Sicilian blood orange marmalade in the works, seeds planted, it's crostini night!

As blood oranges head out of season, I decided to make a final batch of marmalade but am using a different recipe this time around. Entitled Sicilian Blood Orange Marmalade, it instructs you to prick the oranges all over and soak them in a tub of water for four days, changing the water each day. This is to remove much of the bitterness innate in orange rind. True Sicilian blood oranges are the Tarocco variety, a relative of the Sanguinello from Spain. I've not seen either of these here; what I've been purchasing is the Moro variety, related to the others but with more bitterness and a deeply colored, variegated flesh. Presently, three pounds are soaking away and later this week, I'll get busy with them. I also got some zucchini, bean and radish seeds planted today in the little cowpots I ordered and which arrived yesterday. Not the greenest thumb around, I nonetheless remain hopeful that one day the spirits will conspire to give me enough sun, remind me to water regularly and keep random pests at bay.

In the meantime, I decided that tonight will be Crostini Night!! Yum! I'd set some cannellini beans to soak last night so just cooked them up with some garlic and finally harvested that enormous radicchio which I'll stew into them. Concurrently I caramelized some red and yellow onions, will be making a chopped tomato relish, and we ran out and got some mozzarella, baguette, olives and other goodies.

Two final notes: Bill + farina cake

Y'all, if you taped but haven't watched or didn't tape but can still access a copy of Bill Maher's show from last night, do! It's hilarious. The primary panel consisted of John Heileman, James Carville and Neil deGrasse Tyson, and they were on. Auto-tycoon Bill Lutz provided a solid foil. T and I were belly-ache laughing during parts of it. Secondly, after chilling all day in the fridge, the farina cake had congealed into a most delightful custard-cake that I highly recommend. I will post the recipe soon, but suffice it to say that I just finished off what remained and felt lucky to be doing so after my smaller-than-expected take-out salad.

Take-out tonight- for real, recipes page a'coming

While I rallied last night and took the pantry challenge, I'm not feeling that I'll summon the energy to do so tonight. Difference? No school today and thusly, a full day with the kiddos. They are dolls but damnation, they are kinetic balls of verbiage. T and I are on the up but still running at just about 50%. I managed to get my productivity fix by slogging through yoga (after which I had to nap) and cleaning all the baseboards in the basement and the stairs leading to it with a rag and Q tips. Ol helped me, and actually it was quite nice. Just as I roast vegetables at the first hint of fall, I start nesting like a loon when I sense spring is near. Back to dinner though, there'll be no cooking tonight. I rather miss it but I'm trying to not only know but also respect my limits. The recipes page is coming along- it's definitely a time-consuming pursuit to transfer them all to the new format, but how delightful to look back through this first (almost) year of Em-i-lis. My anniversary is in less than a month. Although we'll be in Italy visiting my sis and her new fiance (finally! we've not been there in 4 years!) when the day rolls around, I'll nonetheless be finding ways to cook, shop at local markets and enjoy mouthwatering meals and telling you all about it all.