Pappa and a cake

What a nice and productive day it's been so far. Jack  and I went to his class open house this morning so that I could see lots of what he's been working on. We played a math game, he showed me his journal and a report he'd done on Cousteau. It was darling and fun and then two of my dearest pals and I hung out in the parking lot for at least a half hour, freezing but in hysterics. Fun. I headed home with a mission to bake, frost and freeze a Reine de Saba (Julia's chocolate-almond cake) so that I could check that off my to-do list for the party we're having for Mom and Dad next week to celebrate their 40th anniversary. In the meantime, I made a pot of pappa al pomodoro just because it sounded delicious. And it was!

Meatless Monday: meal and a new cocktail

Gawd, y'all, I spent most of the morning on the couch. Whatever crappy bug I have is the pits. Also the fact that it was in the 40s last night and will be again tonight. Really mid-May? At noon, I picked Ol up and took him to his swimming lesson, which is outside in a heated pool and during which I wore a scarf. Again, really? Fun though, and afterwards, I managed to eat a small salad and get together a lovely dinner for my grands. Then I had my first real wind in days, got a lot done for my parents' 40th anniversary party next week and made some homemade peanut sauce (like, starting with peanuts that I roasted), dinner AND that cocktail about which I dreamed last weekend. Y'all, the Lidocaine is good!

I steeped coconut milk with fresh ginger and habañero, a dash of cinnamon and two demerara sugar cubes. Then I strained and chilled that and ultimately shook it hard with vodka and ice, finished it with a splash of Cognac and a bit of orange zest. Voila!

And for our meal: seared tofu with the peanut sauce as well as a soba noodle salad with cucumbers, celery and, wait for it, the peanut sauce.

I don't know what is up with my white balance! What did I do??

Bill Gates does some awesome shit with his mind, money and time.

Fab MD feast

Before Jack's baseball game this evening, T's parents came over for a Mother's Day fete and feast. I'd planned to make lobster rolls, and then T decided to butter-poach the tails (quick-boiled for two minutes, shells then removed, recipe a la Thomas Keller) in his sous vide machine. To toss with the poached meat he made a homemade Dijon mayo; I added snipped chives. We had a fresh loaf of challah from our challah-share at Ol's school, and from that I made split top, butter-toasted rolls. Rolls-stuffed with lobster-topped with fresh micro greens = un.bel.ievable. So, so good.

I also managed to get myself off the couch to make a rhubarb-strawberry pie (mostly rhubarb) spiced with cinnamon, orange and almond extract. Un.bel.ievable. That made for a fab dessert, and then we all rolled to the field for J's last regular-season game.

Let me tell you that I was so proud of my little slugger. His team hasn't won a game all season, a trend that kept going like a wildfire tonight. But they just get out there and have fun and do their best and all the parents cheer and no one seems to care that they're losing which I think is SO surprising and SO great. He got a couple hits, got on base, had a ball and is now in the bath.

I'm going back to the couch but as a happy and grateful mama. PS- T has won hubs of the year this weekend. WOW!