ExquisiteLoquats

I picked some loquats off the tree, and Opal pronounced them "exquisite". Note that she has had loquats before; they're not sold in grocery stores in the US but they are in Europe, and we had some in Spain. Where she disdained them. They were too sour. The ones off our tree? Picked by her so young the flesh is still white? Not too sour! Exquisite! (Admittedly, I did not tell her they were the same fruit she didn't like in Spain.) She wants to pick all the yellow ones. Really, they're ripe! They come off when you pull! And they're yellow! Un-hunh. They don't come off when you pull gently, and they're only yellow on the outside. There are hundreds of loquats on the trees; I keep telling her to have patience and she will have all the loquats she could possibly want, it is better for her and the tree to wait until they're actually ripe. I ate 2; she ate 6.

She made cucumber salad today. "Would you make the cucumber salad while I start the risotto?" "Do I have to use a sharp knife?" "You don't have to, but you may." "I will use a sharp knife then, but a little one, mind you, because I am not old or big enough or sensible enough to use a great big one." (She mimes waving around a large knife.) I found the salt and the cumin for her, and provided some advice, most of which she ignored. I, personally, dice the cucumbers. She minces them. This is a slow and demanding process. (Would it be cruel to try giving her proper cucumbers with seeds instead of the little persian ones?)