Mental floss

Today has been just what I needed! I dropped the bubs at camp, finished up the strawberry-Pinot Noir jam, went to the Container Store to GET.ORGANIZED., saw another bestie (who, by the way, was rendered speechless by a slice of the plum tart; see, it's not just me!), threw out a lot of random biz that my child hoarders had confiscated, returned emails in a thoughtful and responsible manner, picked the boys up, went for a Pokemon card treat and to the market, and then we all got happy about Lazy Thursday which is always what we do after Ludicrous Wednesday. Additionally and per my promise yesterday, I: read the paper, finished unpacking from Richmond and did not answer the inevitable call from CVS. Solid! While the boys zoned out with the iPad, I made fresh kofta burgers for their dinner, steamed some wax beans and chopped some watermelon too and then while they ate, tried to recreate a glorious lima bean hummus I devoured while in Wrightsville Beach.

This smooth spread was to die for, and I think that'd be the case even if I weren't such a complete lima bean lover. I am pretty darn satisfied with this result and will post the recipe shortly in Dips et al. The limas are generously supported by tahini, lemon juice and cumin; that blend is further buttressed by garlic, salt, lemon thyme and lemon zest.

The hummus I had in NC, made by a company called Roots if I remember properly, was a real puree; I've left this chunkier for now because I want to try and make falafel-like patties with it for dinner tonight. The rest I'll process until very smooth which makes a luscious dip as well as a sandwich spread that adds serious oomph to the rest of your fixings.

In my opinion, legumes are the cat's meow and you should all be better friends with them. Off to make -hopefully with better luck than I normally have attempting to fry falafel- the lima patties. Yee-howdy!

Ludicrous Wednesdays

Wednesdays have become the most outrageous day, and not in a good way (although I did manage a lunch date with a bestie today). They are so run-raggedy that Thursdays have defaulted into necessary mental health days. You know, the times you call in sick from work when you're not really sick or clear your schedule just because you literally cannot even feign interest in one more activity or to-do. And so tomorrow is such for me, and I am seriously looking forward to it. I will read the newspaper, I will not answer any calls from CVS, and I will finish unpacking from Richmond. We got home at 6:15 tonight, and the boys still needed dinner, bath and the bedtime routine. I urged them to snarf dinner like mannerless heathens, raced them through shoddy baths, read one joint story, Snoring Beauty, and then I bid them sayonara before going to sit catatonically with Nutmeg and online shop for god knows what until returning to some sort of stasis. At this point, Jack came downstairs (when did "bedtime" become like a yellow traffic light instead of red?) needing a yellow marker to color in the bubble lettered-Pokemon title he'd drawn on a Pokemon notebook he was making and also a brown to complete something else.

I accommodated these requests and certainly agreed when he then asked if he could do a page in his reading comprehension workbook (smart kid buys time in ways he knows I'll agree to); you have never seen a child write such lengthy and complete answers. I did not agree to a second dinner or his "real need" to "look something up on Amazon." I can't tell y'all how much rogue shit Tom and I found in our Amazon cart on a weekly basis. Reason 408 why I will never share passwords with the children! Can you imagine what would start arriving at our door?

Ultimately, I took a cue from my friend Randy, who regularly and very kindly beseeches me to take a load off, and decided we'd have salad and leftover gumbo for dinner. Because it's been more than a week, I also had to make a plum tart. Duh!

Lest y'all think my crush on Benedict has waned, it has not. It has been on the back burner as of crazy late, but I have colored in my coloring book and I do still gaze upon this picture on occasion. Know you've missed it too (except C and Mom; I know he mos def does NOT do it for you. We can still be friends.)

Pecan pesto, rapini with vin cotto

I am simply baffled by Pokémon. It has swept into our lives suddenly, furiously, and Jack is positively besotted. Oliver is not far behind. Cards and HPs and types and evolutions and powers...it seems Pokémon could be infinitely studied and played but I just don't get it. And the show is the worst. Just the absolute worst of anime. Naturally the boys beg to differ, but not since Bob the Builder have I felt a "passion" of theirs was so utterly vapid. Good for summertime I guess! In any case, dinner. In Wrightsville Beach a few weeks back, I bought some pecan oil brought up from Louisiana. Now, it is not lost on me that I've never bought pecan oil while at home, in Louisiana, but I saw it, was struck with a home-based yen, bought it and tonight made pecan pesto.

Pecan oil is exceedingly mild but it's a nice enough foundation if you also add actual pecans in some manner. I toasted a half cup of pecan halves, picked a mixed cup of basil and parsley from the yard, blended all that with some grated Parmesan, said pecan oil, some lemon, salt and a bit of garlic. These darling annelli, ring-shaped pasta I bought at Piazza in Easton back in May, paired wonderfully with the pesto; the sauce got caught up in the tiny rounds, like muck in your car hubcaps but good, which made each bite that much more intense. Nanny's favorite pasta was ditalini; annelli look like ditalini that have each been sliced in half.

Alongside, because I feel I've been terribly delinquent in the dinnertime veggie-making business as of late, I made my Rapini with Vin Cotto (you might recall it was featured on Food 52 as both a Community Pick and highlight of Weeknights with Jenny). It is so flipping good. The vague or overt bitterness of the greens (vague if you use broccolini but overt if you use rapini) is countered by the sweet tang of the vin cotto (cooked wine though I use balsamic vinegar instead of wine), and the little shocks of seared/charred/caramelized garlic are sublime.