Ok, the Frik and Radish recipes from last night are now online via Em-i-lis Recipes. Mike, let me know what you think.

It is another gorgeous day here, the deck guys are working, Oliver is thrilled, and I had a good pilates class this morning. I’ve been in this class for nearly two years now: same teacher, many of the same women, same room for pete’s sakes. I love the studio (Circle Yoga)- it has such an unpretentious, calming, friendly vibe about it- and the teachers are all so well-trained. Julie, our fabulous Pilates instructor, is just great. She has multiple analogies for every position, every movement your muscles should/should not be making. A recent favorite undescored the correct position our pelvises should be in in bridge pose: “imagine there is a flashlight pointing out of your hoo-ha (JB, apologies if that’s not the exact term you used): it should be pointing directly across the room.” Hah, is that not exceedingly helpful and clear?!
And the core group of women in the class are equally wonderful- fascinating lives, well educated, all different ages, kids/grandkids/or not, many longterm residents of DC which is not so easy to come across. I really enjoy knowing these women and look forward to class every week.

I feel much of that same sense with the friends I’ve made since Jack started PK. The moms (and dads, but I’m talking ladies here) at his school are just so cool- so well educated, so down to earth, so interesting, so much more than just moms (and that’s a big one!). It’s been a long time -college perhaps- that I’ve felt this sense of connection with so many people. I truly enjoy seeing and hanging out with them, miss seeing them when school’s on vacation, even will talk on the phone (I am not, in general, a phone gal), and their kids are so great too.

I feel very lucky about these groups of friends, because, for women, I think community is critically important. Many of our husbands don’t really get this- they don’t need deep friend relationships (generalizing here of course, but generally true I think), don’t seem to miss connections with others beyond us, work and kids. But women do need that, and it’s exciting to look forward to the good memories to be made, times to be had. Cheers to you, pals!