Nine Random Notes from the Sandwich Life

May 12, 2025

1. Sadly for us, our beloved Tal left on Saturday and is back home in England. I hope the last steps to getting her over here start to move more quickly. My poor Leo is pretty sad. I must note she went home with eight bottles of Ranch in her luggage. Evidently she’d had numerous requests. I just laughed and laughed. I love her so much.

2. I clicked on some article on how to make frozen pizza healthier. It said to make homemade pizza and freeze it. BASTA! as my friend Peggy used to say, or still does for that matter.

3. I ordered a couple of galettes for me for Mother’s Day (well, one for Tal, one for me for Mother’s Day) and then Hannah of Tooth Butter announced she’d be bringing some Ramp Twisty buns: sourdough brioche dough twisted around ramp nettle pesto butter, brushed with honey butter out the oven. Well, all right….so Ernie brought home a couple and that is what I just had for breakfast and good God in heaven, I just think Hannah is the best. She manages to balance her flavors so well, nothing is too sweet or too strong. Really sensitive handling of flavors and the texture was perfect.

4. This is what I have tucked away for my Mother’s Day dessert: Strawberry Rhubarb Spelt Galette w/ Ginger Cardamom Oat Streusel! I’ll let you know…but I have a good feeling about it. Tal said hers was delicious. She LOVED both of them!

5. Mother’s Day dinner of roasted sweet potato, asparagus and shrimp in a Vietnamese marinade from a Melissa Clark Cookbook.

Vietnamese Ginger Marinade

Melissa Clark "Dinner: Changing the Game"

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon Asian fish sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
2 teaspoons peanut oil
grated zest and juice of 1 lime, plus 1/2 lime for serving
1 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
pinch of red chile flakes

6. I had to get bloodwork for something at a weird place off of south Neil. You sign up online and they send you a link to click when you get there. You walk in to a waiting room with no humans to greet you, silent people filling the chairs and a framed print hung in the oddest location…not in the center of the wall, not to the far right, just in this odd off center spot.

7. Leftovers from last night with a fried egg on top for breakfast. It was supposed to be runny but it was still great. The egg worked really well with the Vietnamese marinade.

8. We cooked today. Well, Ernie did. Beautiful Sola Gratia kale, sautéed in olive oil, with a pinch of red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. We were out of all the spices I wanted to add (Aleppo pepper, smoked paprika, sumac) so we kept it simple. Then he added two cans of white beans (rinsed and drained—helps with the FODMAPS). He poured in some chicken broth just short of covering it and let it simmer for a bit.

We heated it back up for dinner, zushed it up with some more salt and black pepper and the juice of half a lemon plus a healthy sprinkle of parmesan. We were going to have it with rice but we decided it looked good as is. I declare it a success. Thank you, baby.

9. And now a bit of our Spring yard. These peonies start out this bright vivid pink and slowly fade to a soft peach. They’re incredibly fleeting but so beautiful.

Onward.

Love,
Cynthia

Oh, and I LOVED all your comments on what your grandmother cooked. Keep ‘em coming!