Ingredients

Yesterday was one of those happy days when a Penzey's box turns up with the afternoon mail. This time it contained one pound of Dutch cocoa--my grocery store being lame enough that I can't find it reliably there--and a pint of vanilla extract, as my last bottle is nearly gone. I love opening their boxes, pulling out the wads of newsprint (which will be set aside for the kids to scribble on), finding what small sample bottle has been tucked away as a freebie (this time, something called Greek seasoning--not sure if or how I'll use that one...). The holiday baking season will be here before we know it, right?

On our last visit to the Worcester farmer's market there was a meat seller I hadn't seen before, new to the market this year. I've already forgotten the name of their farm, but will have to find out. The prices are, well, high. I bought a pound of hot pork sausage and a dozen enormous eggs. The eggs went into cookies and a fritatta I made this week; four of them so far have turned out to have double yolks, something I had heard of but never encountered. Makes for some really rich chocolate chip cookies.

The sausage I used last night, in one of those no-recipe dishes I tend to make in the summer: I turned the sausage out of its skin and browned it, added some shallots and some sliced up summer squash and zucchini, and let it all cook until the veggies were done to my taste. Threw in a bit of white wine, cooked for a few more minutes, and served over pasta. The sausage was sweet and spicy, needing no other seasonings at all. I hope I can afford to patronize their farm again before the summer ends!

Fettuccine with Sausage and Kale

This is a simple recipe and absolutely perfect for a weeknight, since it takes almost no time to put together; waiting for the water to boil is the most arduous part. It is also, dare I mention, cheap to make. We'll be having this again, no doubt.

Fettuccine with Sausage and Kale

I used half a box of cellentani that needed using up, rainbow chard since the kale looked a bit dodgy, and sweet chicken sausage with some crushed red pepper sprinkled over it. L ate some pasta (under duress), a couple of teensy bites of chard, nibbled a piece of sausage, then demanded toast. *sigh*

Today is feeling somewhat bittersweet. For the past 11 months, ever since I came back to work after JJ's birth, I have schlepped two backpacks to the office. One of them holds my laptop, and the other is my Medela breastpump. For the past couple of days, I haven't used the latter, and today, I left it at home altogether. There have certainly been many days when I resented the extra weight on my mile-long walk from the parking lot to the office, chafed at the time it took out of my day (and D's, since he had to clean everything at the end of the day), and looked forward longingly to weaning. But there's always a bit of sadness in these transitions, particularly since this expected to be a final retirement, and I find myself thinking mostly about L's first two weeks in the world, when we nearly despaired of feeding her, and the pump was all that rescued my intent to breastfeed.

But hey--I did it! Two kids seen through their first year on the recommended mommy-based menu. I'm fortunate to have worked at companies that recognize the importance of these things, and to have been able to arrange my schedule to make it all work out. It wasn't convenient and it wasn't always fun, but it was wondrous in its own small way, and I'm going to miss it at least somewhat.