Wonderful salad creation, Purple Majesties all fried up, salmon and chutney on a date

People, it's really all about the Friday afternoon babysitter over here. I slogged through tons of emails, cleaned up, worked out, showered!, read some of my book (seriously, Prodigal Summer is terrif) and became inspired in the kitchen. I had a bunch of fresh watercress, a fresh melon, and some absolutely wonderful/pungent/tangy Point Reyes Blue cheese that my friend, C, gave me. Thinking that all sounded lovely together, I slivered the melon into thin petals, placed those on the watercress, threw a bit of chopped mint on top, found a fig and slivered it, put it on the melon and then crumbled on the Blue.Noodling on a dressing, I mused: honey is lovely with figs and Blue, so are Marcona almonds, and I hated to waste the watercress stems. So, into the mini-prep went said stems, 1/2 tsp honey, some Marconas, some fresh lime juice, some EVOO and s&p. This was delightful and the perfect accompaniment for the salad.

The potatoes were a simple pan sauté with EVOO, rosemary, 1 clove garlic and then finished with Maldon.

T roasted salmon in foil packs, and we served it with my sour cherry-rhubarb chutney.

People, this was a darn good dinner. Even Tom enthused! The salad recipe is posted!

Miscellaneous

I was doing some back-to-school shopping online and asked Jack if he could think of anything he needed. Without hesitation, he replied: seersucker shorts, a black belt, a white button-up shirt and a black safari hat. Wow! I found everything but the hat and was shocked when he turned down the offer of argyle socks. Tom thinks I might have created a monster, but I think this is fabulous giveback for me being the only gal in this house. Tonight I'm going to cook up the last of my homegrown potatoes- thinking of thinly slicing them and sautéing with EVOO, garlic, and rosemary. I like the way the slices puff up when you cook them like that.

Just found a recipe for a cream cheese/goat cheese/creme fraiche cheesecake. Good lord!

Em-i-lis(t) of the day

After a pretty much sleepless night due to the children and a musical bed situation and the fact that mom is leaving today, I am in a pretty snarky mood.Thus, a new list of things I find quite peeving:

1) when people leave faucets on: wasteful! no good! 2) crappily made pump dispensers and spray bottles 3) drivers who, upon seeing long lines of traffic, race up the shoulder and cut in- a) you aren't fooling anyone, and b) I think this behavior is evidence of an underlying character flaw 4) Congress: particularly the enormous number of sanctimonious, intransigent, imperious Tea Partiers/Repubs who don't give a rat's butt about most Americans, including most of their constituents, and who seem to have a really dysfunctional relationship with the truth, as well as the concurrent seeming pitifulness of the many Dems who appear unwilling to stand firmly behind anything. 5) the number of calories in most good food in tandem with the slowing metabolism that age brings and sleep deprivation furthers.