🍽️:

Mon – Goi Tom (Vietnamese shrimp salad.) (I will actually write about this vacation eventually, I swear.)

Tues – easy pork tenderloin with a stupid good Frankensauce (courtesy of sauce king Hampton) and Warm Green Bean Salad with Crispy Potatoes, kalamatas, and feta

Wed – Arayes (Middle Eastern Meat Stuffed Pitas) with cucumber salad

Thurs – fancied up frozen pizza and salad (his Monday, my first blocking rehearsal)

Fri – Silken tofu with black bean, mushroom, and Chinese sausage sauce; rice; tempura green beans. TJ’s started carrying silken tofu, Hampton wanted to play, and this recipe used the black bean sauce that sat in our pantry for eons before I finally used it… as a sub in a recipe I effed up bc did NOT math that substitution properly. Whoops.

I had my concerns about the silken texture tofu for Hampton, which is why I added some diced Chinese sausage to the sauce in the recipe and decided on crunchy veg… which was a good idea because Hampton learned he does NOT love silken tofu. But this tempura recipe is always perfect.

Sat – grilled pork tenderloin with a bean puree and lemon/herb vin as inspired by this, using black calypso beans.

I also made some grilled Brussels and, well, still working on figuring out how to do that properly. Our sprouts were massive and I only microwaved them for two minutes, but they were definitely a bit mushy inside. If you have any tips, lemme know!

Sun – Tuscan-inspired bavette with pan-roasted truffle parm potatoes and a cantaloupe crudo — featuring cucumber from my neighbor colleague’s garden that she brought when she delivered product for me from our shared beauty parlor. Yay, neighbors!

🥃: Despite not drinking at a work event this week, I brought home half a bottle of a white Bordeaux that was lovely and crisp when I was not at work. I remember doing a tasting at a restaurant where I was working once upon a time and saying, “well, at least I know I do NOT like anything from Bordeaux.” How times have changed.

🐶: We celebrated THIRTEEN years with the George this week!

📚: happy pub week to two ARCs I read this spring —

• Our Last Resort, Clémence Michallon – Well, this was fun. Much more character driven than the usual locked door/locked resort mystery I was expecting, but not at all mad at it.
• Finding Grace, Loretta Rothschild – As a happily childfree person, a few pages into this book, I wasn’t sure I would finish it; I just couldn’t empathize with Honor at all. And then the twist and wow. Finding Grace dramatizes the most implausible mess but somehow makes it compelling. Or maybe I just really love wine. A fine debut.

Saturday was one of my favorite kinds of days: I finished two books, started and finished another easy thriller, and started a really good fourth. Bliss!

🎭: Baby rehearsals continue and Hampton got word this week that he’s directing his first choice play (thank goodness) in an upcoming one-act festival. He also has a staged reading shortly after that and in between will be recording an audio film script. Variety being the spice of life and such.