The Best Medicine

Last night was "date night" for Andy and I, as we try to make every Wednesday. We've been doing that pretty much since we met -- now over 3 years ago! (Happy Anniversary to us.)

I made a vegetable ragout that included farmers' market finds (purple, orange and white cauliflower) and Swiss chard and herbs from our garden (chives, thyme, sage). It had every color of the rainbow, except blue. It was beautiful and tasty.

Then I surprised him with dessert -- macarons. They are my current obsession, ever since I put this book on Andy's amazon wishlist and he surprised me with it (subtle hints win again!):





This time, they were vanilla macarons with a raspberry & dark-chocolate ganache filling. I surprised Andy with 2 heart-shaped macarons. Actually, I surprised myself too since my piping worked and I was able to make 4 similarly-sized heart-shaped shells. Andy said they reminded him of the macarons we had on our honeymoon -- that I was finally getting it right.

Because macarons are difficult to make. Do any amount of internet research on the subject and see for yourself. Even the most seasoned pastry chefs see this confection as their Achilles heal.


So, naturally, I feel the need to conquer this. I'm going to make those macarons mine!


Much like the macarons, Andy and I had a great night as well. We didn't do anything special -- aside from turning off the t.v. and sitting on the couch, laughing. Laughing so hard and so much that we both made our stomachs hurt.


What was so funny? Food.


Yep, food. Specifically, memories of the foods from our childhood. Mere mention of my mom's salisbury steak (read giant dry hamburger) still brings my sister to tears! But nothing conjures up nightmares like the "Impossible Cheeseburger Pie" recipe from the back of the Bisquick box. We made the mistake of telling mom we liked it, and ended up eating it at least once weekly for too many months (those pancake mix boxes were huge!).


Andy moved on to cubed steak and then started in on the cereals. Both of us were allowed to eat the sugary kind. I believe it started with -- "remember waffelo's?" and "cookie crisp -- they did NOT taste like cookies!" I'm laughing to myself just remembering.


One thing's for sure -- if we ever have kids, they'll be able to have the sugary cereals too.

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Tomorrow I'm making framboise (raspberry) macarons with white chocolate ganache filling and lavender-vanilla macarons with homemade lemon curd for Mandy's birthday. Wish me luck!