Tag: spring
We have some progress
This city has taken its sweet time in getting rid of winter, but I am happy to report that, as of this writing, it is 61 degrees and sunny. Actually, what it really is is 61 degrees and S!U!N!N!Y!
At last, we have some progress. We ate lunch outside yesterday. Last night, we came out of a restaurant at nearly ten, and there was still a royal blue glow, the last dregs of sunset, along the western horizon. The pink dogwood tree in the front yard is (sort of) in bloom! The backyard is a jungle! I have no idea how to garden! Everything feels like it’s opening up and starting over.
Today, in celebration of all that, I want to share some recent favorites, a list of the best things I’ve read, heard, seen, or tasted in the past few weeks. I wanted to record them somehow, and I thought you might like them, too. I hope so.
– Canal House roasted rhubarb with white wine and vanilla bean. Just made a batch this afternoon.
– Radiolab’s remarkable Where Am I?
– Saipua soap. I read Sarah Ryhanen’s blog all the time, and I can’t get over what she does with flowers. Turns out, she also makes the nicest soap around. My current favorite is the Gardener’s Soap, though I also love Cedarwood and Coffee Mint. I order them online or buy them at Marigold & Mint.
– An Americano before dinner.
– Melissa Clark’s recipe for eggs poached in a buttery sorrel sauce. HELLO. We had this for dinner recently, and I can only say: if you come upon some sorrel, make it.
– An inspired asparagus fest, as captured by my friend Brian, in the garden of my friend Charlotte.
– A fascinating story about time, memory, and perception, from The New Yorker.
– Fleet Foxes! The new album! Spectacular.
– Jess pointed me to this wonderful two–part video of Charles and Ray Eames. They’re humble and unaffected and endearingly awkward on camera, and the host is a trip. (“Ray, should we let Chaaahles do it?”)
– I finished reading Patti Smith’s memoir Just Kids more than a week ago, but I’m still thinking about it.
– I can’t stop watching this video of Bruce Springsteen performing “Thunder Road” in Passaic, New Jersey on September 19, 1978. My favorite Bruce song, performed five days after I was born. I love the story he tells at the beginning, the way he tells it, the earnest way he starts the song, the way he winds up grinning and hopping around and having what I can only guess is a hell of a good time. It feels electric.
Happy spring.
A lot of rhubarb
I am reliably fickle about rhubarb recipes. Every spring, I think, I am destined to fall for a different one. At this point in my life, if all goes well and life expectancy charts are accurate, I probably have about fifty springs left, which means fifty more rhubarb recipes to love. The fifty springs part is sort of depressing, but on the upside, it’s really quite a lot of rhubarb. I’m looking forward to it. In the meantime, I am pleased to announce that this spring, my allegiance lies in a pot of roasted rhubarb with white wine and vanilla bean. Eaten cold, ideally. This particular recipe was inspired by a series of seasonal recipe collections called Canal House Cooking,…
Read moreIts name is farro
As I type this, it is cloudy again, and cold. The weather today leaves much to be desired. Such as some sunlight, for starters, and warmth, and caramelized onions. Right now, I really, really desire caramelized onions. I know that this picture doesn’t seem to have much to do with onions, nor does it even seem appetizing, I imagine, but bear with me for a second. What you see there is my new ideal lunch: warm farro with French lentils, caramelized onions, and feta. It’s ugly as sin, and it’s also completely delicious. It’s a little like a lentil salad and a lot like mujadara, and if I could somehow ensure – maybe through magic, or fervent prayer – that…
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