Aah, Thursday

The children actually slept until 6:30 this morning, a blissful surprise especially since the opposite is usually the case when T leaves town. Ol climbed into bed with me, warm and dear, and about ten minutes later, Jack followed, sweet and loving. No one tried to play "mine" under my covers, no one argued over which Mommy arm he got or how much pillow. I almost couldn't believe it, but I'll take it! After dropping them at school and hitting the gym, I came home for a lovely morning of cooking and organizing. I'm teaching canning classes tomorrow and Saturday and also need to prep a number of items for a catering delivery two days hence. It's a gorgeous day, Percy and I took a walk, the kitchen has been a happy place of smooth success, and I've just devoured the last of my Yotam leftovers and a small bowl of my potato soup. It is so good. To go alongside both, I pan-seared half a head of radicchio in olive oil sprinkled with sumac. Delicious. Y'all simply must try wilting or grilling radicchio! I like it sprinkled with a little Chinese 5-spice, grilled and then served with a brûléed grapefruit "steak" on top. But this simple seared half today paired winningly with the tahini sauce, onions and the potato soup!

Friends and dinner

This afternoon, we had a really special treat. A dear friend and her new husband came over, and a TBD visit turned into an hours-long, wonderful hang-out session. It was so much fun and truly quite dear: they're expecting, and being with them brought me back to being a newlywed and to-be-mom myself. After they left, I started in on dinner. Craving a steak, I thawed two of the Piedmontese filets I'd trimmed from that enormous cut a few months ago. In the meantime, I reduced some balsamic vinegar with about a tablespoon of sugar and at the very last minute -off-heat- I threw in some slivered, fresh figs. Once the steaks were done -in my Lodge, natch- I spread some Gorgonzola on top and then drizzled with the hot fig-balsamic reduction. Insanely good!

While I did all this, I sent T to the grill to man the baby okra I'd bought at the farmers market on Sunday. I dressed it with olive oil, minced garlic, crushed red pepper, lemon and salt; also, I tossed in the rest of a head of radicchio I had and the remaining squash blossoms. After it was decently charred, we redressed it (critical) with more lemon and salt. Grilled okra is the bomb; after T had his serving, I ate all the rest.

Leaving soon

I've still not finished packing but have a few hours to finish and get ready. The boys are at school, T's off to work, Percy needs a walk, but one thing at a time. Last night's dinner was fab. I pulled two collard/chorizo hand-pies from the freezer and cooked them until golden and toasty. For our sides, I made stewed okra and tomatoes (so easy, so good!) and a grilled radicchio and tomato salad with garlic-butter toasted breadcrumbs, a mustard vinaigrette and parsley. To die for. T shuddered at its bitter factor, but I groove on bitter. Oh yes!

Did you know that the ability to taste and enjoy/not enjoy bitter is actually related to a single gene -the PTC gene- the codes a taste receptor on the tongue? It was discovered in 2003 though suspected of existing long before that. How does it work? "The shape of the receptor protein determines how strongly it can bind to PTC. Since all people have two copies of every gene, combinations of the bitter taste gene variants determine whether someone finds PTC intensely bitter, somewhat bitter, or without taste at all." Interesting, huh!

So, clearly, T and I have differently shaped receptors! These pics are not good but by the time we sat down to eat, it was dark outside and so flash photography inside it had to be.