This past weekend was full of all sorts of fun and excitement. We hit the farmers market, Molly had a soccer game, we went on a haunted ghost tour of Cranbury. That was just Saturday! Sunday saw the temps get up to about 80 degrees so I decided to make my daughter happy and take her to the neighborhood pool. I personally thought it was waaaay too cold to swim but the good people of New Jersey seemed to think otherwise! When you grow up in the southeastern U.S., 80 degrees is nothing!
I decided to take the time out by the pool to read and to make my grocery list. I recently got a few new cookbooks (reviews coming soon...) and one in particular has really been exciting for me! I based my whole list of groceries and meals off of it for the week. I'll let you know how it goes but the first night went over well! I'll go ahead and tell you it's Chocolate and Zucchini. I feel like the last foodie in the world to discover this amazing cookbook (and blog!). I feel the same way about Orangette! I'm glad my head is finally out from under the rocks because I've been missing out on some good food writing! I think much of it has to do with the trip to Paris. Both blogs and their subsequent books are largely based on eating and cooking experiences there! I've become absolutely obsessed with that particular subject matter lately so don't be surprised if I dwell on it....a lot.
One bit of inspiration I've received from these books is to try to plan lighter meals for the evenings and to go for the more indulgent stuff in the earlier parts of the day. This rolls right along with my continued quest for exciting salads. I stocked up on a lot of fresh mix at the market this past weekend. For dinner yesterday, I made a dish of gnocchi that was lightly tossed with a browned butter and homemade pesto sauce and I served a big salad on the side. I got the idea to make a dressing from roasted strawberries from Clotilde. I added some balsamic reduction and viola! Honestly, it would have tasted much better with local strawberries and I plan to make another batch of dressing this weekend. I love the idea of berry vinegarettes so a little more tweaking should make for some good eating!
On the way home from the pool, Molly and I heard the familiar sounds of the ice cream truck. She looked up at me and I looked back down at her. It was on! I fumbled in my purse for my wallet and found some cash. She is pictured above eating what used to be called a Nutty Buddy out of a bowl (less mess!). I went with an old favorite...
We walked back to the condo in silent bliss. The sun was shining and I was glowing from indulging my inner and outer eight year old. On that note, I leave you with this....
No comments:
Post a Comment