Yesterday morning, around 7:30, I packed up and headed out for my last solo week in WV before I pick the boys up at camp. Tom is joining me on Friday. I feel joyous being here, though in a subsequent post I will write about listening to the profoundly upsetting, moving, and horrifying testimonies from Sgt Godell and Officers Fanone, Hodges, and Dunn yesterday in the opening meeting of the January 6 Commission. If you missed their statements, please do yourself the enormous, albeit difficult, favor of finding and watching them. Those men are incredible heroes and the very best America offers. The Republicans who enabled and continue to support the insurrection are the very worst.

Jinx, Spot, and I sat in the driveway for a while in a tangled love fest of purring, fur, and satisfied meows. Spot loves to step on me with his back two paws while being petted. It cracks me up. Ruby is also an absolute delight though still a bit more reclusive.

Anyway, I attempted to garden to process my grief, actual feelings of pride to be an American because of the four policemen, disgust in being an American because of all the Republicans who refused to even listen to those policemen’s statements (and the shill who called them all Crisis Actors), and so forth. But I was foiled after a short while because it was 105 degrees. Undeterred, I went inside, called a local farmers market, Spring Valley, and asked if they delivered mulch. As the woman from whom we bought this property told me, “out here you don’t buy bags of mulch; you order a truckload.” I laid down about 8 bags of mulch before realizing the wisdom in her words.

Spring Valley said they absolutely do deliver mulch and asked how much I’d like. I told them and then asked, in hopeful jest, if they might also bring out a cinnamon roll. THEY SAID YES!

Y’all, for about $119, I am momentarily being delivered the equivalent of 52 bags of fresh mulch AND a freshly-made cinnamon roll (theirs are the best other than Molly Wizenberg’s). It’s like the best gift I could imagine! It’s the little things. I love it out here.

Off to receive!

We started this morning with a platter of homemade cinnamon rolls which is always a magnificent way to start anything. Especially once you slather them with cream cheese glaze.

Then to laser tag for several hours, a Mexican-Salvadoran taqueria and finally home to spend a lazy'ish afternoon.

Tonight for dinner? Chile verde and some incredible stewed beans. I bought a bag of dried cicerchia, fava chickpeas, at an Italian spot in Easton, MD, last summer, and today before we left for laser tag had the foresight to put them up to soak. I think I knew I would not make it to the market later, even though I really need to go.

In any case, when I bought these, I loved both the look of them -like flat chickpea pebbles smoothed by years of waves washing over them- as well as the promise of cooking them slowly with lots of olive oil and herbs. Like a meatless cassoulet of sorts.

So this evening, I boiled them (with bay leaves, allspice berries and salt) until nearly tender and then drained them while my braiser of olive oil and lots of garlic heated gently on the stove. I poured the drained cicerchia and herbs into that warm oil, added more oil and some chicken broth, salt and pepper, a bit of fresh rosemary and sage and cooked it in a 350 oven for an hour or maybe more.

These were truly outstanding: creamy but not mushy, complexly flavored but subtly so, filling in a delightful, hearty way, and really just quite delicious.

Em-i-lis

The most amazing combo delivery

Cinnamon rolls, laser tag and beans

Em-i-lis

SUBSCRIBE & CONTACT

LOOK! READ! LISTEN!