Useful, selfish gifts

When i was over at Andy's house on New Year's Day, I made a souffle. I used a lot of

a good amount of bittersweet

though with enough

that the bittersweet part didn't matter much.

It turned out well:

The only difficulty I had with cooking at Andy's (aside from the fact I wasn't cooking in my own kitchen, where I know where everything is and can find all the ingredients easily) was the only spatula Andy had in his cooking tools drawer was a 2" x 1" tiny, tiny spatula.

Do you know how hard it is to fold in 8 beaten egg whites into a heated chocolate mixture using a 2" x 1" spatula?

Let's just say I'm good, okay?

So, the next time I was over at his place cooking, I brought along a couple new spatulas. not the large assortment of my spatulas, but two medium sized spatulas that would make my life easier when i was over at his place cooking. Oh, and a set of measuring spoons that I later found out he didn't need, as he had a full set. I just couldn't find them.

After the disaster of a gag gift, I didn't think he noticed the extra spatulas.

I was wrong. He noticed. Of course he noticed. Who wouldn't notice?

Besides Kris, I mean.

A week or so ago, he made some reference to the gift escalation that was happening. No, no, no, I explained, those spatulas were a Homer gift, a selfish gift. I needed them when I was cooking at his place, they were for me, though he could certainly use them, too. My thoughts were something like, 'Crap. We can't afford a gift war...'

"Oh, well, then I can give a selfish gift, too."

Yesterday, we walked in and, as I went to hang up my coat, yelped. Andy's selfish gift was hanging on the door.

Complete with treble clefs.

"I never know where to put my coat when I come over," Andy let me know. He has a coat rack next to his door, so we always know where to hang our coats at his house.

And now we know where to hang our coats at our house, too.