biggest freaking zit on my chin.
  

Weekend in Monterey

Summed up in one word? Bliss.

Friday night immediately after work I threw together some food, finished packing, and headed out to Livermore. I managed to catch the last 45 minutes of Mr Wonderful's Aikido class, and it was rather impressive. Four guys throwing each other on the ground, over and over and over. The sensei absolutely blew my mind - he's a geek! A glasses-wearing Star Trek nerd. And yet he seemed to throw these huge guys around with no more effort than it would take me to lift a paperback book. Amazing.

After Mr Wonderful's class, we swung by his place so he could take a quick shower and grab his bag. And then we were on the road, shortly after 9 PM. I'd packed a couple of chicken wraps for dinner (sorry no photos for the blog, guys), some caprese salad and a bunch of bottles of water. We made excellent time and got to our hotel by 11 PM. We checked in and collapsed on the ROCK HARD bed. It was awful. We spent the night tossing and turning, and finally just gave up around 6:30 AM and got up.

We had a nice hot breakfast at the Old Monterey Cafe and drove down to Point Lobos. We were nearly there when I realized I'd forgotten my camera! So, we turned around and headed back to the hotel (thankfully everything is so close together that it was only about 10 minutes away), grabbed the camera, and headed back out. We made it to Pt Lobos around 10:30 or so, and hiked around the place for three hours. It was gorgeous - overcast and cool, which was a very nice change from the 100+ weather we'd been getting at home. And we saw baby seals cavorting in the coves, otter playing in the ocean, and deer...up close and personal! I was taking pictures of some deer who were eating nearby, when another doe walked up from a different direction and came within maybe a dozen feet of me. It was pretty amazing. And I was so glad we'd gone back for the camera. ;-)

We headed back to Monterey, and had lunch at a little place on fisherman's wharf. The food was just OK, but the view of the marina was lovely, and Mr Wonderful taught me quite a bit about sailboats. We snuck back to our hotel room for a nap (and...stuff) afterwards, first re-making the bed with the blanket and comforter UNDER the bottom sheet so that there was a little bit more padding for our tired bodies.

After a brief nap and shower, we were ready to hit Carmel. We strolled along Ocean Ave, with its pricey shops and fancy restaurants, and made our way down to the beach. On the way there, we saw a fantastic house. It's my dream house, seriously. One block from the beach, 3000 square feet, gorgeous Spanish villa style, with *two* wrought-iron verandas and a library with a fireplace. And did I mention it was for sale? Yeah, only 6 million dollars. Heh.

We walked along the beach in Carmel at sunset, feeling absolutely relaxed and blissed-out and totally cheesy-cliche romantic. It was awesome. I didn't take any pictures of Carmel, but I've got my memories, and they are absolutely golden.

We ended the day with dinner at Bahama Billy's in Carmel (on the east side of Hwy 1), and it was really fantastic. We weren't super-hungry, but the food was SO good. I had a mango crab bisque and some coconut shrimp, and Mr Wonderful had a kalua pork rice bowl. Thanks to my cousin K for recommending this place - it was definitely a treat!

The next morning we woke early again and headed for Pebble Beach. We did the 17 Mile Drive tour, with Mr Wonderful driving while I tried my best to beat back an allergy attack. I drugged the hell out of myself with Benadryl, but only ended up sleepy and still sneezing. Dammit. We drove back to Monterey for lunch, and had another wonderful meal, this time at the Fish Hopper. The great food made me momentarily feel normal, but then the allergies kicked back in, and the double dose of Benadryl knocked me on my ass (almost literally). We had planned to hit the aquarium but ended up just heading home thanks to my sneeze-fest. Ah well, no vacation is perfect, right? And it gives us a good excuse to go back again soon.

Overall, though, I'd have to say it was a lovely weekend.

Epiphany

Mr Wonderful and I are closer than ever, and I had an epiphany on Sunday night as I was falling asleep: I am going to spend the rest of my life with this man. It's not like "I hope I'll spend the rest of my life with him" or "I really, really want to spend the rest of my life with him." No. It was like a premonition, a statement of fact. There is no doubt in my mind, he's the one. This is it, y'all.

Just not feelin' it

Sorry I've been slacking on the posts recently. I've just been busy at work, or busy with Rugrat, or busy with Mr Wonderful, or just busy sweating. The temperature rose about twenty degrees in two days here, and now we're suddenly battling 100 degree heat. Not that I really mind - I've got air conditioning, and I like hot weather anyway.

Plus I'll be cooling off this weekend...Mr Wonderful and I are taking off tomorrow night for Monterey, to spend our long-anticipated childless weekend on the coast! Wooohooo! Big Sur, here I come. I really can't wait; I've been feeling seriously stressed out the last few days, and I desperately need this little getaway. No kids, no work, no worries. Bliss.

Blue belt!

Blue belt!
Originally uploaded by snarkmeister.

Rugrat got his blue belt in karate class yesterday. This is kind of a big deal; it's the last of the "beginner" belts. It's probably also the last belt he'll get for a while, as we haven't figured out if we're going to enroll him in karate out in WC yet or not, and if we are, where we'll take him.

Tequila-Lime Chicken

Tequila-lime chicken
Originally uploaded by snarkmeister

Tequila-lime chicken topped with salsa fresca, and accompanied by fresh chili-lime corn (cut from the cob) and a tossed green salad with avocado vinaigrette. I used my brand-new George Foreman grill, and I have to say, I was pretty disappointed. The chicken was cooked perfectly, but there were NO grill marks. What the heck?

Tequila-Lime Chicken with Salsa Fresca
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 c freshly squeezed lime juice, or limeade (I used a combination of both)
1 shot tequila
1 c chopped tomatoes
1/4 c diced onion
1/2 to 1 diced jalepeno (depending on how spicy you like it)
1/4 c cilantro, chopped
salt & pepper

Put the lime juice and tequila in a resealable bag. Season well with salt & pepper. Add the two chicken breasts and marinate for a couple of hours in the fridge (the longer, the better). Throw all the other ingredients together in a bowl, and season to taste with salt & pepper. Let it sit in the fridge while your chicken breasts marinate, so the flavors can blend.

Preheat your grill of choice to super-screaming-hot. Remove the breasts from marinade & discard the marinade. Grill just until the chicken is no longer pink in the center (time will depend on your grill - my new GF grill took about 10 minutes to grill three breasts; I had one plain one for Rugrat).


Fresh Chili-Lime Corn
2-3 ears of fresh sweet corn (depending on how big they are)
2 Tbsp butter
Juice of one lime
1/4-1/2 tsp chili powder

With a sharp knife, cut the kernels from the corn cob, and use the back of the knife to rub the milky juice from the cob (you'll see, there's a little bit of the kernels that gets left behind, and you can get some sweet yummy juice by scraping them). Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and throw all the corn in. Heat the corn through, maybe a couple of minutes. Just before serving, sprinkle with the chili powder and pour the lime juice over the corn. Just stir it up and enjoy! Best corn EVER.

This is MADE of awesome

Paris goes back to jail

Judge Sauer is a hero. A true bastion of logic and reason in the sea of insanity that is LA. Thank GOD someone is standing up to these stupid rich, spoiled brats who think they can get away with anything, any time it suits them.

Today's ringtones

"You sick little monkey!" and The Happy Happy Joy Joy Song, both from Ren & Stimpy (episode: Stimpy's Invention).

I am obviously having way too much fun with this.

Oops! My geek is showing.

This completely blows my mind. Awesome.

Even more awesome? The fact that Rugrat asked me this morning to explain the fourth dimension to him, and I showed him this website. (Yes, I already had it bookmarked. Because I am a total geek and this is the kind of shit that makes my cold little heart go pitter-pat.) WTF is an eight year old doing asking questions about the fourth dimension? Damn, my kid is smart.

Let me count the ways

Sometimes it's hard to think of what to post. Not because I have nothing to say, but because I keep wanting to say the same things over and over. I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love. I'm sure it gets tedious to read after a while.

But the little things are what get me. Those little things Mr Wonderful (D) does that make me swoon, that make my heart beat just a little faster. Like when he asked me to leave my shampoo at his house last night, so I don't have to bring it next time. Or the way he sprays my pillow with his cologne before he leaves for work, so that it will smell like him when I snuggle up to it on those nights when we can't be together. The way he calls me five minutes after we leave each other, just to tell me he loves me. Or the text message he sent me the other day, when I was meeting with a prospective client, to give me a boost of confidence: "Hey u smile they cant say no 2 u." The way he's always fully present, not thinking of something else when we're together. The way he holds me, the strength and passion and caring that somehow gets transmitted from his arms straight to my heart. When he brings me flowers for no reason. The way he raves about my cooking. The way he tells me how hot I look in my glasses, or when I'm geeking out on the computer. The way we divvy up the chores we'll each do when we end up living together. (Him: "I'll be in charge of the yard." Me: "I'll take care of the cooking.") The way he tells me that he doesn't ever want anyone else; this is it for him. OK, I guess that's not a little thing. That's a big thing, a HUGE thing, actually.

I don't think I've ever had a relationship that felt so effortless before. It just feels like we are on the same path, in the same place, going in the same direction. I have no anxiety about how he feels about me: I know how he feels. He is so open and direct; there's no walls there. It's incredible, really. And I can't seem to stop talking about it, like I'm the first person in the world to ever fall in love.

Expand your horizons

Yesterday I discovered that there is something called a Foodie Blogroll, started by the lovely and talented Leftover Queen. The Foodie Blogroll is an ever-expanding list of food blogs: a great resource for new recipe ideas, and a nice way to drive a little more traffic to your own food blog. The blogroll is now on my site (see it in the lower-right). If you want to add your food blog to the list, pop on over to the LQ's Foodie Blogroll post and get the details.

Simple pleasures, geek style

I'm not a very complicated person. I generally like things simple and straightforward. But the last cell phone I got was the Razr, which at the time was pretty much top of the line. Generally I am of the opinion that, if it will make telephone calls, it's good enough for me. But in this case I made an exception. Why? Because I am smitten with the personalized ringtones. You know, where you set a different ringtone for each person in your address book so that you know the moment it rings who's calling.

But I wasn't content with the ringtones you can buy online. I absolutely had to have a ringtone with the Kim Possible theme song. Do you know how hard it is to find a Kim Possible ringtone? They don't exist. So I had to make one. I got an audio file - off a Disney soundtrack CD or something - and I downloaded some free software (Audacity) and cut the file down to the size I wanted, with the exact audio clip I wanted.

And then I went nuts. I was making ringtones for every person and occasion. And today, I made ringtones from the soundtrack of a DVD. Not the soundtrack like the music from the movie, the soundtrack meaning the actual WORDS SPOKEN during the film. I found this awesome software called DVD Audio Ripper, and after very little futzing around, I figured out how to get the audio track I wanted, and then I used Audacity to crop it. So now I have a couple of ringtones made from the Jimmy Neutron movie. (What? I LOVE cartoons. The best part about having a kid is that you get a fabulous excuse to watch cartoons.)

Technology is freaking awesome.

Maroon 5

On Sunday I bought the latest Maroon 5 CD, and I've got it on heavy rotation. I really like it, but it seems like most of the songs are heavily influenced by 80's pop. I'm not saying this is a bad thing. I really like 80's pop. But some of the songs are SO obviously inspired by another song or just a very distinctive sound. One song sounds like Prince, one sounds like the Police, another one like John Waite, and a fourth one sounds like Jellyfish. Just about every song on the album gives me that niggling feeling like I've heard it before, or at least something really, really similar. The Police one has a certain spot in the song that sounds so much like Message in a Bottle that I swear it's practically plagiarism. It's so blatant (to me anyway) that I wonder if maybe they did it on purpose. Like they specifically made songs that sounded like various 80's pop groups so that they could tap into the nostalgia factor for people in my age range. Or maybe it just sounds like 80's pop because it's all so very slick; the whole album is produced within an inch of its life.

I also got the older Shins CD, the one with New Slang on it. This is totally my new favorite band.

Roasted Cherry Chicken

Cherry Roasted Chicken
Originally uploaded by snarkmeister

Wow. This one was a winner - savory and sweet, all at the same time. I served it up with some blanched green beans (yay, farmer's market!) and panzanella, which D totally went nuts over. The unusual addition of cherries makes this a good choice for Sweetnicks' ARF/5-a-day roundup this week!

Roasted Cherry Chicken
2 chicken breasts, bone in & skin on
1/2 c pitted fresh cherries
1 Tbsp rosemary
1 clove garlic
1 Tbsp chopped parsley
EVOO
Salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 400°.

Chop up the cherries, rosemary, and garlic all together, kind of milling it with your knife until the cherry bits are pretty darn small (but still a wee bit chunky) and the garlic & rosemary goes all through it. Throw it in a small bowl, add a small amount of EVOO (maybe a teaspoon or so), the parsley and some kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper; mix well. Loosen the skin on the chicken and stuff the cherry mixture underneath the skin. Coat the skin with EVOO and sprinkle with more salt & pepper. Roast for about 40 minutes or until done. (I always use a thermometer that goes off when it reaches the desired temperature; this guarantees moist, juicy meat that is perfectly cooked. Every. Single. Time.)

Goat Cheese Toasts with Savory Cherry Jam

Goat Cheese Toasts with Savory Cherry Jam
Originally uploaded by snarkmeister

I got a bunch of cherries at the farmer's market ('tis the season), and I wanted to try something savory with them. Obviously there's loads of recipes for dessert with cherries, but I was looking for something a little different. So this is my first attempt at using the cherries in a savory dish, and it was OK, but a little heavy for the season. It needed something to lift it up a bit; when I made the chicken I threw some parsley in with the cherry mixture, and that brightened it up just enough. Although I just had an idea - orange juice! I'll bet that would be fabulous - next time I'll add a splash of OJ to the sauce during the cooking process. (I think the cherry jam/sauce would be fantastic over pork tenderloin as-is, especially in the fall -- but when are you going to find fresh cherries in the fall? Never, that's when.)

Goat Cheese Toasts with Savory Cherry Jam
Sourdough bread, sliced 1/2" thick
Chevre (fresh goat cheese)
1/2 c cherries, pitted & roughly chopped
1 tsp chopped rosemary
Splash of balsamic vinegar
Pinch of salt & pepper

Toast the bread slices in the oven or toaster oven until golden brown. While the bread is toasting up, throw the cherries, rosemary, vinegar and salt & pepper into a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until the cherries are soft. At this point I used a stick blender to smooth it out a little, but I wouldn't advise doing this unless you are cooking at lot more of it at one time; I wound up with cherry splattered all over my kitchen. Instead, you could either chop up the cherries very finely at the beginning of the process, or you could use an actual blender to get the consistency you want. I wanted mine a bit chunky.

Spread the toasts with the chevre, then top with the cherry mixture.

"Greek" Chicken Salad

"Greek" chicken salad
Originally uploaded by snarkmeister

Light, healthy and very tasty. I'm not doing amounts for this one because you'll want to just adjust the amounts to your taste anyway.

"Greek" Chicken Salad
Romaine lettuce, torn or cut into bite-size pieces
Cherry tomatoes, quartered
Seedless (AKA European) cucumber, diced
Red onion, sliced or diced
Kalamata olives, roughly chopped
Feta cheese, crumbled or diced
Roasted skinless, boneless chicken breast, sliced into bite-size pieces (I used olive oil, salt & pepper, but you can use any herbs or seasonings you want on it - throw it in the oven at 400 until done, about 30 minutes)
Lemon vinaigrette (see below)

Toss it all together & eat! The chicken soaks up some of the vinaigrette if you throw it on the salad while it's still a little warm. That makes the chicken extra moist and tasty.

Lemon Vinaigrette
Juice of one lemon
EVOO
Salt & pepper

Put the lemon juice in a small bowl, and add salt & pepper. Use more than you think you need; the vinaigrette will be used to season the entire salad. Slowly stream in EVOO while whisking fast; when you've got about a quarter cup of vinaigrette, you should be done.

Commitment

D and I had a funny conversation the other day - he was telling me about his birthday, and how his family always celebrates it on Thanksgiving (his b'day is Nov 24th), whether it falls on Thanksgiving or not. He said it always pissed him off, and he'd ask them to celebrate it separately, but they always refused. I said, "Awww. Well, I promise to always celebrate your birthday ON your birthday." And he said something like, "Wow, that's quite a commitment. Are you sure you want to say that?" So I backtracked a little and said that I'd do it for "as long as we're together." He laughed, and was all, "Ohhhh...as long as we're together. I see." And then I had to amend my statement again, and assure him that I am planning to be around for a long, long time: "Or, you know, until we're both shriveled and senile, sitting on the porch in our rocking chairs." So he said, "You want to be shriveled with me?" and of course I said yes.

I mean, what kind of conversation is this? I thought we were totally past this; I know he is thinking long-term and I know he knows I am thinking long-term, so...why the surprise? Was he just joking around, trying to get a rise out of me? Or is he trying to get reassurance that I am thinking of this as a long-term thing? Could he be in any doubt over my feelings and intentions here? Because I think I've been pretty clear: I don't want to rush things, but I am committed to this. I love him, and I want to be with him. Maybe forever. But at least for a really, really long time. And I don't see that changing anytime soon.