Jam is delish, inauspicious start to day, at least the sun is out

People, at 4:30 this morning, I felt something hard boring into my back. It was Jack's knees. I know not when or why he moved into bed with us, but when I came to, I realized that I was sandwiched between him and Tom and both were snoring to beat sixty. At 5a, Oliver started singing about wanting to eat and go to the bathroom. At this point, I threw in the towel and headed towards the basement. Percy was pacing frantically by the door, so I let him out only to watch has he ran to one of my low-slung flowers and pooped directly on top of it. In defeated irritation, I called him in and crawled into the basement bed, never to return to sleep. Despite this ridiculous opening act, I finished the early morning session by cooking and canning the gorgeous mess of strawberries, rhubarb and lemon that macerated overnight. The boys said it was awesome, and while it is on the sweet side, the flavor is wonderful. Melissa Clark, you've done it again.

After getting Jack to school, I thought it only just to stop off for a round of my beloved Apple Streusel bread. I mean, I did have to pick up a challah as I'm Shabbat mom in Oliver's class later this morning. This bread is making me very happy as is the fact that T took O to school, and I've got two hours of quiet ahead of me. Amen!

Going to walk the darn dog -my love for him is really on the outs right now- and then settle in to work up this madeleine recipe. In the wee hours of the morning I became certain that an espresso dipping glaze would be a wonderful accompaniment to the little cinna-cocoa cakes. What do you think?