Peach-plum-lime-ginger jam

I was starting to feel a tad guilty that the beautiful Italian plums and yellow and white peaches I'd bought at the farmers market Sunday were getting very ripe, if you catch my drift. So, not needing any more desserts after days of feasting on just that, I decided to make the jam I'd thought about earlier. Into the pot went chopped plums and peaches, a decent amount of diced crystallized ginger, some lime zest and lime juice, sugar, allspice, a bit of apple cider and the tiniest turn of fresh black pepper. It's in the canning kettle now and looks beautiful. It is also quite good, and I think I achieved the unique, not too sweet jam I was hoping for. I'll let you know and will also post some photos and the recipe a bit later. I'm also going to make my anchovy-butter radishes tonight so I'm off!

Late afternoon psychosis -not me!-, dresses to Half the Sky, desirous of wine

Hells Bells...my eldest son just morphed into a raving lunatic just as I answered the phone and was giving Verizon a real piece of my mind. I think the fact that I'm so hoarse and stopped up that I sound like a man really helped the FiOS guy take me seriously. J was going on so ridiculously that I actually had to ask the guy to call me back. We had just returned from an art-supplies date, and almost immediately I had to take them away due to psychotic in-fighting. Really burst the loving family experience bubble I was in. I finally got J to his room and was about to put dinner on the table for Oliver when he said with a look of great concern, "I feel sick, Mom. My bottom hurts." So we haul ass back upstairs and make it to his potty just in time. I tried to praise him endlessly while simultaneously trying not to look as my queasy stomach was lurching a bit. Ultimately, he seemed quite proud, and hopefully this will start a keep-the-potty-training-going-in-a-more-advanced-direction trend. Now they're chowing down; hopefully feeling sated will preclude any additional meltdowns before bedtime. If you think I am not wishing in a big effing way that I could have a glass of wine tonight, you are wrong. However, I am fully aware that this would be an unwise decision due to the previously described nasty-ass sinus infection that is currently plaguing me. Sigh.

I did get my dresses mailed off to Nick Kristof's Half the Sky repository, so if you do want to send anything to Jane, here's the address: Half the Sky, c/o Show of Force, 430 East 10th Street, Suite 3A; New York, NY 10009 If you don't have a clue what I'm talking about, Jane is a Kenyan woman about whom Kristof recently wrote. She was a prostitute for 5 years after her husband left her homeless and with young children. Then she came upon an anti-poverty organization and with their guidance and support has now started a sewing business that has enabled her to buy a home for her and her children and send them all to school. Click this link for additional information about this inspiring story.

Zahav

I am excited to find in today's NYT Dining section, a lengthy review and the story behind Zahav, an incredible Israeli restaurant in Philadelphia. If you live in Philly and have not been to Zahav, make a reservation stat. Same goes to anyone who will be visiting Philly in the near future.The chef, Michael Solomonov cooked at another fine Philly restaurant, Vetri, for a while, but after his brother (an Israeli army soldier) was killed by snipers, Solomonov and a backer opened Zahav as a tribute to and means of highlighting food native to the land as well as that brought in by immigrants. T and I ate there in 2009, and were blown away. Philly is one of the best restaurant towns in the U.S. anyway, but Zahav really stands out even in the context. Check today's paper for the recipes provided.