Homegrown: Kale Tossed Salad with Roasted Garlic Dressing

With my manuscript and photographs for the cookbook due in just a handful of days, time around here is tight.  The days are long - testing the last few recipes and going through the manuscript, crossing i's and t's and making sure I make sense.  My house is a mess.  I don't leave the dirty house, unless it's to get groceries and have a little human contact with the outside world.  I can't believe on April 1st, it will be all over.  What in the world will I do with myself?!  I know, clean the house!  Go for a massage!  See friends I haven't seen for 6 months.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel, but still so much work to do before then.  Wish me luck!

Lentil & Kale Shepherd's Pie with Roasted Garlic Potatoes

This about the time of year when winter behaves like the beloved house guest that has overstayed their welcome.  You know the type.  Things start off really well - it's great seeing them again and catching up on old times.  You radiate in the coziness they bring with them - hauling out the blankets and DVDs you're too busy to watch in summer.  Copious amounts of tea (and chocolate!) are consumed as you settle in together over dark and cold nights.  Things are fine.  Things aren't perfect but you adjust to the dry skin, runny noses, the cold, cold car, and scarves wrapped around your face so only your eyes peek out.  But then, after FIVE months of this, you start to feel annoyed and grumpy.  The faults of the unwanted house guest are noticed and annoying. You don't want the cold, cold car and dry skin and sweaters any longer.  The parka has played its part, but it is time, now, to part.  There are no hard feelings, and without a doubt, the houseguest will return.  They always do.  A send off is in order, encouraged even, with a comforting bowl of lentils and potatoes.

Reset: Tuscan White Bean Soup with Leeks & Roasted Garlic

 

First off, I want to express my gratitude to all of you who left me a comment or sent an email regarding my last post.  Thank you thank you thank you.  Your words mean so much and I am frankly overwhelmed by everyone being so kind - especially those of you I've never even met.  I'm doing okay - much better than I was a couple of weeks ago, that's for sure.  The other day I even caught myself humming, against my musical judgement, that Bruno Mars song.  You know the one, so damn catchy I might have even danced a little.  While I may have lost the handsome man, I'm still surrounded by so many other good things right now, and if I don't remind myself of it, others do.  Every day is a chance to press reset.  While 2013 started off quite crappy bumpy, I relish the opportunity to make it better.  Like I wrote in my final post of 2012 ... you just never know what is going to happen to you.  Words to hold near and dear.