Mango butter

Ataulfo mangoes are here. Big time! I bought a case of 17 or 18 yesterday for $12.99, and this Friday, they're going to be the One Day Deal at participating Whole Foods. You might recall that before spring break, I made a batch of mango chutney (Cathy Barrow's recipe recently published in the NY Times Dining section). Today I went a slightly different direction and made Citrusy Mango Butter, a lovely-sounding recipe I found on Food 52. Orange, lemon and lime juices, mangoes, cardamom and sugar. It's gorgeous!

Last night's dinner and dance party

Our little celebration last night was such fun. We decided against further cocktails because they are so tricky; you think you're totally fine and then you're not. When your wake-up call won't be late, you really have to consider whether or not post-cocktail fog is feasible and/or worth it. As both kids are still on break, it seemed wise to put away the Applejack and instead move to wine. Good decision. I started this swordfish steak a'poaching and concurrently braised the carrots and fennel. How incredibly plugged in do the carrots look? Wow farmers market, thank you!

When just done, I topped the fish with caper, olive, lemon, parsley confetti, and all that plus the olive bread was great.

Sometime during all that, we realized that Jack was definitely awake. Some story, definitely fabricated, about a nightmare, but feeling festive, I invited him down for a bite of my cake. Fortunately, he did not like it -more for me- so I let him nosh on a few jelly beans and join our dance party. He got out his electric guitar, a harmonica and a blue, plastic, star-shaped clapper and went to town as a one-man band. We rocked to a Pandora playlist built off an "I Love Rock -n- Roll" request, and my primary takeaways are these: if you have Pandora, immediately make this playlist and you will be thrilled(!), and dancing tipsy-like with your 6½ year old can really be a gas.

Em-i-lis is 2!

Happy Birthday, Em-i-lis! She's 2! She's 2! Happy as can be!

Thank you all for reading me,

Keep it up so we can celebrate 3!

Truly, what a wonderfully fun two years of writing, venting, sharing, laughing, learning, connecting, getting to know you, cooking, drinking, pondering sadnesses, wondering about the future, considering regret, eating some more. Thank you so much for reading and reaching out. I'm forever grateful.

I'd love, LOVE to hear your favorite Em-i-lis tidbits from the past year(s) so please write, in the comments here or to me personally if you're so inspired.

Isn't my ranunculus perfection incarnate? What a beautiful picture.

And now on to olive oil poached swordfish, cut fresh from this beauty Ol and I saw at the market today, as well as braised carrots and fennel with honey and orange. Olive bread and good butter, more cocktails (yo, that's an Applejack Rabbit) or wine, the lemon-raspberry cake and hopefully a Real Time from Friday.