Snacking Dinner On The Deck

There are some meals you cook, and there are some meals you shop for. I'm not talking about takeout, but rather the kind of snacking dinner that requires just a bit of chopping before being arranged on the plate and carried to the table.

While I enjoy this sort of meal all year round, it definitely reaches its apogee as a warm weather meal on the deck.

On my way home from work I stopped at the grocery store and picked up a baguette, a small round of goat brie, a bag of arugula, and, from the liquor store, a bottle of rose. At home we already had plum tomatoes (acceptable, if not amazing, even in April) and an amazing spreadable smoked sausage (from Wursthaus Schmidtz), plus some basics: basil, lemon, olive oil, honey, coarse grained mustard, cornichons.

On Not Cooking

The past few months, I haven’t cooked much. As in, barely at all. I can remember the last meal I properly cooked--an excellent cauliflower and bacon pasta, for dinner on Friday when we had friends over--and before that, I’m honestly not sure. I’ve baked bread every couple-few weeks, and I’ve looked at recipes plenty. I’ve read the serious food magazines that came in the mail, and the email newsletters scattered with luscious photos--every word. I’ve day-dreamed about cooking: standing in the kitchen with the sun streaming in, a little jazz playing, and piles of vegetables yielding under my knife.

But I haven’t actually put knife to vegetable, except to yield the carrot sticks that are the only vegetable Little Z, now 3, regularly eats. Oh, that’s right--a couple weeks ago I also baked Little Z two birthday cakes in one week, one for her school party and one for home. And I attempted to bake crumpets, but failed because I filled the molds too full. I will try these again, soon. I will.