Week 12

Some highlights...

Southside cocktails on a Saturday evening with arty pretzels

Bike rides on Sundays. It's a great way to beat the end-of-the-weekend blues. We've done this the last two weeks in a row and it feels so good to be outside again. Especially when you can incorporate ice cream or a chai into the trip.

Perfume sampling. I'm not sure what has gotten into me, but after years of paring down my fragrance collection, I'm back into perfume. I know it's generally bad for the environment, but there's something about wearing a scent for awhile and feeling like it's "you." And then when you smell it years later it transports you to the time you wore it. This latest phase began last fall when I discovered one of those perfume sample sites where you can buy small quantities at a time. It makes high-end scents affordable, and when I'm ready to move on, I don't feel bad about the unused remainder. This week I'm wearing Gypsy Water and it's hitting the right notes.

Pillows. Another exciting thing in my life right now is the purchase of a cervical pillow. All my male readers just stopped reading, but I assure you it's not a pillow for your cervix. It's a neck support pillow and I feel like a new woman when I get up in the morning. My aches and pains in my shoulders and neck are gone - I even feel limber when I get out of bed. I'm sleeping more soundly and the cat has taken to sleeping on my feet because they barely shift all night. What a strange feeling. I hope it lasts.

In other pillow news, I made pillow shams! I sew in spite of myself. I don't think I've ever made something from start to finish without either ripping out seams or asking myself, "Will anyone notice if this is a little off?" So usually by the time I finish a project, it feels like a minor miracle and a lesson in perseverance. I made these Euro pillow shams on Sunday (why: cat puke stain on the old ones). I knew I could make them because I've made other pillow slip covers with relative ease and a morsel of joy. But when patterns require me to do my own math, things can go wrong, and sure enough, I mis-measured something and ended up having to buy a couple more yards of fabric due to my mistake. If it weren't for my strong desire to have octopi as part of my bedroom decor, I may well have quit and run to Pottery Barn. So I carried on. I'm not saying I did it perfectly, but I followed through. They work, and I love them. And no one else in the world has them, I'm pretty sure. And really, once I correctly measured the fabric, it was, indeed, a breeze to make.

Recipes

I welcomed the first day of spring with a chilled bottle of Vinho Verde and a recipe from Six Seasons for English peas and prosciutto with new potatoes. I appreciate Trader Joe's for pre-shelling the peas and thereby making this a very easy meal to put together. Also, the Trader Joe's checker asked me, after commenting on my springy array of groceries, "What are you going to do tonight - watch the sunset?" It was a good idea, and another reason why I love shopping there.

The pea recipe called for mint, which was a nice surprise taste, and with the leftovers I made mint simple syrup, perfect for sodas and cocktails, like that Southside pictured at the top of this post.

On Saturday, I tried a strange recipe for oven-barbecued spare ribs. Lapsang souchong tea leaves provide the smoke - you place them on a baking pan, and then a cooling rack on top of that for the ribs. And the ribs are marinated with a hearty rub for 8+ hours beforehand. You seal it all with foil and place it on a hot baking stone in a blazing oven. A half hour later, you turn down the heat, lift the foil enough to pour in some apple juice on top of those smoky tea leaves, and then roast low and slow. The ribs fall off the bone. The recipe came from the good folks at America's Test Kitchen.

Watching

Mozart in the Jungle: complete! This was the best season, IMO, because it went in weird, good, artsy, feminist places.

Reading

It's funny how effective library due dates are in getting me to actually read. I checked out three more books (in addition to my gardening books) that are all due on April 7. I tore through My Brilliant Friend in less than a week not just because of the deadline, but because it was, in fact, brilliant. I am now having dreams (nightmares) about children throwing rocks at each other.

Following it up with News of the World.

By the way, Mark Bittman is my no-nonsense diet idol.  "We think good bread is one of life's great pleasures. Eat it for that reason." WORD

COW

This week I stretched the boundaries of cookiedom by trying a savory recipe. These are pretzel-cheddar-Old Bay "cookies." But let's call them crackers. Mostly I was excited to get that cute tin of Old Bay seasoning into my spice cupboard. But these are good and rich. Perfect for cocktail hour. But I couldn't possibly have more than two in a sitting. They are filled with butter...plus cheddar. They almost melt in your mouth.