Noteworthy Nuggets
An Accounting
Friends, it’s been a while. But the ship is righting, and so begins the writing. I was technically wrong in my Finals prediction; I had Celtics over Nuggets. But I did call the Nuggets in the Finals, and the Celtics got flamed by the eventual runners-up Heat, so I feel vindicated. It’s still a loss, though. Just like Jimmy says. No excuses.
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What is not lost on me is how fortunate I was to meet a certain someone a few years back, and how grateful I am that someone agreed to marry me. It’s been just over two years now and it just keeps getting better.
To celebrate our anniversary, we floated the Medina together, traversed the Texas utopia, the hills and rivers, meccas and mesas. Spent every minute together for four days straight; more than 5,000 minutes without a harsh word, without an argument, without boredom, without regret. I never knew it could be this good.
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I know I owe the next nugget on Barton, and there are actually quite a few chapters already written. But I’m saving them for now; they need editing and quite possibly some rewrites, and I’m just ramping up again. But you’ll get them soon. In the meantime, let me tell you about fennel. I’m not talking about the seeds, though those are good too, especially in a meatball. I’m talking about the plant, a cousin of the carrot, similar to an onion, with celery for arms and dill for hair. It’s a weird-looking plant and if it weren’t for a random gift from a friend, I probably would never have tried it. But y’all: roast fennel is alarmingly good.
That’s it on the left there, under some goat cheese, sharing a bowl with some fresh, home-grown tomatoes (thanks Kira!) and roast peppers and chickpeas. There’s saffron rice under there somewhere too. But the fennel stole the show. And all I did was slice (into wedges), toss (in olive oil, salt, and pepper), and roast for 15 mins (at 400). That’s it! So good! Eat it, love it, share it!