Luck o' the Irish pasta, using the coupes!

What a fun evening with me hubby! He did not get my email about maybe bringing home some take-out, so to the fridge I went for an improv dinner. Delightful! What's quick and easy? Pasta. What will sauce it? Well, let's see. I had 2 artichoke hearts, 6 sad spears of asparagus, 1 leek, some Brussels sprouts and a zucchini. Ok, a great start. What about a "creamed green-stuffs" sauce of sorts? Sure. I had buttermilk and crème fraîche so decided to make this dish an homage to St. Patty's. Traditional Irish food doesn't use much in the way of seasonings as far as I can tell, so I added caraway seeds, red pepper flakes and garlic to the foundational oil. The I added the greens, in order of time-it-takes-to-cook each one, and finally the cream components + cheese. T was definitely skeptical but he was the first to say, "this is actually really good." We also decided to finally christen those coupes with a batch of Jack Roses. 30Rock, Up All Night and The Daily Show were the cherry on top.

Sticking to my word

OK, I did not opt to indulge in our cereal selection for dinner. Rather, I made a carrot-harissa salad I've been wanting to make for ages. Just look at this! Beautiful!  However, you are supposed to let it sit overnight, so I'll have to enjoy it tomorrow. As I sadly put it in the fridge, I saw an Arctic Char filet I'd forgotten I bought (a day or two ago, peeps; don't worry) so decided that I couldn't possibly NOT cook it as that would be wasteful. I set it up to pan sauté and in the meantime got the harissa back out to make a crème fraîche-harissa sauce. I planned to add some chopped Cara Cara oranges and Persian cucumbers to the dish but in a momentary lapse of judgment stirred them into the sauce instead of keeping them separate. Oh man. When atop the fish, it looked like a giant, lumpy, melted creamsicle had been barfed over my filet. Milky oranginess was everywhere, so I just closed my eyes and jumped in. Despite the hue and terrible lack of textural complexity, the flavor combo was OK, and it went nicely with the Muga Rosé I'm enjoying (sucking down). Also a chocolate hamantashen is thawing on the counter and will be so, so enthusiastically devoured by me in the not too distant future.

Have you heard of phantom limb, the sensation that a missing limb is still attached to the body? I feel there is a corollary that I call phantom baby crying. You are pretty sure (or have even gone in to verify) that your kid(s) are asleep, but no matter how much proof you have that they are, you remain certain that you hear them calling for you ceaselessly.

No take-out, marvelous surprise from hubby

On my way to get the take-out menu folder, I realized that it would actually be even easier to take the pantry (and fridge/freezer) challenge than to decide on and place the call to our chosen restaurant. Fast forward 15 minutes, and we had a lovely picnic before us: stuffed grape leaves, warm pita, walnuts-honey-dried fig salad, an assortment of cheeses and crackers, a tomato-cuc salad, and leftover meatballs. Delish! And a reminder that keeping a decently stocked pantry and freezer is never a bad idea, will save you money and is probably healthier for you. I had the most marvelous surprise this afternoon: not only did I have a sitter and could thus lay in bed for three hours, but also T came home early and brought me a gift. I have been yearning and searching for some vintage coupe glasses, and finding these has been much easier said than done. Suffice it to say that I've had no luck. But T is a masterful online sleuth, and he found these perfect glasses (this is rather an awful picture of 1) which we will enjoy as soon as we don't want to yak just thinking about it. I'm the proud new owner of a set of four: come join us for a cocktail anytime!