Are you also having the perfect Spring day??

Toro, my English Bulldog, wants to know. What did you cook yesterday? Did you sit in the park? Did you have gelato? How do you prefer your espresso? I have to say, as he noses around the kitchen waiting for something to be dropped, it was pretty much the perfect day, weather-wise, which means as far as I'm concerned, it was the perfect day. 20th Street was hopping all through the afternoon, ran some errands, and at day's end I'm sipping on the perfect Manhattan (DON'T SHAKE IT!) while the boy toils in the kitchen making artichokes with pancetta, Toulouse sausage, radishes with salt and butter and pork loin marinated in Dijon, honey, parsley and sherry vinegar and smoked over hickory. I'll rent him out to you if you want dinner made, sometime. Just let a girl know. (Incidentally, radishes are about to hit their most perfect - slice em up with a little salted butter and I'm telling you, it's one of the greatest, most simple starters you can conjure.)
I spent my day off Sunday painting our backyard. Yes, painting the backyard. For those of you not familiar with the South Philly Row Home, that involves the three cinderblock walls and the back of our house, which previously resembled something of a prison yard. Now with a coat of white paint, life has been brought to the lifeless, and I'm so itching to bombard our little space with plants. Most of which I will kill, but c'est la vie.
My question to you is, how do you usher in Spring? Plants? Parties? Walk around the city? The BBC dance that Steph, Kamala and Dan do around the Big Kitchen?? Capogiro? I heard so many people today say they were "finally ready" to bring the gelato back into their daily routine.
What's your "it's Spring" celebration involve??

Passions and Preferences

You say to-MAY-to, I say to-MAH-to. We all have our way of doing things. I think I can speak for just about all Capogirians when I say we all have a passion for food; different preferences, but the common thread is definitely passion. We talk about food, we argue about food, and we are always talking about what we are going to eat next while we are eating. When someone travels, you hear, "Oh! You must try (insert bar/bakery/cafe/restaurant/street vendor/younameit here). Do not leave until you do!" Kamala returned from West Virginia with Oliverio peppers, Dan returns from Wisconsin with curds and eye patches (don't ask), Tacy returns from Maine with tales of lobsters and blueberries (you cannot bring those back), Lorenzo returns with artichokes, and I return with hot sauce and beignet mix. We are passionate.

Today we discussed what we ate in our holiday haunts. The highlight for me was probably one of the most delicious sandwiches I have ever had. See this beauty? It is an Oyster Loaf from Casamento's on Magazine Street in New Orleans. I am not one for white bread, but I lovelovelove oysters. This was near perfection. My brother-in-law, Tiger, took John and I for lunch. He said that he brings out of town-ers to Casamento's. 3 dozen oysters, shucked by the most adorable men, oyster stew, fried crab claws, 3 1/2 oyster loaves, and 6 Abita Gold beers served by the sweetest woman, who started out surly because we were mucking up the runway for the servers. Agreed. As I said, I am not one for white bread, but this was not your ordinary white bread: it was buttery and, quite honestly, worth fighting over. The oysters were shucked moments before and fried perfectly. These people are worthy of worship - Food Titans.

That was not the only perfection of the week. There were others. I'll save it for later. Another time.

I am home and thinking I need to create some new flavors. I feel inspired.