Dining with Deb: Week 3, Day 3

It rained today. And despite the rain, I still took both little ones out to run a couple of errands. One of those things where beforehand all you want is to get them out of the house, then as soon as you are out, all you want is to get back inside. Battling the process of getting in and out of the car multiple times in the dreary weather took it out of all three of us to the point where my older son actually asked if we could take naps. Music to a mother's ears. So I napped, but not for long as I had ravioli to make. Yes, Deb has become such a driving force in my day that I actually sacrifice nap time to get in the kitchen. Ok, not really - my dad taught me how to power nap years ago - but still.

Anyway, did you notice the part where I said I made ravioli? Before today, making ravioli meant boiling water. Heating up red sauce if you were really feeling crafty. But oh no, not when you're in the Smitten Kitchen. First, I made the pasta dough - from scratch. Deb rolls her pasta dough into beautiful thin strips with a pasta roller. I don't have one, but of course that didn't stop me. After meticulous rolling, interspersed with distractions from junk I should not be worried about catching up on, I made 4 raviolis. I had cut the recipe down by...I don't even remember how much. But once I topped it with her basic pasta sauce, it was the perfect sized lunch. Considering by the time I was finished making it all it was 3pm, I didn't want to overindulge anyway. I didn't want to spoil my dinner...

The beef, barley, and leek soup was again so appropriate for the weather conditions. It's like a crockpot meal in that you basically throw it all into a pot and come back hours later and it's wonderfully waiting for you. Unfortunately I didn't pull the recipe up til 4pm, and it required a minimum of 3 hours to simmer. Now, for most of you, eating dinner at 7pm is not only fine, it's normal. Well, think of us as the Beavers or the Waltons or one of those other tv families I'm really far too young to be siting. We eat at 5:30pm, sometimes even 5pm. Eh - crank the heat up a bit and distract the family til 6pm..? It worked. When dinner was finished the combination of satisfying warm food, watching my children actually eat some vegetables, and knowing we would be staying indoors all evening, sent me into a euphoric state of contentment. One of those moments where you sit in your seat smiling for seemingly no reason at all. Which made me declare out loud, "Tonight is a cookie night."

Fast forward past following my one year old on his brother's quad throughout the house and listening to my husband sing Thomas songs over and over and an unfortunate run to the store for more butter, and I had 18 mini muffin ~~cookies~~ brownies baking in the oven. I changed my mind on the cookies. Two brownies topped with vanilla ice cream while nestled under a blanket and watching a Brad Pitt movie. Sheesh - you can't make such idealistic scenes up. A wonderful ending to a comfortable day.