MADE WITH LOVE

It was a good weekend for food and cooking in my little Glen Park nest.
Went to the Farmers' Market and stocked up on some winter bounty...satsumas, Sonoma Wildflower Honey, arugula, radicchio, persimmons, chard, etc...
Fresh produce makes me giddy. Sorta like my first french kiss with David Doyle back in 1984, only with less confusion and spit.
Scene: I was waiting for my parents to pick me up after my first co-ed dance held in the posh gymnasium at Blakelock High School (think big hair, bleachers and basketball nets). We were standing on top of a snowpile, and I had kicked back a few stolen airplane bottles of peach schnapps, so I was ready.
And so it goes, a few excited moments of tongue-dueling with a rat-tailed dirtbag, to the woman I am today, thrilled by paying a lot for organic lettuce and grass-fed beef. Progress!
Oh yeah, about the food.
Saturday night was a board game extravaganza at our house (don't laugh), and I wanted to have some sweet snacks to serve with the tea and Yahtzee (stop laughing, I have the Yahtzee Deluxe edition and it's very chic). I whipped up some macaroons which were super easy and delicious. Threw some dried cherries on a few for dramatic effect.
The flipside of success is of course failure and crappy cookies. While Damian and Kelton geeked out over Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit game pieces, I became increasingly unimpressed with my overbaked oatmeal, chocolate chip, and orange cookies, but everyone lied and said they were "ok", so whatever.

On to Sunday, when I achieved much culinary greatness with my Farmers' Market swag. Even in the middle of winter, I turned out a salad as bright and fresh as any summer day! The recipe is from the Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market Cookbook, my current favorite. The recipes, and generally useful information, is organized by season and ingredient. Inspiring pictures too.

I also made a white bean with winter greens soup (I used chard), which is perfect for these cold winter nights that we don't really have. They say beans are a magical fruit, and it turns out this soup had many healthful and intestinally stimulating effects. Sorry D. Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market--Believe the Hype!