Flank Steak

with roasted potatoes, spinach, and asparagus. For dessert, banana bread and birthday cake.

Grilled Grouper

with fried potatoes and some really limp broccoli.

Lamb Chops

with brown rice and sauteed cabbage.

Red Rain Drop Dress

My first knit dress; it wasn't as much of an endurance test as I feared it might be. Had a great time showing it off today.

Here We Go

All better. This has 500g of flour: 50g rye, 225g white, 225g spelt; about half a cup of starter; maybe half a pack of yeast; and 10g salt. It's delicious, and as you can see shaped itself beautifully without slashing or any fancy business on my part.

Fried Eggs

with spinach and a loaf bread that deserves and will get its own post.

Roast Chicken

with quinoa. Rubbed the bird all over with preserved lemon, then roasted: yum.

Spelt Chocolate-Chip Cookies

Just like grandma used to make! If your grandma was Gwyneth Paltrow, or ever made cookies, as none of mine did. Anyway, the cookies are delicious, but spread too much, which means I used too little flour.

The horror...the horror...

It looks good, doesn't it? I was so proud when I took it out of the oven; nicely risen, interesting cracking along the surface, beautiful color—what could be wrong? I found out the next morning when I took my first chewy bite. I had *forgotten to add the salt.* For me taking a bite of a baked good that's missing salt is like trying to move a limb that has fallen asleep: the shock of the dead where one expected warm life. I'm starting over tonight. Let us never speak of this loaf again.

Whole Wheat Fettucini

with shredded sprouts, onions, and shiitakes.

Pork Chops

with fried potatoes, butter-sauteed apples (my spouse's excellent contribution) and broccoli.

Purists Will Object

I resuscitated my poor neglected starter a couple of days ago, a process that was much easier than I expected: two feedings and it was chipper and ready to go. I planned to make a loaf of bread and got out the Bread Bible for my usual French Country Boule recipe when something came over me: a weariness of careful percentages and a deep desire to wing it. So I did: I threw some liquid-ish starter in a bowl with rye and white bread flour, let it bubble away all day and rest in the fridge over night. This morning I let it warm up on the counter for a few hours, then added a packet of yeast, a few cups of half bread/half whole wheat flour, and 15 grams of salt. After a rise I shaped it into a boule, let it rise again, and voila: the mongrel you see. It is very delicious. We had it for dinner with scrambled eggs and roasted cauliflower and shiitakes.

Lamb Chops

broiled, with broccoli and fried leftover sweet potatoes. It's always worth it to make extra sweet potatoes just so one can have the latter.

Sauteed Fluke

with spinach and corn on the cob.

Broiled Flank Steak

with sauteed cabbage and fried potatoes.

Sauteed Cabbage

with onions and green apples, over fried leftover grits.

Roasted Cauliflower and Shiitakes

with nothing. Light meal.

Fried Eggs

with spinach wilted in butter, and fried potaoes.

Lentil Soup

It's hard for me to express the centrality of lentil soup to my diet, in fact and imagination. I've been making it since I started cooking for myself regularly, and I don't believe I've ever made (or tasted) a lentil soup I didn't like. This is because you can't mess it up; lentils adapt to their surroundings under almost any conditions. On any given day if I'm not eating lentil soup for lunch you can bet I'm vaguely wishing I were. Yesterday I made a pot of it with the last leftover duck carcass from Thanksgiving (frozen), an onion, a handful of carrots, and two pounds of lentils. Delicious.