Friday ride

Taking my newly pristine bike for an errand-running ride this beautiful autumn morning. My boyfriend has been muttering forebodingly of the terrible winter to come, but right now it is hard to believe that the sun will ever stop shining. Winter seems like a dream I imagined last year.

Readers: when does the sun set in your part of the world? Here in Chicago it's already setting before 6 p.m. and evenings are wonderfully long.

My outdoor parlor

Yesterday was unseasonably warm. I sat outside for a few hours with a book and a cup of coffee and reveled in the sense of springtime.

Bagels, recently

The best part of making bagels is mixing and kneading the dough with my bare hands. Second best is forcing enormous raisins deep into its warm interior and folding the dough over and over to accomodate said fruits. (I like to use double the prescribed amount.) This batch was made in honor of Brian's birthday last month with different kinds of deliciously jammy raisins.

Adrian Stephen

"Adrian looks immensely long, & his little bow tie somehow gives him a frivolous rather than distinguished air, as if a butterfly had settled on him by mistake."

Virginia Woolf, Diaries, 6 May 1918

Hello autumn

I find myself with lots of free time on my hands after finishing up a long term work assignment this week. Hello to cold winds and rustling leaves, afternoon bike rides, and blogging again.

Mushroom wontons

I made these mushroom wontons a few weekends ago and froze them. Now we are enjoying them in soups like this one with soba noodles and tofu, followed by cold evening drinks on our deck.

Damp upholstery

We went to a forest preserve on Memorial Day. Misty lakes, wild undergrowth, squishy mud trails, and this be-forested living room were our discoveries.

Our Garden, Week 1

This weekend we started our garden: two tomato plants, four bean varieties, two kinds of sorrel, a host of lettuces, one wild-haired chervil, and a little strawberry plant. Already I feel unduly maternal towards my lettuce, which I've never grown before, and which I'm starting from seed. Next weekend I'm adding basil and dill, and Brian's going to plant another set of beans.

Picnic

Brian and I met for a picnic lunch at Union Park a few days ago. He augmented his salad and stir-fry with a honey cookie while I augmented mine with the last of Sunday's pancakes. Verdict: equal satisfaction.

Weekend Wrap Up

A perfect weekend is a blend of cheerful industry, improvised adventure, and undemanding solitude. Such was ours. Saturday was gray and pouty with immanent rain, so (having gone on our Saturday grocery trip earlier this week) we stayed indoors and spent the afternoon cleaning and taking care of household chores. I scrubbed and wiped down the humid bathroom while Brian put on angry music to tackle the floors with our temperamental vacuum cleaner.

Later I made bagels using a recipe from this highly-recommended book, Brian cleaned a bike he's getting ready to sell, and we watched Ace in the Hole--an unrelentingly cynical film from Billy Wilder, one of my favorite directors.

Sunday was even nicer: a day of food and bicycle riding. We made pancakes; rode our bikes to the lakefront and through the sunny, empty city; bought falafel and beef kofta sandwiches at Baba Pita; cycled in fancy dress to Chicago Cut for a Mother's Day dinner with some of Brian's family; and ended the night with Fight Club, which neither of us had seen in about a decade.