weekend update march 9

Amor vincint omnia
Virgil

Which is not what I meant to say. 
Transition. Gear shifting. That's the sort of thing that was scheduled to be said- the way things get stuck being not quite one thing

and not quite another

But then a few different kinds of love intervened.  And as so often happens when love climbs on board,

things got a little off track.

Because love has a way of conquering everything sooner or later- 

the love of books can conquer a bomb blast.

the love of being with your friends
can conquer danger.

 and the love of a good nose-to-nose cuddle
can conquer chores and schedules.

The love that vincinted omnia this week was the love of a girl for her guy, that made a serendipitous connection with my love of making pretty things that are fun to eat. In other words, a girl named Rebecca married a guy named Steven, and I got to make the cakes! 

One by one, dinner plans were leveled and left bewildered on the sidelines until only two out of five meals were left standing- here's the food news on what survived a three day, full-kitchen, multitiered onslaught of buttercream frosted goodness.

First- no matter how indecisively the weather is shifting from winter to warmer and back again, there is happy proof that spring has landed

even if it hasn't unpacked all its bags.

exhibit A: 

take heart, those of you still stuck
in the cold- if  cheap asparagus is
here, can spring be far behind?

We had that asparagus pan-roasted (actually, I was mixing cake batter and forgot about the asparagus. By the time I remembered it wasn't pan-roasted, it was pan-toasted, but it was still yummy). A rotisserie chicken flew in for that dinner, and the next night the leftovers turned into this Chicken Stroganoff:

The stroganoff was...okay. Nothing revolutionary, but okay. (And that it was not revolutionary is funny, because while the Stroganoff was simmering, I started wondering who or what it was named after. The truth is buried deeper that egg noodles under a thick sauce, but I've decided to believe the story told by the website with the funny looking alphabet and the side bar lessons in Russian vocabulary , which is that Stroganoff most likely gets its name from a pre-revolutionary Russian aristocrat.)
The thing this week that is really worth trying again is this terrific step-by-step instructables guide to pan frying salmon. Really truly, some of the best fish this kitchen has ever produced:

Not undercooked, not overcooked- the trick of flipping the fillet over when it's cooked a third of the way through and letting it cook a third of the way through on the second side is magic. The instructions are telling you the truth- the residual heat will cook that center third perfectly.

A word about the warm butternut squash salad- (there it is behind the salmon) I had planned to use spinach for the salad greens, but the bag of spinach had had a close encounter with the back of the fridge and become a little frozen. A little solidified, which meant it couldn't be salidified, if you know what I mean. So the spinach was sauteed, and the salad was made with red leaf lettuce. 

This was an instructive but not very appetizing choice.

 These warm salads require a substantial green- spinach, kale, arugula- the delicate redleaf didn't just wilt, it sort of melted. And not in a super yummy melted ice cream way. 

       Note to self:

not all greens are created equal.

The pho, the lemon soup, the Ranchero salad? All those plans were left in the dust as love and my own love of baking took over the week.

and then it took over the refridgerator.
A large baking project, a long vacation, and overnight house guests.
 These things are better at cleaning out
a fridge than anything sold anywhere.

For those of you who wonder how things turned out, I can tell you that if you're lucky enough to have a happy, flexible bride to work with and a baking phenom of a daughter to act as your coach, well 

even hard work becomes a piece of cake.

And that's sort of what I hope for you.
I hope this week you recognize 
the things you love about your life.
And give yourself permission
to embrace the joy they bring.
I hope you're given a chance to do work you love
and even if on the outside it looks like work,
I hope it feels like play.
And I hope that whatever stands between you
and the happiness that beats 
at the heart of your passions,

 love conquers it all.