Hilarity

Two hours ago, I'm in the midst of my annual physical. I love my internist. She is hilarious and smart and a great doctor, and I enjoy seeing her so much that sometimes I think I should find a new doctor just so she and I can hang out. But then I'm like, "It's hard to find a great internist, girl. Don't bite the hand." And so the years pass.

In any case, we're in the talky part of the exam -Yes, this happens! She asks how you are, what life is like! - and we end up chatting about less-good friends and naysayers and general poos and how the older we get, the less patience we have for them. At some point, if you're a relatively sane, nice person, you just have to be who you are and not worry quite so much about those who aren't jazzed about you.

"I mean, you're not an Asshole Whisperer," Doctor She says.

I full-on guffawed, and really, she did too, and I asked with real admiration, "Is that term of your own making? Because if it is, you should have cards made."

"I think Brené Brown said it. I love her. Do you know her? Maybe it was jackass..."

I am still literally LOL'ing, and just for clarification, the actual quote is, "Don't try to win over the haters; you are not a jackass whisperer."

Priceless. I'm going to use "asshole whisperer" but the point remains the same, and it's a good one.

Dinner

180° to last night's dinner. Thank you NY Times Dining. I made Melissa Clark's Grilled Skirt Steak and David Tanis' Griddled Corn Cakes with Spicy Salsa.

I cannot tell you the love I feel for griddled corn items and their steamed and fried kin. A good hush puppy dunked in maple syrup makes me deeply happy. Corn cakes of any stripe please me in a seriously comforting way. Tamales? There are no words. Moist cornbread? Excellent. None of that dry, crumbly shit. When I saw Tanis' riff on corn fritters yesterday, I decided then and there to make them for dinner.

Now, he serves his with a bell-pepper tomato salsa, but I wasn't totally in the mood for that. Plus, T hates raw bell peppers. So instead I made a scrumptious, summery fruit salsa with diced peaches and raspberries, scallions, lots of lime juice, salt and a hefty dash of cayenne. That plus crumbled Bulgarian feta (very creamy, not insanely tangy) made a marvelous topping for the corn cakes. T is very meh about the very corn products I described above, so I ate many more of these than he did which worked out well. For me.

We had plenty of steak so carnivore husband was fine. The marinade for the meat was wonderful: basil, lemon thyme, peperoncino, garlic, olive oil... I wish I'd saved some of it to serve with the finished product.

Though I have dealt with most of the tomatoes from last week, I have a couple beautiful beefsteaks left. Just one was needed for this salad. Isn't it beautiful?