Please pass the peas

Ottolenghi’s Farro Salad

Ottolenghi's Farro Salad from https://test.pleasepassthepeas.com

Two and a half years ago, Paul and I flew to London, rented a car and drove around Wales for about a week, during which we somehow got into the habit of pausing each afternoon for scones with jam and clotted cream.

By the end of the trip we could hardly fit into our clothes.

But before we started in on all the scones Wales had to offer, we stopped to pick up lunch from Yotam Ottolenghi’s eponymously-named take out joint in Notting Hill.

This was one of those food excursions that I had been looking forward to for months and which Paul had been not-so-secretly hoping I would forget about so that we could head on our way without a detour.

But I didn’t forget, and after a minor parking fiasco we ended up at the tiny counter, picking out an array of colorful salads and other treats, both sweet and savory, which we savored at a nondescript rest stop somewhere along the way…. 

Read More »

Fried egg tacos

Fried Egg Taco from https://test.pleasepassthepeas.com

I don’t know whether I’ve mentioned this before, but E. will not eat bread.

When it comes to carbs, he will eat pasta, crackers, Cheerrios, sometimes rice or quinoa, and potatoes (but only in the form of French Fries). He will occasionally eat the crust of bread if I lie and tell him that it is a cracker.

From a nutritional standpoint this isn’t much of an issue. He is still getting plenty of whole grain carbs and he likes his fruit and veggies, so I really can’t complain. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t days when I don’t wish I could just slap together a sandwich and call it lunch.

I guess he really is a little Texan at his core, because a quesadilla is as close as this kid will come to a sandwich.

His tastes have changed a lot in the year or so that he has been eating solid food, but he has always loved Tex-Mex, so much so that we set up a make-your-own taco bar for his first birthday party.

Because of him, tortillas are as much a staple in our house as milk…. 

Read More »

Cabbage and Noodles

Cabbage and Noodles from https://test.pleasepassthepeas.com

Yesterday we woke up to snow.

E. had never seen it before and we spent several minutes first thing looking out his bedroom window while simultaneously flipping through “The Snowy Day,” pointing from book to window, making the connection.

After breakfast, we bundled up and trundled outside to hurl tiny snowballs and shake the snowy bushes in our front yard. In the afternoon, we sat in front of the fire and read picture books. And for dinner we ate hearty bowls full of cabbage and noodles, the perfect meal for a snow day…. 

Read More »