Serious Sunday dinner

With our blackberries from this morning I made a huge jar of straight-up blackberry jam for Jack as it's his very favorite ever; with the rest I made blackberry-sage jam which is divine. Blackberries just really groove on the herbalness of sage. I'm still tasting that blackberry-peach-sage crisp I made last month! Mamma mia! I mean, just LOOK at this color!

T and I had an afternoon date -thank you babysitter- at the gym, hardware store, grocery and to deal with the fact that Percy had escaped, made himself at home in a lovely family's yard about 18 feet from ours, been identified via the easy lure of turkey (then she could read his tag) and then found by the kids and babysitter who were likely racing around the neighborhood yelling "Percy" at the tops of their lungs.

It is always something!

Around 5p, a plum tart started siren-calling me, and so I made one. Actually, I was still jamming so made T make the crust and then finished it off. He's a very good cook though he loooves to cut corners which sometimes works and sometimes definitely doesn't. In any case, while that was cooking, I: roasted some celery root and this time did NOT drop the damn pan; made a fab-o raw kale salad with dried cherries, toasted walnuts and an assertively garlic dressing; and cooked the sirloin that T had just rubbed with salt, pepper and rosemary (I bought it this morning at the FM). T also got fancy and made a garlic soy sauce for it. Very '80s but good. We lit candles, sat and ate outside, Coravin'd two glasses of excellent Cabernet and may call it a day soon. Sunday, Sunday, the last of August. When did that happen?

Serious Sunday haul

Have you ever gone to town on your kitchen's crevices with a toothpick? This morning, armed with a box of toothpicks, an old cloth diaper and some wood cleaner, I spent a gleeful hour immersed on the rather OCD task of picking out from all dishwasher, oven and cabinet creases/indentations/joints/and so forth the grime, grease, pet hair, dust and assorted food crumbs that have accumulated over the years. It was fairly gross and extremely satisfying.

I'd just cooked both waffles and blueberry pancakes as the boys each wanted one and I was feeling magnanimous. I was also thinking how great it would be to replenish my freezer supply of both so that the next time diverse breakfast requests came in, I'd be at the ready. While I've never been willing to be a short-order cook, it's also never bothered me to make them slightly different meals. I don't always want the same thing or have the same preferences each day, so I get it.

Anyway, "me time" was toothpicking crap from cracks, and then we went to the farmers market. Ol wore a cap to shield his eyes from the very bright sun (gorgeous day here), and J then said he'd grab some sunglasses. Instead of choosing from the regular assortment, he opted for these Iris Apfel-types from the dress-up bin. I was amused. I'm sure the entire farmers market was amused, frankly. I love that kid.

We came home with 20 pounds of tomatoes, about that of peaches, 4 baskets of blackberries, a ludicrous amount of a salchicon Oliver obsessed over, and various other goodies. I best get cooking, don't you think!? Everything was just so beautiful...

This Friday draws to a close, yippee!

Despite the revolting and sleep-deprived ways in which today commenced, it has, since, been lovely. One of my favorite people came over with her son (Ol's age), and the three boys were thick as thieves for hours. Jack went to Lego camp, and afterwards I took him to Tae Kwon Do for blue-belt testing. He passed and is extremely proud. I am too! Then we went to the market for a celebratory dinner o' his faves - taco platter, caffeine-free berry tea, a chocolate sandwich cookie- and I picked up a roast chicken for an easy main for T and me. I started feeling extremely tired around 6:30p, dropped an entire pan of olive oil-slicked celery root cubes into the hot oven whose door I'd just pulled open and cursed under my breath during the entire clean-and-toss aftermath. As I opened the cabinet above the fridge, I heard a threatening slide and looked up just as a large cheeseboard was considering bashing me in the head. Calling it safe and simple seemed increasingly wise, and so I put T in charge of carving the bird while I made a very basic tomato, corn and feta salad with lemon thyme, basil and a champagne vinaigrette. Fresh hunks of juicy watermelon and some warm multigrain bread rounded out a satisfying TGIF dinner.

Tomorrow I'll be in Pennsylvania for a friend's bridal shower so I'll be on the road and out of touch. Off to finish wrapping gifts, visit with my honey and hit the hay!