Love, Actually

Kid 1 is on school holidays, so hanging around the house mooching when not skateboarding. This afternoon he said to me 'Do you think Scout [the dog] actually loves us?'

'I'm not sure', I said. 'Maybe not love as we understand it, but certainly a feeling of belonging and loyalty'.

'But that's what love is, isn't it?' said Kid 1.

Clearly the hormones haven't kicked in yet. He will be 14 next week.

I think I have premature nostalgia. This line is from The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (Rebecca Miller): 'It was so lonely, knowing things about her children that they no longer remembered. Layers of experience eroded from their minds but petrified in her own.'

Best I go and do something vigorous and cheerful.

Saturday Night Fever

Yesterday, Saturday, was a day of productive domesticity. You know - cleaning, sorting, ironing, knitting, berating kids ... By mid-afternoon, it was obvious that the best solution for Saturday night fare was not a fancy new meal but an old favourite. We ate roast chicken, with a variation on Eton Mess for dessert. It was just about perfect.

Today we had people for lunch - work friends of Spouse, plus their wives and small children. I have to admit I was nervous. I'm not adept at small talk. Fortunately they were all lovely people, only one child threw up, and everyone ate their food. In my world, if you eat what I feed you, you are automatically promoted to 'people I like'. We had beef, feta and olive pie with salad and bread, with lattaiolo (baked custard) and red wine poached pears for dessert.

Tomorrow, unfortunately, is Deadline Week Monday.

Saturday Night Fever

I have been busy, bored/boring and a little melancholy. Dull, damp weather hasn't helped. But now the sun is out again, it's the weekend, and I only have TWO articles to finish by tonight. Oops, now I'm depressed again.

It's also Mothers' Day, so Kids 1 and 2 have been very nice to me, including making me an omelette for breakfast (Kid 1) and homemade fizzy lemonade to keep me cheery while working (Kid 2).

Last night we cooked chicken braised in white wine and cream, with roast spuds and green beans, followed by chocolate pots with whipped cream and salted toffee shards. Kid 2 snaffled the leftover egg whites from the choc pots to make meringues, all by itself.

Mid-week I had my hair cut. I had been toying with the idea of growing it - Lord knows why, as I have horrid hair - so it was well overdue. I've had it blonde for about a year now, so I decided to go darker (for winter?). The cut was fine, my normal super-short pixie. The colour is awful. It's a sort of nothing brown that doesn't quite cover up the previous blonde - it's insipid and ugly, all at the same time. I know I should probably just go back to that salon and say 'fix it', but I can't be bothered. Sometimes it's very tempting just to let it grow out, grey and all ...

Back to the grind.

Birthday Girl

It was my birthday yesterday. Kid 2 bounded into my room at 5.30am, dying to shower me with gifts and affection. I confess I asked for 15 more minutes of shut-eye. Once I'd had it, and a cup of tea, I was ready ... She had written and illustrated a story for me about an ancient Egyptian cat-god, featuring both of our cats. Bless.

It was an uneventful but pleasant day - I had my yoga class, I worked. I had lunch with my mother, then she cooked a lovely dinner at our place - chicken roasted with 40 cloves of garlic, salad, potatoes. I made a flourless chocolate almond cake for dessert, served with whipped cream. It's all about the food ...

And tomorrow it is my mother's birthday. She is still in town, so we will all go out for dinner (see, food again). I bought her a necklace of coin pearls in NYC that I've already given her - maybe she will wear them to dinner.

Saturday Night Fever

Last night was my MIL's birthday party. There were about 30 adults and 7 children (who made more noise than all the adults combined, of course), all of whom had a lovely time, as far as I could tell. I did spend the first hour or so of the party in the kitchen, but it was very simple stuff and I'd done most of the prep well in advance, so it wasn't at all onerous.

The menu was:

Gougeres (yes, I love these, especially because you can make them in advance, freeze and then pop straight in the oven)
Pork & veal meatballs
Chicken meatballs
A variety of tartlets - smoked trout & creme fraiche; herbed ricotta; slow roasted cherry tomatoes
Water chestnuts wrapped in bacon and grilled (a surprise hit)
Cucumbers stuffed with crab and pickled ginger with a dipping sauce

My SIL made a chocolate cake with ganache and I also made lemon curd tartlets and marzipan fruit (at MIL's request).

Phoebe served food wearing a smocked apron and an angelic expression; Holden mostly allowed himself to be tortured by all the tiny cousins (he's almost 13; they're all 5 and under and think he's a toy). This is him doing a Zoolander expression ('Magnum', I believe).




Today is Mother's Day so I am refusing to cook dinner (coq au riesling) but I suspect I may end up giving a hand ...

The Time Bandits

Really, time is all we have - or don't have - isn't it? I found out yesterday that a much-loved aunt, who was recently diagnosed with colon cancer, also has metastatic liver cancer. No matter how we try to keep our chins up and be positive, the prognosis is very poor.