Pickled cauliflower, enormous amount of red beans & rice

Jack continued to have trouble sleeping last night, so round about 7:45p, he and I took a walk down to Pain Quotidien for some dessert treats. We had a wonderful date, and he was thrilled that I let him pick out 3 items (that we could all share of course). Fast forward to nearly 10p, and he is high as a kite from all the sugar. I should have considered this outcome being that two of the items were or contained chocolate, but I'd had two glasses of amazing wine so honestly, nothing more crossed my mind than if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, let's have a date. We talked for 30-40 minutes -straight! I kid you not!- about how we'd design a law-enforcement-themed cake. A good friend and one of Jack's all-time most serious crushes just got engaged, and we discussed having her and her fiance over for dinner. Long story short, Jack suggested we have this cake then but envision it aesthetically now, so we did. At one point even he said, "this is really an involved law enforcement cake." Finally, I said I couldn't go on and please, let's go to bed. Another long story short, we ended up sleeping in the basement together. Last time this happened I said I'd never do it again, and as we headed downstairs, Tom raised an eyebrow very skeptically and bid me some sort of luck-inspired farewell.

Friends, it was a horrible night of non-sleep and being kicked in the back. I was feeling all full of love for little J but I mean it now, I'm never sleeping with him again.

Anyway, after the plum jam earlier, I made a pickled cauliflower recipe that just sounded amazing. It involves pomegranate molasses which is an other-worldly substance, green cardamom and coriander. You're supposed to let it age for six weeks, and it will be hard to wait that long.

I then got started on the biggest vat of red beans and rice I've ever made. It just fits in my Staub. We're having friends for dinner tomorrow night, and RB&R is much better if made the day before you eat it. So this mess o' good is stewing away now. What a treat it will be! I'll post this recipe for you for sure. Amazing!