My day

Readers, today was lovely. Has been lovely. As it stands, my dear hubs is opening a 5 putt Tokai for a celebratory nightcap. Years ago when we lived in Amsterdam, we traveled through Eastern Europe and had a hell of a time in Budapest. If ever you go, please, please dine at Cafe Pierrot if it's still open. Up on a hill, beautifully appointed, we ate at it two days in a row, and then our dear friends dined there a couple years later with similarly rave reviews. When we discovered it, Hungary had just joined the E.U. and we had such an interesting conversation with our waiter who felt hopeful yet truly concerned that Hungary would lose some of its sense of identity by becoming part of a larger, heterogeneous whole. It was definitely a stage of transition in Budapest; some streets were dolled up to the nines, others still unpaved, pre-now as it was then. The train station was totally shady. I'm a seasoned traveler and like a bit of mystery but this place was "get me out of here" wild. God, those days seem like eons ago, another life, a totally different one. In any case, my birthday breakfast with friends was amazing. Foodie friend C went to town, and the spread was ridiculously good. I'd purposely held off on eating a thing before I headed over, so by 9:15a, I was ready to chow. And did. Homemade granola, lemon curd, ginger scones, cinnamon-sugar breakfast puffs. And she'd called together a posse of my dearest pals. Wow. Then to a massage, some pick-ups and drop-offs, a pedicure, the most irritating trip to the market EVER and then home to cook. Because I wanted to.

Rapini with vin cotto: insane! Dates stuffed with mascarpone and goat cheese, wrapped in prosciutto, broiled and then sprinkled with chopped marconas and more of the vin cotto? Terrif! Truffle Tremor cheese with melba crisps? I can't speak!

Thank you to everyone who wrote such sweet Happy Birthdays to me today!

Happy Birthday

One of the unspoken truths for many of us in the midst of young motherhood is this: on your birthday and Mother's Day, you really just want to be alone, or with your adult friends or your partner. As opposed to: with your kids.

Today, I am 37, and though I got to sleep in the basement last night, this morning has been little more than meltdown mayhem. As such, I don't consider my special day to really start until both boys are at school. When I can actually think, take a deep breath, uncrimp my body, put myself first.

I can't wait.

I'm seeing some friends this morning and then indulging in a looong massage. As quickly after school pick-ups as possible, I'm going to leave the kids with a babysitter and go get a pedicure. I intend to actually read some of my book today. I want to have some time to work up a recipe I've been pondering.

I can't wait.

Good, bad, busy

People, the news from Boston is just horrible. What compels folks to act in such evil, cruel ways? Hate? Zealotry? Ignorance? Insanity? Perhaps an explosive combination of all that plus some. I was so busy today that I didn't hear about the explosions until after the fact; I'd manned a moon bounce at Ol's school for two hours, taken him to a swim lesson, and attempted to process a really troubling story from an acquaintance. I finally got everyone picked up and dropped off and was running an errand when I received a text with the news from my Mom. I often find, in recent years, that these sorts of tragedies don't overly affect me when I first hear them like they would have a decade or two ago (perhaps I've finally lived long enough to truly know just how much bad shit there is in the world), but as the hours afterwards pass, my mood darkens and I sink into a state of god, not another one.

To counter the sense of crappiness in the world, I wrote a thank you note and baked brownies as an appreciation for some generous friends who've been incredible Samaritans of late (I'm fine; they're helping someone I know who is definitely in need). I did my best to craft a decent condolence note; they are always so difficult to write. I thought about how terribly lucky I and my family are, how many good people are in our lives. And now I'm going to try and get a good night's sleep.

I hope I'll have more for you tomorrow. I hope that if you had loved ones in Boston, that they are OK.