things i love from home

One book,

Two clogs,

Five lemons,

One square of sunlight,

Three daffodils,

Six magenta camelias,

One ocean,

These are the things that I see.

This morning I had half a grapefruit and some lemon-cardomom ricotta for breakfast, which was just perfect for sitting at the island in a quiet house and watching squirrels outside. I love ricotta cheese because you can put so many things in it to make it delicious, and it is healthy and clean-tasting too.

1 cup ricotta cheese

6 or 8 cardomom seeds (not pods), crushed with the flat of a knife

1-2 teaspoons of sugar

a squirt of lemon juice (I used fresh meyer lemons and it was delicious)

put all the ingredients into a small bowl or ramekin, and mix until thoroughly blended together.

You can also put it in crepes, or eat it with berries, or use it to make blintzes!

Continuing my appreciation of good, fresh food, I went to Kelly's French Bakery with the beautiful and exuberant Madeline today and we shared a garden salad and a pressed apple-gruyere-gorgonzola sandwich. I also enjoyed a lemon-coconut macaron - Kelly's has all different flavors right now. Then we went and clambered on the sandy-flat rocks and cliffs along West Cliff, admiring the waves and basking in the sunshine. I have missed the smell of salt, and the feel of it sticky and tangling in my hair on a sunny day.