Eating long, eating short, eating well: pantry stocks and leftovers

I've been busy this week, running hurriedly from here to there. By and large it's all been good and fun stuff, including a literal run to commence training for the Navy half marathon in September.

During frenzied times, it's all too easy to eat mindlessly, crappily or not at all. But that thought is positively repellent to me, as I hate wasting a meal. I mean, we only get three a day*. It's also unhealthy, for the food we eat is the fuel we give our bodies. Eating well is the equivalent of loving ourselves enough to nourish and tend to our physical forms.

I often carve time in each day to prepare meals, for myself and my family. But that's not always feasible which is why it's important to remember that you can eat well and healthfully on the quick.

Each of the past two nights, I've made dinner in under ten minutes. On Thursday, I steamed some couscous (five minutes) while sauteing some shrimp to serve on top. I had all the dry ingredients -couscous and spices- in my pantry, broth in the fridge, parsley on the windowsill and used a pound of already peeled and deveined shrimp I bought earlier that day. Simple, fast, filling and good.

Last night, I took advantage of the need to clean out my fridge by making a platter of salads. Leftovers can often be repurposed in lovely ways: extra mozzarella turns into a caprese salad; previously roasted potatoes make a nice cold dish when topped with crème fraîche and lemon; beets I'd earlier thought to roast make a sturdy foil for watercress, oranges from breakfast and some peppered chevre from the cheese drawer. The lemony green beans were from the kids' dinner, and those lingering carrots from mine on Wednesday night. I pulled some pre-sliced whole grain bread from the freezer, toasted it and voila. Dinner is served.

Naturally, this approach to dinner works best if your pantry and fridge are well-stocked with good basics, if you keep your leftovers in easy-to-see containers and if you're good about regularly purchasing favorite ingredients to keep on hand. I am never without good olive oil, whole grain bread, a variety of vegetables and an assortment of cheese.

But a little thinking ahead goes a long way, and it's so worth it. Buon appetito!

*Please note that I am extraordinarily concerned with poverty and hunger in our world and recognize the luxury my family has to eat three square meals a day.

An aging lady on the couch with bonbons

Over the course of the past year, my dear mother has taken to repeating, "I can't believe I have a daughter who's almost forty." 

Thanks for the reminder, Mom!

As it turns out, I will only be 39 next week, so really, the 40s death knell seems early, yes? 

I myself don't mind getting older. By and large, age is but a number. That said, a few things clearly suck about approaching mid-life. A second wave of acne is definitely on my list (seriously, what the eff did any woman ever do to deserve zits again?) as is the fact that if I sit cross-legged on the floor for more than 8 minutes, my knees regret it for hours. But the most annoying might very well be the way aging bodies metabolize alcohol. In short, they suck at it.

Wine and the occasional cocktail are integral, happy, celebratory, relaxing aspects of my life. A superbly cooked filet is made even more sublime when enjoyed with a great Cabernet. A fresh crottin of goat cheese sings alongside a crisp Sancerre. A flute of champagne can make even the dullest of events feel festive. And when was the last time you sat outside on a beautiful summer night, enjoying a chilled Rosé, and felt anything but content?

Right.

So it's a cruel twist that as the years go on and you have a bit more time and your kids need a bit less and perhaps you're a bit more established, those sublime nectars start to mess with you. Your sleep is impaired, your stomach may feel like it's been grated, your cognitive abilities suffer, your head feels like it's packed with cotton. Unless you're in Italy and then you can even day-drink again!

I had two glasses of wine last night with my dinner. Two. Tom had a work function, and I cooked myself a lovely, lovely meal, got out my crossword puzzle, poured a vat of water to offset the damn dehydration elements in the wine, and spent a few delightful hours. 

And I woke up this morning and felt like I was on Mars. Hmph. It's very nearly unacceptable. As it's cold and rainy here, I decided that after dropping the boys off at school, I'd come home and take a nap. Just curl up on the couch with Percy and call it a morning. 

Percy, the slug pug. Does he look relaxed, or what?!

This sort of luxury is not something I usually afford myself, but what else could Mars head do? Percy was thrilled, and really, so was I. I awoke at 10:15 to the sound of the mailman delivering some letters and a few packages. Packages are always fun, so I ambled to the door by way of my Soda Stream (because: more water) and found an early birthday present from one of my dearest college friends.

An entire box of See's Nuts & Chews!! These are my faves. I do not, generally speaking, like boxed chocolates. There's too much going on, and that weird puffed, grainy filling that too many of them boast is the pits. Also, the chocolate tends to taste eerily like paraffin wax. No thank you.

But See's Nuts & Chews? Ohmygod. Chocolate, nuts and the minimal amount of caramel or marshmallow needed to hold it all together. I love and do not share these. Thank you, Ames.

In that moment, Mars head decided to stay on the couch with the bonbons and be that woman. I don't know that I've ever actually sat on the couch in the late morning eating candies. (Where did that ridiculous stereotype of stay-at-home mothers come from anyway?) It was delightful, and my friend's timing couldn't have been better.

You can see in the make-up free, un-Photoshopped pic that I do not wake up looking like Miranda Kerr does (if her Instagram feed is showing us regular people the truth). Then again, she is a supermodel, and I am not.

But that right there is an almost-39-year-old who took a nap and ate candy and feels damn happy about having done so.

Maybe the best part of getting older is feeling OK about doing just that. Even if it means suffering minimal-wine after-effects to get there. 

Easter and eggcellent eating

One of the things I most love about this time of year is the extraordinary display of rebirth everywhere. New shoots burst from the garden soil each day, growing rapidly in the sunny warmth. Peonies and astilbe, columbines and hydrangeas, bee balm and bleeding hearts...each year I wait for some and am surprised by others, but always I am thrilled by their responsible perennialism. Hello again, dear friends. Thank you for returning, as you always do.

Indeed the beauty and promise in this cyclical nature of, well, nature, is the way I plan to think about Easter in the future. It is a day of rebirth anyway, so I'll simply embrace and celebrate in a way that resonates with my beliefs. And because bunnies are natural creatures, I see now that the Bunny can fill my boys' baskets each year without conflict. 

Easter cake: strawberry with whipped cream-mascarpone frosting

We spent yesterday with Tom's parents and a cousin who lives in DC too. It was a gorgeous afternoon, and after an egg hunt, we ate a delicious lunch (which included that stunning strawberry cake with whipped cream-mascarpone frosting) and then watched the boys play and fly a kite in the field behind my in-laws house. Jack was initially concerned that he wouldn't be able to get the kite aloft, but soon enough, he'd unspooled the entire 500 feet of string.

When I wasn't smiling upon the pride emanating from his face, I joined the others in looking skyward, our eyes fixated on the simple joy of a colorful kite gliding confidently in the wind. 

Ol and I moseyed over to the playground that abuts the field, and he climbed the rock wall and found "stick treasures" while I sunned on a bench.

using a stick treasure to massage my feet

By the time last night rolled around, we were all so tired it seemed wise just to call it quits and hit the sack. The boys conked out early, T and I watched Going Clear, the recently released documentary about Scientology (oh.mah.gah!) and then, after a light meal, joined the slumber party.

This salad is always lovely but really hit the spot after a big lunch. Y'all try it: watercress, cantaloupe, goat cheese or feta, fresh figs or dried...It's absolutely lovely!