The Captive Reader

It is Mother’s Day today, which in our house means it is time for mom to relax (or, you know, for us to drag her out of her office and force her to relax), for dad to open a bottle of celebratory champagne (we are incapable of having any kind of family gathering without it), and for my brother and I to pull together an appropriately festive meal.  Then we all settle down at the table together for a few hours to enjoy the wine, the food and the company.

Menu

Carrot Soup with Orange

Banana Coconut Bread

Fruit Salad

Spring Frittata (with Asparagus, Spinach, Peas, Mint and Goat Cheese)

It was a very girl-y meal – as my brother teased, there was no dead pig anywhere – and very delicious.  I love to celebrate my mother but I d0 also love to work in the kitchen with my brother.  One of my mother’s proudest achievements is having raised two children who are so happy in the kitchen: she spends as little time there as possible and loves to know that when my father is away she now has two more people who can be called upon to feed her!

But not all my time today has been Mom-focused: early this morning, when I was baking the (insanely delicious) banana bread, I started reading Heat Lightning by Helen Hull; though I’m only three chapters in, it is wonderful and extraordinarily well written.  I can’t wait to get back into it.  After some unseasonably spectacular weather, it is finally raining here so I have the best excuse possible to stay inside with my book!