Of rain and pears and cardamom and bolognese

The morning after finding peace with all the infernal rain earlier this week, I received a call from the foreman of the crew refinishing our old house's floors. The torrential deluge and attendant wind had forced their way in, leaving standing water on some of the newly sanded and sealed oak planks. 

Fantastic. Just marvelous. File that one under #itsalwayssomething

But OK. We have a good team over there, and the other floors are fine and look great. It's just stressful and annoying but it's fixable. I managed to bury my angst in two new, inexpensive kitchen utensil holders from Crate & Barrel. The simple thrill of wooden spoons in one and ladles in whisks in the other was uplifting. And I needed the freed-up drawer space, so these pretties are a win all around. 

It's lovely to feel settled in to my new kitchen. Today I cleaned the windows until they sparkled, and it really does make all the difference. Jack's best buddy is spending the night tonight (Ol is staying over at one of his closest pal's homes), and I wanted to make a nice dinner for the four of us to enjoy. 

Pasta is always popular with kids but I wanted to push the limits a bit so chose a chickpea bolognese recipe by a foodie acquaintance of mine. It's been on my 'to try' list for a while now, was easy to pull together, and gives you a whole lot of veggies in each serving. 

The boys were definitely suspicious about it not being your standard bolognese, but they were troopers and ate enough to warrant ice cream.

They should have opted for a slice of this lovely cardamom and pear cake I made. Tom and I each had two slices. It's not too sweet and isn't flashy at all. Just solid and comforting and yummy. I love cakes made with sour cream.

cardamom pear cake

And now this guy.

Perfect way to end a week. 

Mardi Gras 2016

It's that time of year again, y'all. Mardi Gras! Fat Tuesday is tomorrow, a final day of celebratory excess before the Lenten season commences with Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras became a holiday in Europe in 1582 but didn't arrive in North American until the late 17th century. It became an official holiday in Louisiana in 1875.

My New Orleans friends and family have been enjoying days of parades, bead throwing, mask wearing, and king cake eating. I definitely want to take the kids down one year to spend Mardi Gras with cousins. They would love it.

Here, I've hung purple, green, and gold bunting from our front porch, and have gotten together a large basket of beads and made two king cakes for the boys' classes; I'll bring them in tomorrow, give a brief presentation about the holiday, and hope they enjoy the cake.

King cake has never been a favorite dessert of mine, but I love making them each and every year. I love the smell of yeast and flour, butter, sugar, and cinnamon. I love to watch the dough rise, to roll the cinnamon-sugared rectangles into smooth logs, to join the ends and seal the rings. This year I used Southern Living's traditional king cake recipe.

all puffed up and ready for the oven

This year, I let the kids decorate; naturally, they have a heavier hand with the colored sugar than I do, but really, the cakes look all the better for that.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Fettuccine with Toasted Broccoli Breadcrumbs, Parmesan and Ricotta

My appetite is slowly returning and primarily for carbs. Whoa nelly on the pasta, bread and cake I crave.

Last night, after spending nearly four hours trying to get an answer from various health professionals about just what is ailing Oliver, I was exhausted, hungry and in possession of some gorgeous fresh fettuccine from Vace, a fabulous little Italian market nearby.

It seemed reasonable to consider that my body would revolt if I didn't feed it something green, so I decided on broccoli as I'd purchased some fresh heads earlier in the week. 

Y'all know when you roast broccoli and the tree-top ends get blackened? The flavor concentrates? And you just wish every bit of the broccoli tasted like those little frondy ends? I adore those bits and pieces so decided to basically shave the head off the broccoli stalk and make "breadcrumbs."

I tossed the broccoli shavings with some regular breadcrumbs (made from stale baguette; the best), garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper, and then roasted the whole mess on a sheet pan in a low oven, maybe 250 Fahrenheit, until everything was toasty and just-crisp, about 25 minutes.

When all that was nearly done, I boiled the egg fettuccine (isn't egg pasta insanely lush and wonderful?) until just done, reserved some of its cooking water, drained it and then returned it to hot pan. I added back some cooking water as well as a few spoons of fresh ricotta and a generous shower or three of freshly grated Parm.

When that was fairly well incorporated, I drizzled some top-quality olive oil on top and gently folded in most of the breadcrumbs. Then more Parm and finally the rest of the breadcrumbs. Voila! I ate enough to feed a small army. Delish!