Meatless Monday: meal and a new cocktail

Gawd, y'all, I spent most of the morning on the couch. Whatever crappy bug I have is the pits. Also the fact that it was in the 40s last night and will be again tonight. Really mid-May? At noon, I picked Ol up and took him to his swimming lesson, which is outside in a heated pool and during which I wore a scarf. Again, really? Fun though, and afterwards, I managed to eat a small salad and get together a lovely dinner for my grands. Then I had my first real wind in days, got a lot done for my parents' 40th anniversary party next week and made some homemade peanut sauce (like, starting with peanuts that I roasted), dinner AND that cocktail about which I dreamed last weekend. Y'all, the Lidocaine is good!

I steeped coconut milk with fresh ginger and habañero, a dash of cinnamon and two demerara sugar cubes. Then I strained and chilled that and ultimately shook it hard with vodka and ice, finished it with a splash of Cognac and a bit of orange zest. Voila!

And for our meal: seared tofu with the peanut sauce as well as a soba noodle salad with cucumbers, celery and, wait for it, the peanut sauce.

I don't know what is up with my white balance! What did I do??

Bill Gates does some awesome shit with his mind, money and time.

Fab MD feast

Before Jack's baseball game this evening, T's parents came over for a Mother's Day fete and feast. I'd planned to make lobster rolls, and then T decided to butter-poach the tails (quick-boiled for two minutes, shells then removed, recipe a la Thomas Keller) in his sous vide machine. To toss with the poached meat he made a homemade Dijon mayo; I added snipped chives. We had a fresh loaf of challah from our challah-share at Ol's school, and from that I made split top, butter-toasted rolls. Rolls-stuffed with lobster-topped with fresh micro greens = un.bel.ievable. So, so good.

I also managed to get myself off the couch to make a rhubarb-strawberry pie (mostly rhubarb) spiced with cinnamon, orange and almond extract. Un.bel.ievable. That made for a fab dessert, and then we all rolled to the field for J's last regular-season game.

Let me tell you that I was so proud of my little slugger. His team hasn't won a game all season, a trend that kept going like a wildfire tonight. But they just get out there and have fun and do their best and all the parents cheer and no one seems to care that they're losing which I think is SO surprising and SO great. He got a couple hits, got on base, had a ball and is now in the bath.

I'm going back to the couch but as a happy and grateful mama. PS- T has won hubs of the year this weekend. WOW!

Mother's Day morning at the farmers market

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms, grandmothers, aunts and women who serve as mother figures in my and many others' lives. I hope you're all having a marvelous day. It was a cool morning here, but it's warming up and is beautiful out. Jack just hadn't gotten enough of that blasted report done, so while he continued to work, Oliver and I headed out to the market. First stop Bonaparte for an eclair for O, raspberry palmier for J, and a hulking piece of flan for moi. Divine. We bought pounds of fresh rhubarb, some sausages, cheese, flowers for moi, asparagus and so on.

I've never seen such a little guy eat such a large eclair so quickly. It was extremely impressive! And then he requested two chipotle buffalo jerky sticks. An indulgent, sweet morning with my littlest one.

Did y'all ever read Fifteen by Beverly Cleary? It was one of my very favorite books growing up; I'm sure I read it at least two dozen times. When I saw these snapdragons this morning, I remembered the scene in which Jane is babysitting the mischievous little girl who traps flies in snaps. What is that little girl's name? I know it'll come to me later, but anyway, Jane gently releases all the ensnared flies after her charge loses interest. I told Oliver that story and showed him how to squeeze the snap blossoms open, which he found fascinating. Nanny always grew snapdragons; she had plenty of sun and they seemed to like the Louisiana heat. Anyway, I love them too so bought a half dozen stems this morning to arrange in with the sweet peas and few ranunculus I also purchased.

On our way home, Ol and I called Nanny to wish her a Happy Mother's Day. She sounded good, and I told her she had more lives than a lucky cat. She laughed and said, "I guess so." I wish I could go visit with her right now.