StephanieL

Part of the fava bean haul went into tagliatelle with favas, ricotta, proscuitto, and Meyer lemon zest.

Right. Somehow my brain conflated a martini with a G&T.

It might not be too bad in a fitty-fitty, as long as you're using good tonic.

N knows about the blanching technique, but she's also not keen about getting them out of the pods in the first place. Last night, it took us the entire length of one episode of the Stax documentary to de-pod the haul.

We're growing favas, and N was going to let them all go unpicked because she finds peeling them a PITA. I love favas, so she extracted out of me a promise to help her shell them. I don't mind--it's kind of a mindless activity to do while we're watching TV.

From cancer. Only 53 years old.

I do agree with her take on Scoma's today. It's fairly close to my office; I've gone twice and it's been a pleasurable (if pricey) experience both times.

Another big-bowl dinner: quinoa, RG Buckeyes, merguez, roasted red peppers, cauliflower, and butternut squash, and probably other things I'm forgetting.

Yes, and fortunately it wasn't super dry. The 2001 appletini wasn't quite as awful as I'd feared, and the post-millennium one was good for what it was. During the 1990s and early 2000s, I wasn't drinking these weird cocktails (or much else) due to having a lot less money back then, and when I did have alcohol it was usually beer or maybe a vodka tonic. The room got quite rollicking after a while. Some folks had pre-gamed with a drink or two at Club Moderne beforehand (N and I had a couple of their NA offerings).

Went to a slideshow on "Martinis at the Turn of the Millennium" at Stookey's Blue Room last night (next door to Stookey's Club Moderne on Taylor & Bush). We were served 3 drinks (in small glasses, blessedly): a regular martini with a lemon twist, an appletini made circa-2001 style (vodka, sour mix, traffic-red cherry), and an appletini made post-millennium style (gin, Calvados, lemon juice, Luxardo cherry).

I watched the first episode of the 4-part Stax: Soulsville USA on HBO last night. Such great music. Looking forward to the rest of the episodes, even though I know the story ends on a depressing note. Fun fact: my first exposure to Booker T & the MGs was the original Blues Brothers movie--Steve Cropper and Donald "Duck" Dunn are part of the band.

A coyote decided to cross the streetcar tracks on The Embarcadero as I was riding to work this morning. While I know that coyotes have been spotted throughout SF, it was still a weird place to have my first sighting.

Have you both read the article about Jean Smart in today's Times Magazine?

Another Buy Nothing win: a terra cotta roaster large enough to fit a chicken. N has been wanting one for a while.

Want!!

My family would do pick-your-own strawberries in June, and my mother would freeze most of them along with some sugar. Come the following spring, we'd have strawberries in syrup with sour cream as part of our post-shul lunch on the first day of Passover.

Home alone this evening, so I made for myself a pseudo-shrimp scampi with pearl couscous on the side.

I'd never made it before, but I'm not willing to share the recipe because that particular version is a bit of a dud. It doesn't have any salt--I added 1/2 tsp. and that seems to work--and it didn't provide a measurement for vanilla extract, just "to taste". I'd love to make that cake again, but will find another recipe.

In making bublanina, a Czech fruit cake, I broke the cardinal rule of cake batters: do not overmix. It tastes OK, but it's a little tough and I could just kick myself.

I'm going to make enchiladas with the last of the chicken & black bean & vegetable leftovers.

Maybe she needs to drink more G&Ts.

Free pastries from Arsicault Bakery, who IMO has the best croissants in SF, courtesy of well-heeled clients at the office for a meeting. I could only manage a quarter of an almond croissant.

Kinda-sorta chicken fajitas, with RG Midnight Blacks, roasted peppers, scallions, and sweet potatoes, and lots of cilantro. Tortillas (corn-wheat mix) on the side; fresh mango with vanilla ice cream and rum for dessert.

The Añejo Highball: 1 1/2 oz. aged rum 1/2 oz. Curacao 1/4 oz. lime juice 2 dashes Angostura bitters 2 oz. ginger beer Fill a highball glass with ice. Add the first 4 ingredients, stir, then add the ginger beer.

N has been thrilled that our local butcher/fishmonger has been getting a regular supply of sole, so yesterday she bought some filets and sauteed them with butter, wine, and capers. Braised scallions, roasted broccoli, and a sourdough baguette on the side; egg tarts (regular and white) from Yummy Bakery that I got at Friday's Grant Avenue street fest for dessert.