So I am sitting in my living room floor, and I am tempted to feel a little gloomy. There is a pile of paper in the floor that I was going to sort through tonight, but I might rather clean the oven instead. (I don't clean ovens, even when it would be a really good idea to clean an oven. I just figure the ook will burn off, and I channel Dionne Warwick to sing "That's What Flames Are For.") It's going to take some time to get things back in order after working so much between early March and late May, and that's just the way it is. On the plus side, grades are submitted and the house is clean and my veggie garden is planted. One thing at a time, right?
Laura Vanderkam wrote a post that I kept unread in my Google Reader for, like, weeks, waiting until I had time to think about it. I've made myself a list of things I want to do this summer -- some relatively quick and easy ("make profiteroles" is one that I can do in stages in an afternoon) and some more involved ("take family to West Virginia" will require planning). We'll see how many of the items make it off my list and into reality, but she also recommends keeping a record of what's going well. Instead of sifting helplessly through the heap of colored pencils that the boys brought home at the end of the school year, I am going to write quickly about some fun things from the past two days.
Yesterday was exhausting in a good way: I was up until 1 because I was determined to finish grading, and then awake at the usual time with the kids. Even though it was a short night, we worked well together to get the house cleaned and then we went out to lunch. We made a slightly chaotic but mostly fun stop at a consignment store to pick up some summer clothes, and a flying trip to the pool, and then we flung together a picnic and walked to campus to see the transit of Venus. I might see Halley's comet a second time, but I will be dead and buried the next time anyone sees the transit of Venus. I thought about Joseph Banks and his arduous trip to Tahiti, and I was grateful that the most difficult part of getting to our viewing site was figuring out where Elwood had stashed the pastrami.
I finished up the last of the CSA veggies from last week about 15 minutes before I went to pick up the next installment -- success for week 1! The kids love the playground at the pickup site, and I was pleasantly surprised to run into a friend who, it turns out, has been part of the CSA for years. This week we have more food than we did last week, but I'm off to a good start: I knocked together a speedy lambs quarters soup for lunch (3/5 kids requested seconds) and a cilantro pesto at dinner that is probably the tastiest thing I've made this year. I'm reading Lord of the Rings to Joe and Pete, and we finished chapter 2 today, and Wolf Hall is getting better and better, and I was able to get to yoga for the first time since spring break.
Recipes if you are interested: Saute some onion and garlic in butter, and add a bunch of lambs quarters, or spinach if you have no lambs quarters. Peel and slice three potatoes, and toss them into the pot. Add about a quart of water or stock, and simmer until the potatoes are tender. Salt emphatically. Add pepper and ground celery seed and a generous pour of cream. Hit it with an immersion blender until it is smooth. Serve with minced green onions and garlic scapes, and a spoonful of sour cream. My kids were happier to taste it when I said they could dip their buttered bread into it, and then they figured out that it was good on its own.
Cilantro pesto, from the CSA cookbook: take a clove of garlic, a hot pepper, a bunch of cilantro (stems and all), 1/4 c. oil (I used a mix of plain vegetable and toasted sesame), 2 T. lemon or lime juice, 1/4 c. nuts or seeds (I used pumpkin seeds), and 1/2 t. salt. Toss them in the food processor and let it rip. Eat with a SPOON. (I served it with the fish we had for dinner, but it is SO good that it really is spoon-worthy.)
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