A friend stops saturday

My almost-lost-to-time-and-space friend Kadet came to town saturday. She stopped by for a quick lunch. I made crabpots with spicy aioli, roasted asparagus and pea soup and served crackers & cheese.

Those cracker, btw, are the best base for any mild, creamy cheese or blue cheese with fig jam. They are an asiago, herb and cracked pepper blend and very hard so they hold up to spreading a thick flavor body. Sold in good cheese shops and Whole Foods.

So good to see an old friend.

Kadet brought dessert of chocolate cheese cake to which we added fresh strawberries and lemon bars to which we added blueberries. They didn't stay in the open air long enough to capture in 1's and 0's.

Easter Lunch with Mom and Moj

Mom and I met at the market. Moj stayed behind at my house and walked Brody, cleaned a bit and I suspect mostly spent a good bit on the computer checking stocks and facebook-ing. When I got home I put out a some toasted tunisian flat bread ("crack bread" it's been deemed due to the fact that I wake up craving it with butter every morning). We ate it with an arabic carrot spread and some st. andre cheese. As I was preparing Easter supper everyone agreed they'd spoiled their appetite on the toast so we opted to forego the fish center piece and just go with the sides. More room for dessert!

butter lettuce, vine ripened tomato, snap peas and spring onion boiled in butter and water, some nutty, musky, spanish-y cheese shavings and a mustard/lemon herb vinaigrette. The flowers are edible too!

Red russian fingerling potatoes sliced and tossed with olive oil, thyme, maldon salt and cracked pepper (it does make a difference). I squeezed a fresh lemon over the potatoes and roasted them with shallots and chopped nicoise olives. 400 degrees for 25 min. Toss everything and plop a man-sized thumb of butter over the whole mess. Roast until you can't stand waiting for it another moment.

Mom brought Joan's On Third cupcakes. My sister made me these beautiful napkins for my birthday last year. I hate for them to be messed but they are too sweet to keep in a drawer. Wish she'd been at the table to join us for the yum.

Breakfast Bento at the San Jose

We stayed at the San Jose Hotel in Austin for South By South West. When we ordered breakfast a cute girl - someone we'd likely meet at any of the pubs in town for a night of indie bands with strange names and a beer - brought us this plain wood box. Upon lifting the lid, voila! Breakfast bento box. The fruit was just as yum as it looks. And the coffee was lovely. A side of magazines and a view of a dirt path and Jasmin vines make for a perfect morning. We could hear the music starting in the courtyard before we were even out of our jammies.