Aah, Thursday

The children actually slept until 6:30 this morning, a blissful surprise especially since the opposite is usually the case when T leaves town. Ol climbed into bed with me, warm and dear, and about ten minutes later, Jack followed, sweet and loving. No one tried to play "mine" under my covers, no one argued over which Mommy arm he got or how much pillow. I almost couldn't believe it, but I'll take it! After dropping them at school and hitting the gym, I came home for a lovely morning of cooking and organizing. I'm teaching canning classes tomorrow and Saturday and also need to prep a number of items for a catering delivery two days hence. It's a gorgeous day, Percy and I took a walk, the kitchen has been a happy place of smooth success, and I've just devoured the last of my Yotam leftovers and a small bowl of my potato soup. It is so good. To go alongside both, I pan-seared half a head of radicchio in olive oil sprinkled with sumac. Delicious. Y'all simply must try wilting or grilling radicchio! I like it sprinkled with a little Chinese 5-spice, grilled and then served with a brûléed grapefruit "steak" on top. But this simple seared half today paired winningly with the tahini sauce, onions and the potato soup!

Utterly divine veg dinner for one, a little bit of kitchen magic

My obsession with platters appears to be reaching a problematic state. I love platters. LOVE them. Of all shapes and sizes, earthily organic or modern as can be, unfinished or perfect, with a hint of decor or none at all. And today I may have bought one more. It was on sale, and I am sure to use it, but the stack in my basement closet (hee-hee, T never looks in there; it's like a tiny wifely-embezzlement nook) is quite tall. But this platter is so lovely, and I've been eyeing it for months, and it went on sale, and so I jumped. It's possible I bought a matching baker, but that's an admission for another day.

I did not get to any of the cooking on my list today, but I did manage to make myself a marvelous dinner for one: pumpkin ravioli with a brown butter sage sauce; and warmed Yotam & Sami leftovers from two nights back. Everything saved beautifully; in fact, it was all better tonight which is not really a surprise. Fried onions get better over time, and tahini sauce is a sit-in-the-fridge-and-improve champ. Yotam's tahini sauce is lovely, and in making it I am always amazed by the way disparately viscous ingredients can come together so uniformly. That sort of magic is one of the elemental reasons I love cooking. Try this yourself:

From Jerusalem:

3½ tablespoons light tahini paste 4½ tablespoons Greek yogurt 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed 2 tablespoons water

Place all ingredients in a medium bowl, add a pinch of salt, and whisk well until you get a smooth, semistiff paste.

Could.that.be.simpler?! No. And when you first put everything in the bowl and start whisking, you'll think, this biz ain't ever gonna come together into a paste. But it does, beautifully and smoothly, and in this rich ecru color that you want to paint your walls with, and that's the magic.

Hysterical conversation

This morning on the way to school I told the kids that Misse and Poppy (my parents) had landed in Istanbul. "Boys, try to find Turkey on a map in your classrooms. It's over an ocean and past Italy."

Oliver said, "Ooh, if we visit Chicken one day we can also visit Italy on our way home."

Swear to god he wasn't trying to be funny. Jack said, "Chicken??? Hah! Do you mean Turkey?"

Ol said: "Oh yes, I forgot."

We all laughed our faces off!