Some number of things

Who knows or can even count anymore

It’s rhubarb season! Asparagus season! Lilac and dogwood and violet season! Lily of the valley and bleeding heart season! The season where I wander around sobbingly muttering romantic poetry to myself and wonder how many springs I have left on earth in this body because all of a sudden I am William Wordsworth. Sob! It’s all ending even as it’s just begun. Come hang out with me! It’s always a laugh riot around here.

Anyways, not to be immodest, but this cake (pictured above) is honestly a perfect cake. I almost never use the orange zest that I myself call for. And I do 2/3 cup gluten-free all-purpose flour and 1/3 cup almond flour, for all my gf girlies out there (heads up, the fruit always sinks more in a gf cake—it’s not a problem). I made it twice in three days this past week.

Asparagus: I am still at the stage of lightly boiling it in salted water and putting butter on it. If I get bored, I’ll move onto brown butter, braising, roasting, etc.

Okay, but here’s another recipe while we’re talking about food. It’s based on a Hetty Lui McKinnon recipe from Tenderheart

and it’s what she calls crispy chickpeas and what I’m calling chickpea-roasted chickpeas. I usually just pan-fry them for salads, but this method is a little more hands-off and makes chickpeas that are a little crisper. They look like this:

Here’s my version of the recipe, easily doubled: Heat the oven to 450 and put a piece of parchment on rimmed baking pan. Drain a (15-ounce) can of chickpeas (or 1 1/2 cups if you cooked them yourself) and put them in a bowl. Add 3 tablespoons chickpea flour, 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, and a grind of black pepper and stir well, then drizzle on 2 tablespoons olive oil and stir again. Spread them out in the pan and roast until crisp, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. You can add other seasonings too: chile or garlic powder or a masala blend or whatever you like.

Here they are, in situ:

This (perfect) salad is green cabbage, celery, pepperoncini, tinned Trader Joe’s smoked trout, feta, and the chickpeas. Dressing is the usual: 2 teaspoons kosher salt, 1 clove pressed garlic, 1/3 cup white wine vinegar, 2/3 cup olive oil, stored in the fridge and used as needed. I could eat this every night of my life and practically do.

Also, while I was outside photographing this in the last of the light, I looked up and saw this:

And also this:

Sob.

Okay, Enough spring crying. What else? The Merlin app! Am I a new birder wholly because of watching the fantabulous Listers movie? Yes! And it’s so fun! The Merlin app is free, and you can track all the birds you lay eyes on. It knows where you are and can help you guess what you’re seeing, both by suggesting what’s likely to be in the area and also by—hold onto your hats—listening to the birdsong around you. Sorry, sorry—I know you know this already! Sliced bread! It’s bread! But sliced!—but I didn’t, and I can’t get over it. It’s the most user-friendly app I have ever, er, used. You press a button and it listens and it starts telling you in real time what birds it’s hearing. Which makes being perennially awake for the dawn chorus an occasion to be so glad for!

A free hobby is totally my jam, and it’s so fun, and it’s about nature, and it gets you outside, and you and your friends/family/partners can all do it! SO GOOD. So far there are 23 species on my life list, and I’ve only been doing it for a little over a week.

My final recommendation, besides Jeni’s Blackout Chocolate Cake Ice Cream, which you need like you need another hole in your head, is Patrick Radden Keefe’s latest, London Falling, which we listened to on audio via the Libby app. Like his other books, including The Empire of Pain, it is riveting and educational and perfect.

A final note: You were all so funny about the mango in my last post! I will mention, just for the sake of clarity, that “your dad” was written by Birdy and was referring to the person she lives with, who is, in fact, my dad. Still funny, but maybe a little more cry-laughing.

I love you! Be good to yourselves. xo