Flirting With Summer

I doggedly wore shorts and short sleeves yesterday, and except for the parts in which I was attempting to ride the Ripstik to show my boy what I meant (and of the Ripstik I will say: eek), and the part in which the kids and I played a me vs. them baseball game (to get me out, my boy dragged me off of the base and then Curly tagged me), I froze. So. Cold. Did I change into warmer clothing? No. Why? Dunno.

It’s odd that I was so intent on continuing to wear summer clothes on a day that was nice enough, but clearly not going to get particularly summery. On food, I caved in quite some time ago and cooked for the weather instead of against it. I made roasts, and ragus, pasta with sausage, potatoes. I gave the kids hot cocoa when they came home from school, complete with fleece pajamas, robes and toasty slippers after the freeze-fest of Field Day at their school. That would have been in mid-June. Only a few nights later I made them pasta with a dark, warming sausage sauce, which they slurped up happily.

Although the weather has continued to be unseasonably cool, I’ve been having a good time with the kids since they got out of school. I have them to myself until their camps and lessons start up, and it’s been ridiculously fun, terrifying moments of stepping onto the Ripstik and all. What was I thinking when I bought that thing? I’m prone to accidents. If there is a line drive heading to someone’s face, Curly will be right there. And yet, I marched into the store and intentionally bought a wiggling little platform that is less stable than a regular skateboard and nearly certain to guarantee a free trip to the ER (well, not so free, but quite possibly guaranteed). Still, it's been fun, and will continue to be... until I break something.

We have huge, clear twilights right now, the light has an impossible, perfect clarity as it slowly, slowly dims. And although I do wish it was warmer, I love these long, slow evenings. And a couple of times, it’s actually warmed up enough that instead of baking and roasting, I made normal summer food for dinner, like the salad pictured below. It’s essentially a Mexican/southwestern riff on a chicken Caesar (courtesy of Rick Bayless); guacamole, a chile lime dressing and cheese over the top, but… look, just like with coleslaw, although bad ones abound, good ones are fantastic, and this salad was wonderful. Because of a continued grill phobia, I cooked the chicken on the stove, not the grill. Still, it was a perfect sort of summer dinner, easy and light, but still filling enough to be satisfying. I will say, it dirtied more dishes than my lazy self prefers to have dirtied for such a simple meal, but it was great. And of course, I posted the recipe for pasta with sausage sauce because... well, it was delicious, too, if considerably less summery. Maybe I'll get around to posting this one, since I didn't follow the recipe, quite (again), but three posts in a day is something of a record for me, so maybe I won't.