Shrimp, cherries, a very good article

T and I have been burning.the.candle y'all, just burning away at both ends. Yo! I am what's called tuckered out. He is in bed right now. Not even kidding. Oliver spent the night with a friend last night which seemed like a big deal to everyone except him. For god's sakes, Jack has never even had a sleepover. Second children for you! He had an absolute ball. I mean, it was a homerun of a sleepover, and I say hat's off to friend E's family. He is completely wiped out now, naturally, and is vacillating between bliss and batshit. Cue the early bedtime music. I think J-bird needs to go in that direction too. He ate an entire(!) order of 2Amy's meatballs + bread + an ice cream sundae last night before bathing and then asking for another meal. We watched a movie and this morning went to the farmers market. He has been eating ever since and is gaga because his mind is a hamster wheel on speed. Our family is positively abuzz, people. Last night, Tom made me dinner: shrimp and grits, and it definitely hit the spot. He made shrimp stock from the shells, used sherry and butter, the works. He did manage to dirty ever pot and bowl we own, but bygones; he cooked for moi!

I was extremely pleased to find sour cherries at the FM this morning and bought three quarts which I've just finished pitting. Some are already freezing; the rest will be made into a pie sometime very soon. Sour cherry pie is an absolute highlight of this time of year.

Lastly, I want to draw your attention to this article, The Trauma of Parenthood, published in this morning's NY Times. Though trauma is a heavy word, this piece is right and important, especially in its call to spread kindness not judgment towards parents. The easy or blissful time you might be experiencing may be something someone else only feels fleetingly, and a lack of support for their tougher times only serves to make them feel judged, lonely, guilty and/or other negative things. I emailed the author, Eli Finkel, to say thank you, and he emailed me right back. Turns out we were a year apart at Northwestern, where he is a professor now. Very cool!

Summer squash

Yesterday, in the midst of throwing out bags of hoarded crap from the boys' rooms, I heard a rap on the front door. I flew down the stairs, flung open the door and was infinitely relieved to NOT see a magazine-selling child-adult standing there. Instead, it was P (of 'Oliver saying 'fuck' during bingo fame) delivering a large bag stuffed with freshly picked yellow squash, zucchini, a cucumber and a spring onion. What an enormous treat. Her mom and I proceeded to talk squash recipes, full of eagerness because at this point in the season, no one is tired of squash. Come late August and we'll all be singing a different tune but for now, the possibilities are endless and the abundance of these beauties is yet another indicator that summer is sprung and tomatoes are on their way. Gorgeous, aren't they?

Later, I chopped one, sauteed it with some radicchio, parsley, basil and chives, threw that in a tart crust, added some chopped tomato and a ricotta-mozzarella-egg-milk mix, slid it in the oven and called it dinner. Outstanding.

Off to pack up for class!

Mental floss

Today has been just what I needed! I dropped the bubs at camp, finished up the strawberry-Pinot Noir jam, went to the Container Store to GET.ORGANIZED., saw another bestie (who, by the way, was rendered speechless by a slice of the plum tart; see, it's not just me!), threw out a lot of random biz that my child hoarders had confiscated, returned emails in a thoughtful and responsible manner, picked the boys up, went for a Pokemon card treat and to the market, and then we all got happy about Lazy Thursday which is always what we do after Ludicrous Wednesday. Additionally and per my promise yesterday, I: read the paper, finished unpacking from Richmond and did not answer the inevitable call from CVS. Solid! While the boys zoned out with the iPad, I made fresh kofta burgers for their dinner, steamed some wax beans and chopped some watermelon too and then while they ate, tried to recreate a glorious lima bean hummus I devoured while in Wrightsville Beach.

This smooth spread was to die for, and I think that'd be the case even if I weren't such a complete lima bean lover. I am pretty darn satisfied with this result and will post the recipe shortly in Dips et al. The limas are generously supported by tahini, lemon juice and cumin; that blend is further buttressed by garlic, salt, lemon thyme and lemon zest.

The hummus I had in NC, made by a company called Roots if I remember properly, was a real puree; I've left this chunkier for now because I want to try and make falafel-like patties with it for dinner tonight. The rest I'll process until very smooth which makes a luscious dip as well as a sandwich spread that adds serious oomph to the rest of your fixings.

In my opinion, legumes are the cat's meow and you should all be better friends with them. Off to make -hopefully with better luck than I normally have attempting to fry falafel- the lima patties. Yee-howdy!