wrapping up: food, wine, photography and life

For those of you who know me, and those of you who simply read this blog, you know by now my love for cooking, eating, sipping wine, writing, and beautiful photographs . . . and lately I have been thinking about the simplicity of all of these things, and how they make me feel so incredibly happy and content and in love with my life.

I realize that Sunday is technically the beginning of the week, but to me it's the end, and it's never a wonderful day for me. I love my long, lazy mornings in my sweatpants sipping coffee until noon, and then the day just sort of becomes a time bomb leading to Monday, when the mailman comes and bills get paid and phone calls made, and my computer requires my full attention, as well as my children, and I go back to balancing it all out as best I can, knowing I could have done a better job. I am a thoughtful person, and at the end of the week, I usually think about my successes, my failures, and what I've learned about them, and of course now I want to write about them in the most simple way possible.

Food: It has been a bad culinary week for me. There is nothing I look forward to more than my dinner. The second my first bite of lunch enters my mouth, I ask, so what are we having for dinner? Joe usually laughs at me, tells me not to eat so fast, and throws out suggestions. Tuesday I overcooked my grape-glazed chicken and grilled asparagus, Wednesday I noshed on a plate of grapes and toasted bread with brie and apricot cheeses with my girlfriends, and Thursday I over-empowered my shrimp boil hobo packs with the flavor of mussels. Friday's lasagna noodles were a bit too al dente, and Saturday night's slow-cooked swiss steak almost put me in tears. In fact, they were brimming, but I was a big girl and didn't let them spill.

Wine: The Assets have officially incorporated boxed wine into our nights, and while it is quite economical and doesn't taste all that bad, there is an element to opening a bottle of wine with a cork screw, rather than pushing my thumb through a cardboard tab, that I missed. Other than that, Joe and I made big plans to sip on a Rose of Malbec one sunny afternoon, but stuck to our staple pinots and cabs during our evenings together.

Photography: I need to take more pictures for fun. Plain and simple. I am headed to enjoy carne asadas with a dear friend, and I'm bringing my camera, if only to get one good shot of pulled pork.

Life: It was another week of feeling incredibly lucky. I have two healthy, beautiful daughters who are as mild-mannered as they are stubborn and difficult, but in ways that keep me learning. My mother continues to inspire me everyday, and I love that we are so much alike, because it means I am going to grow into a better person than I am today. And I am in love with a man who informed me the other evening that I am the most nurturing woman he has ever loved, and that he makes the choice everyday not to take that for granted. I have learned that no matter how much you love someone, and how easily that comes to you, that it is still a choice to remain kind and respectful, and that if we simply make that choice each day without wondering or fearing what may or may not come in the future, we will probably be very happy there when we arrive.