Evan Sarah Epstein

I had a seriously wonderful day on Saturday – a Lou Reed Perfect Day, kind of day.  If you spent any time in Seattle in April, you know how miserable the weather was – no really, any one-day would be a good sample of the rest of the month.  Rainy, cold and dreary, with the occasional sunburst that lasted just long enough just to coax you out of hiding, but short enough to be cold once you got outside.

So, you can imagine how happy I was to wake up to a gorgeous day Saturday, my first trip to the farmer’s market of the season.  Since a lot of the markets around the city won’t be up and running until June, I headed out to the U-District market.  Everyone there seemed to be thankful for the turn in weather, with vendors kindly offering samples and chit-chat and children running around, excited to finally move in an open space again.  I always have to keep myself in check at a farmer’s market – it’s easy to go overboard with thoughts of grand feasts only to come home to the realization that we simply cannot eat it all before the produce perishes.  For this reason, I go with a set amount of cash that I know will keep me out of trouble.  It is also for this reason I had to skip all of the -oh so yummy cheese mongers… even the ones with several varieties of aged Gouda.  We do still have a whole bunch of Cougar Gold cheese at home.  I ended up with a beautiful bunch of rainbow chard, a couple leeks and a package of grass- finished Italian beef sausages.

I came home just in time for my mother-in-law, Mary to get into town to have a Mother’s Day lunch.  We headed up to Capitol Hill, stopping at Odd Fellows for sandwiches (as usual, Sean ordered the best thing – a marzipan-topped French toast).  After lunch, we decided to head into Elliott Bay Books, conveniently located right next door.

I love this bookstore – it’s huge, well stocked, well lit, and the employees are genuinely nice and helpful.  It’s no surprise I ended up in the cookbook section, and probably even less of a shock that I didn’t leave empty-handed.  I’ve been hoping the book-fairy would bring me a copy of David Lebovitz’ new book, “Ready for Dessert,” and apparently today was delivery day.  It’s a beautiful work of art – the layout and photos alone make you want to get in the kitchen and bake something.  And then there are the recipes.  You know how sometimes you need a photo of the finished product to help you decide if the recipe is one you want to try?  That’s not the case here.  Every recipe starts with an introduction from Lebovitz that makes you feel like the task at hand is no big thing before heading into straightforward and easy to follow instructions.  I, and my gut, may get into some serious trouble with this book.

No beautiful spring day is complete without a bike ride, so naturally, that was next on the docket.  Once again, we decided to wing it and just follow the signs and hope for the best.  We ended up with a really nice, not too long, ride.  All the hills were in the first half, so by the time we were on our way home, we’d forgotten any pain and were all smiles.

Before Mary had to hit the road and head back home, we walked over to Mulleady’s, an Irish Pub a few blocks from our house to grab some dinner, in the form of fish and chips and beer.  The cod and fries were fried to perfection – salty, and crispy, clearly fattening, but not drenched in oil.  Served with a side of fantastic cole slaw to boot.  We were all chatty until the food came, and then spent the next five minutes in crunching silence.  I think we all enjoyed it.

The perfect day was nearing an end, but I just couldn’t get this recipe from Lebovitz’ book out of my head: Maple-Walnut Pear Cake.  So, I had to make it.  Plus, we were heading over to a friend’s house on Sunday and I think this cake was the perfect Mother’s Day gift for a new mom of twin boys.

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