Playhouse mostly done, lobster rolls!

The Bourne Legacy was average- mostly noise and motion. Jeremy Renner is good in the role but the film itself wasn't nearly as good as the previous Bourne trilogy. Ah well. We picked up lobster and shrimp rolls at Luke's on the way home, and those were fab...a wonderful way, culinarily, to end the day. And the playhouse is too cute for words. The boys are just going to love it. Over and out friends, I'm off to the paper and bed.

Chicken with capgaregano, playhouse

We worked for nearly 5 hours today, and it felt so good. T and I are a good team and had fun. It's nice when you can have fun with someone even though you're not talking much! The playhouse is coming along swimmingly, and now has walls, a door, porch railings and the gabled parts of the roof. We'll finish it up tomorrow. Look how dear!

This hot summer has massacred our grass, but c'est la vie.

Starving now, I'm cooking a big dinner of chicken with capers, garlic and oregano (capgaregano) and lemon couscous. I also opened a bottle of rosé, the Petit Bourgeois 2011. It's reasonably priced, and we visited the vineyard when we were in the Loire back in 2005 so it brings back memories. It was a wonderful trip and the vineyard, Henri Bourgeois, was incredible. We tasted a boatload of wines, left tipsy and then came across a tiny bakery-type of place where Tom ordered a sandwich that consisted of an entire crottin de Chavignol (a perfect, mind-blowing goat cheese, made even more delicious that we were in the town of Chavignol) lightly breaded, warmed and mashed between two thick slices of scrumptious baguette. Oh.My.God. At that point, Tom agreed with me that French food and France were absolutely amazing, by and large.

It's raining worms; ricotta

In order to maximize enjoyment of the figs I poached yesterday, I am now making some ricotta. I cannot wait. People, I slept so long this morning that I didn't make it to my Pilates class. While I was sorry to miss it and my two favorite lady-pals there, it was, nonetheless, remarkable to just sleep and sleep some more. When I was finally up and at 'em, I mozied outside where T was installing the last plank in the foundation for the playhouse. My garden really needed an overhaul so I retrieved my pitchfork from the depths of the garage and went.to.town. We've got this grand sugar maple out back, and really, it is a gem. It must be at least 60 years old because it towers over our house and in the fall turns neon yellow for about a week. It is beyond glorious but raking the leaves it then drops is really a long-term commitment. In any case, I love that tree but its roots can be hard to deal with. They've grown tentacle-like all throughout the yard, popping up to the surface every now and again just to mess with you and establishing quite a web underground. The pitchfork comes in handy!

Once the gardens were turned, I headed to the compost pile. I've neglected it for a while so decided to get out the sieve and see how much black gold could be harvested. A lot! I forked and shoveled and sieved, and worms were flying everywhere. I love the worms and take great care never to injure even one. You can imagine this really elongates the amount of time any one task takes, but I don't mind. They are so industrious and helpful, so I give them a wide berth. If you have any room, consider starting a compost pit. It takes absolutely no energy to do so. Simply start throwing your fruit and veggie scraps, coffee grinds, eggshells, some leaves and yard clippings and occasionally, some newspaper shreds, and you're set. Toss with a pitchfork on occasion, if you don't get a lot of rain, water the pile sometimes. Get a sieve so you can utilize what's ready and toss back what's not. Between composting and recycling, you'll be amazed by how much less you're throwing in the regular garbage. Awesome.

I am getting a massage in an hour, friends. Wonderful foresight to have scheduled this if I say so myself! Off to strain the ricotta!