Isn't that a gorgeous plate of pasta? Shredded carrots sauteed with lemon zest and pistachios, lots of Parm, garlicky breadcrumbs sprinkled over the top just before serving...I had such high hopes for last night's meal, and boy was it a complete disappointment. Y'all, this was a fail. It was a beautiful, bland, completely lacking in textural variation, mound of meh. Gall-dang was it sad. Tom and I were salting and squeezing lemons like it was our job. If we'd been prepping for a big morning run, it might have at least been a good carb load. But alas, it was, again, a mound of meh.

You win some, you lose some!

After spending yesterday morning shuttling cute little boys to and from multiple birthday parties, whiling away a full hour in Party City sourcing appreciation luncheon supplies, and enjoying a quick lunch by myself (say wha?!), I worked in the yard for hours. HOURS! It was delightful. It's truly amazing just how much detritus a yard can amass after a long and destructive winter. I filled four lawn bags with old leaves, broken sticks, ancient clots of roots, a boxwood that couldn't weather the polar vortexes and related snows. My compost bin finally yielded black gold which I sifted over my gardens. A smattering of new perennials now fills in the spots I usually plant with annuals, and my muscles ache pleasurably from having pitchforked and shoveled my way around.

My VegTrug is full and stunning, the promise of future, fruitful yields in every leaf. I had no idea that rainbow chard roots were as luminous as the stems they produce. Incredible, yes?

Ol and I went back to the farmers market this morning for the first time in a long while. It's still cold but the sun is out, so we donned our jackets and eagerly drove down. He rightly noted that cool climes often mean that eclairs will be available at Bonaparte, so could we please stop there first. Indeed. You have never seen an eclair devoured so quickly. Then he asked for a croissant, two Asian pears, some apple cider and some samples. He ate/drank it all. Wow small boys. I know these sorts of appetites are only going to grow but it is truly incredible to watch male children eat.