birthday dinner season

meyer lemon tart.  georgia buchert made the stunning crown for me, and it's become our birthday crown.

we have eleven family birthdays in january, february and march. 

what are you people gettin' up to in april, may and june?

birthday dinner season is in full swing at my house.  today was cecily's family birthday dinner.  i'm always really curious about what my people will ask me to cook for their birthdays--i finally get to know how they really feel about certain dishes.

some of them have predictable favorites:  moses always wants spaghetti and meatballs.  christian always wants a classic chocolate cake with no frosting.  eva frequently requests beef stroganoff. 

catsup chicken, broccoli with daddy's dipping sauce.  i bought a cheaper rice this week to see if it really made a big difference.  it did :(.  have been spoiled by a much more delicious rice.

cecily surprised me by asking for something new this year: two family staples::  the meyer lemon tart from alice waters' & lindsay remolif shere's chez panisse dessert cookbook (a classic cookbook you might add to your collection if you're into that kind of thing,) & mark bittman's  minimalist ketchup chicken from the new york times, a fantastic, garlick-y comfort food i discovered a few years ago that is very popular chez exoskeleto.

(a note on the tart:  meyer lemons are sweeter than eureka lemons.  i use the two meyer lemons called for in the recipe PLUS one fairly large eureka lemon.  i always want less sweet, more tart, and more lemon flavor in lemon desserts.  i need to continue working on making this tart a little tarter, but this alteration is a step in the right direction.) 

what do you want for your birthday dinner?

i want chicken under a brick, lula's curry fries, and the tart cockaigne from the joy of cooking.  

my birthday's in july, so heads up!

game on: the locust salon

lalage performing at karnatic lab in amsterdam--with pre-show dutch yahoos & steven ricks

woke up this morning & cooked.

it felt good.

here's what i made:

lemon tart (from the chez panisse dessert cookbook given to me by me dear friend and kitchen mentor, the artist alice dubiel)

red lentil dal

cucumber raita

hummus & hand made pita

this is all in honor of tonight's locust salon.  i wanted to go all out because

c. has composed a set of the most beautiful bassas which he's playing tonight with drummer jesse quebbeman-turley & bassist zoe jorgenson,

our piano's tuned,

we have some new lalage sounds,

& it's spring time.

every change of season sends me to the kitchen to cook & the notebook for new poems.

that's my inspiration for today.

tonight's outfit is yet to be determined.

burn/game on/what i did today

burned out on outfits--overwearing my striped t-shirt dress

 

not burned out on vegetgables--asparagus-potato salad with lemon cream dressing

 1. primary series yoga with russ.  c.'s back is better, so he's coming with me again.  (and julie, i know exactly how you feel! i admire that you practice at home.  i can't seem to do an unguided practice.)

2.  chorizo breakfast burrito at beto's after yoga then

3. to provo bakery to get donuts for kids. on the way home i found a lost crying toddler & rescued him.  he had escaped from his backyard without anyone noticing.

4. shopping for yogurt to make raita (i'm making dal for the salon/fireside tomorrow night).

5. practiced with c. for salon/fireside tomorrow night.  i'm approaching music practice more like yoga these days--trying not to think about the gap between where i am and where i want to be, how much better other people are, how different it feels today than yesterday.  musically staying on the mat, if you will.

6.  thought about making a lemon tart for tomorrow night using the huge bowl of lemons we brought back from arizona (c. and the kids picked them from my mom's neighbor's tree.)  didn't make tart because

7.  i suddenly got completely exhausted and burned out.  so

8.  i took a nap.  planned on waking up, doing laundry, cleaning out the kids drawers for spring/summer season but

9.  woke up still exhausted & binge-watched 5 episodes of restaurant impossible (that's what's on in the background of my picture.

10.  mustered enough energy to make dinner (pictured above) and eat with the family.  but still no game on, still feeling the burn, still no lemon tart.  what do you do when you get slammed with burn-out & you really need to get your game on?

legwear:  none

inspiration:  sucking at yoga & other stuff, but doing it anyway

looking forward: to shucking off burnout