On a rainy day on the first of December, we needed a little sunshine in our lives. It arrived in the form of an advance copy of our book. Almost exactly one year to the day from when we submitted the manuscript, we held the finished book in our hands. It was definitely a bright, albeit brief, moment in our day. For the rest of it, we scrambled around trying to get things done. Various deadlines, projects, and loose threads that needed to be tied kept us on the edge of chaos, so that when dinner time rolled around we were at loose ends. What to do? Fortunately, Amaya loves pasta, and so that’s always a viable option. The simplest of simple, long noodles with butter and cheese were jazzed up by pickled lovage seeds. A little crunch, a little tang, and a burst of anise and celery flavor. We were lucky enough to harvest these seeds from our garden and smart enough to pickle them so we could have them on hand to turn a simple dinner into something special.
Sounds like a great plan. Unfortunately, I used the lovage seeds to make bitters and we could barely get dinner on the table tonight. We microwaved two kinds of homemade pasta and nibbled, harvesting vegetables and turning to the refrigerator for great cheeses left over from capon day. We did celebrate with some 2004 Pride Mountain Vineyards Merlot and the pleasure of our own company. Some days, the idea of cooking wonderful food in our kitchen is an incredible dream. Occasionally, we make it a reality. Today, we enjoyed being together instead of cooking together.
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