I
For the solemnity of St Joseph yesterday, Little Bear and I made a "chocolate chocolate cake": a chocolate-buttermilk sheet cake topped with ganache. So very delicious, so very not Lenten. Matt put the uneaten remainder out on the enclosed porch this morning so that we wouldn't be (as) tempted to eat it today. We didn't give up sweets for Lent, but it still doesn't seem right to have a rich, chocolate cake on a Friday in Lent...
II
I'm having the hardest time remembering that it is Friday today, because Matt is at home—the university gives staff the last day of spring break off. Which is really nice, especially after Little Bear got up for the day at 5:45 this morning. We made him stay in bed until 7, because there is no way we're letting him learn that that's a remotely acceptable time to wake up, but we're all tired and less functional today. He's good with numbers, so we're going to try putting a digital clock in his room and telling him that he can get up when the first number is a 7... Hopefully that works!
III
Tonight's supper is definitely of the Friday-in-Lent variety, and working on it throughout the day is probably the main thing keeping me aware that it's not actually Saturday; homemade pita came out of the oven just before lunchtime, vegan and non-vegan versions of tzatziki are underway (we aren't omitting dairy, but an Orthodox friend is joining us for supper), and Matt's promised to help me with the falafel patties as we get closer to supper time. I haven't quite figured out how we're going to grind up three cans of chickpeas when our little tiny food processor isn't even big enough to handle one can... Someday we'll eventually get a reasonably sized one. Not this coming Mothers Day, but possibly next year. I wonder if the blender would be a terrible idea for grinding the chickpeas?
IV
They call March 21 the first day of spring; that doesn't really mean much here, because it's a given that we'll still have snow on the ground until late April at least, more likely early-mid May. Yes, we have roughly 12 hours of daylight today, it being the spring equinox, but that doesn't feel like a remarkable amount when we're on our way to nearly 24 hours! It sure does feel like spring outside, though: 55 degrees, snow melting and dripping off the eaves, puddles in the parking lots in town, sun blazing in through all the windows. Between the sun, the fire Matt built this morning, and the fact that I had the oven at 500 F for the pita, our house feels like more like summer than spring!
V
On Wednesday, I made these black bean enchiladas for supper. Well, mostly; we used cheddar instead of jack, and salsa instead of enchilada sauce. They were very good fresh, and reheated well in the microwave today. I think they would probably freeze well, too, but you'd want to freeze them before baking. Little Bear wasn't much of a fan, unfortunately, but I'm going to keep them in mind as a possibility for at-home date nights on meatless days.
VI
Little Bear, from the kitchen: "(Gasp) Oh no! So much water!"
Me: ...
Little Bear: "Where a towel?"
He'd put the stopper in one sink basin, which had completely filled and was overflowing into the other side. Somebody thinks he's ready to take over dish washing duties... No water wound up out of the sink, though!
VII
After-supper notes: Our food processor is capable of handling exactly two handfuls of chickpeas at once, and I don't mean large manly handfuls. The cilantro that comes in a tube works really well. Vegan almond-milk yogurt makes an odd-smelling tzatziki (I didn't taste it, letting baby take responsibility for my lack of adventurousness). The pita, falafel and regular tzatziki all turned out so well; we'll likely be making them again before the end of Lent. Don't cut homemade pita if you aren't ready to fill them, though; the few left over were not nearly as pliable when I was packing them up after supper.
Have a great weekend!
We make hummus in our blender. When we make falafels I use a hand masher and leave them fairly rough.
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