DC, dinner

Another shooting. 13 dead. An armed man with "a history of misconduct" (cnn) heads into the Navy Yard and opens fire. Remember all the times the NRA has yelled that if only more people had guns, we'd be so much safer? Well, the Navy does have guns; they're the military for christ sakes. And 12 of their crew are now dead. I find the whole thing depressingly familiar. A place shuts down, people mourn the loss of family members and friends, the President speaks movingly of the tragedy and waste, the media lights up with musings on mental health, possible security break-downs and "what.went.wrong." and still our country will do nothing more than a symbolic wringing of the hands. The gun-rights activists will hunker down and find an argument about we can't possibly do anything but give out more guns; those who work for stricter regulation and more stringent and regular background checks will have to put aside their sadness and disgust about watching yet another shooting spree happen and then resume their work, trying to keep hopelessness about change at bay. Shame on us. ~~~~~~ On a completely different note, we had a wonderful Meatless Monday dinner comprised of three hearty salads: fresh burrata with tomatoes, good olive oil, salt and basil; garlic-oil-rubbed kale with walnuts and cherries (yes, that one; the regular); and grilled fennel and leeks with fresh ricotta (still warm!) and a marjoram-fennel frond-almond pesto.

My friend Bevi makes a marjoram-cashew pesto that sounds out of this world, and I was keen to whip some of that up tonight only to find that I had no cashews. Ok, plan B. I decided to serve the pesto atop the other stuff I mentioned and so threw in the fennel fronds. Almonds seemed like they might pair nicely so they went in too. The marjoram's floralness started to feel out of hand so I tossed in some kale. The floral bouquet kept coming, so I went with it and grated Meyer lemon zest over the top of the finished dish. T asked if I'd accidentally spilled flowery soap into pesto. I liked it. Different strokes for different folks. And it is pretty!

Back to the Farmers Market

Tom and Jack decided to do yard work and play catch this morning, so Oliver and I headed off to the farmers market. It's a gorgeous day; a perfect Advent of Fall type. We donned pants and long sleeve shirts and made our way to Dupont. Oliver beelined to the popsicle stand, and although he was disappointed that chongos wasn't on the menu, he quickly reframed and ordered a ginger peach. Remnants of summer produce intermingled with fall's bounty. "Last week for peaches" signs urged final purchases while all manner of beans and squash popped up next to them. As the boys have been studying rattlesnakes together, Ol and I were excited to discover rattlesnake beans and quickly snapped up a bag. I also got some flat beans too, with the memory of Ghibellina's fagiole umido dancing in the back of my mind, two quarts of sungold tomatoes (probably the last of the year), yellow romas to make sauce, some more rhubarb, fresh burrata and creme fraiche, the boys' favorite cheeses, radishes, a variety of peppers including paper lantern, hatch and ancho, fresh ginger and garlic, beef sticks, and on and on I think.

Once home, the boys ate beef sticks and marble cheese while I made a fagiole umido with mint, eggplant and capers. It'll be part of our dinner tonight, and I can't wait. Off to the gym, writing class, baseball....oh.my.god. #donewiththeweekend

Wine night is a'coming!