Traditions

Now that spring/summer has really arrived, T and I can get back to our Sunday tradition of farmers market pizza for dinner. We kluged it together during the winter, but now, these pizzas are the real deal: fresh ingredients bought in the morning and eaten that night, thrown together in new or old favorite ways, helping us track the microseasons as they progress. Right now, for example, ramps are on their way out while asparagus is making its stalky presence known. I bought two bunches of thin green spears today and plan to cook them (briefly) tomorrow for dinner. They didn't make it onto my side of the crust tonight because the bounty from which I had to choose offered stiff competition. Rhubarb is coming, as are strawberries. Finally, pears are taking a bow. Garlic scapes curled round and round themselves today but apple cider was an elusive find.

I love this shift, this fulcrum in the year which tips to yield such an embarrassment of toothsome riches. What is more lusty than closing your eyes, biting into a fresh peach and feeling the sticky juices run rivulets down your now unsleeved hand and arm? Gently fingering just-plucked strawberries and savoring their sweet tang, red juice staining lips and fingertips? And the same is true for tomatoes, nectarines, apricots...

This morning, the boys and I brought my parents to the airport. We were all sad to part, and sweet Jack cried from our departure though ten minutes into the return. I attempted to shift attention by promising Pleasant Pops or palmiers at the farmers market; Oliver was immediately assuaged, and Jack ultimately dried his eyes and came around. That boy is one big sweet soul who sometimes seems too angelic for this world. It's an incredible gift and at times a burdensome honor to be his mother. By burdensome I mean nothing more than since I know the kindness in his heart and the sensitivity in his core, I feel a tremendous responsibility in raising him thoughtfully. He is not always easy but he is so special. In any case, a strawberry-ginger-lemonade pop turned his mood positively sunny, and I was happy.

We visited with Ol's crush at Eco Friendly Foods, Jordana, and then took more than our share of samples at Everona Dairy before purchasing one each of their Cracked Pepper, Muffaletta and Smoked Piedmont cheeses. I bought a clamshell of fresh squash blossoms and a small bouquet of effervescent poppies that make my heart sing each time I cast my eyes towards them. Then on to baseball -Go Blue Devils! Undefeated this season!- and to a birthday party, into the bath, to the washing machine x3 and finally to dinner.

This beautiful pie came to pass, and T and I ate well and feel full in a number of ways.