Food, glorious food!

I am feeling pretty excited abut the fall produce rolling in. The lima beans have continued to hit the spot, and yesterday I roasted some gorgeous carrots and rutabagas. They looked nearly neon, and I love the prominent rings decorating the carrot interiors. Root veggies drive me wild. Last night's dinner was a recipe of mine that has been going gang-busters on Pinterest for the past month: Caribbean Sea Bass. Chilean Sea Bass (I always get Marine Stewardship Council-certified because for a while the future was looking bleak for these fishy friends), which is not really a bass at all -but rather the Patagonian Toothfish, a cod icefish- nor necessarily from Chile- is so delicious. It's buttery and delicately steaky and holds up nicely to a range of seasonings.

This simple recipe utilizes honey, pineapple, habañero, scallions and avocado, a pretty, fragrant, zingy combination that pairs nicely with the fish's texture and flavor. Healthy and delicious!

I roasted salmon with whey, salt and pepper for the boys and then topped it with capers: they went nuts, and I can see that we've passed the point of a half-pound being sufficient to feed them. While they ate, I finished up the apple strudels that Jack wanted to bring to his class today. They were so pretty, and I'm sad to say that the photos of them were erased from my loaner phone when I returned it today. My iLemon was irreparable, so they gave me a new one. Not a 6, folks; they're not that generous. But I'm pretty darn satisfied with a new phone. In any case, no pics of the strudels unless you follow me on Instagram or Facebook. I also managed to give away the rest of the olive oil cake; it was so good, but I needed to part ways.

Look at this cat- he is so handsome and curious and charming.

Tonight, dinner starred another uncomplicated dish: Chicken with Garlic, Capers and Oregano. My sister made this for us in Florence and we devoured it so enthusiastically that she sent me the recipe. Grazie, grazie. Mamma mia, it's divine. We had leftover veggies and I also made one of T's favorite recipes, Couscous with Celery, Parsley and Red Wine Vinegar. It's an Amanda Hesser recipe that I discovered while reading Cooking for Mr. Latte when we lived in Amsterdam. For many years, it was a staple side dish. Then, for no good reason, I stopped making it and tonight decided to remedy things. It's fab!

Chicken with capgaregano, playhouse

We worked for nearly 5 hours today, and it felt so good. T and I are a good team and had fun. It's nice when you can have fun with someone even though you're not talking much! The playhouse is coming along swimmingly, and now has walls, a door, porch railings and the gabled parts of the roof. We'll finish it up tomorrow. Look how dear!

This hot summer has massacred our grass, but c'est la vie.

Starving now, I'm cooking a big dinner of chicken with capers, garlic and oregano (capgaregano) and lemon couscous. I also opened a bottle of rosé, the Petit Bourgeois 2011. It's reasonably priced, and we visited the vineyard when we were in the Loire back in 2005 so it brings back memories. It was a wonderful trip and the vineyard, Henri Bourgeois, was incredible. We tasted a boatload of wines, left tipsy and then came across a tiny bakery-type of place where Tom ordered a sandwich that consisted of an entire crottin de Chavignol (a perfect, mind-blowing goat cheese, made even more delicious that we were in the town of Chavignol) lightly breaded, warmed and mashed between two thick slices of scrumptious baguette. Oh.My.God. At that point, Tom agreed with me that French food and France were absolutely amazing, by and large.