It Comes a Calling

Change has come to our home on College Place.  Dad goes off to work, Duncan goes to school, Shaw eats things, grows teeth, brushes her hair, gets jokes, makes jokes, kisses things, tortures kitty cats, Nicole does everything including making more dinners nowadays.

     The change in Duncan was immediate after his first day of school.  At dinner when he found out we were having brussel's sprouts he emits an "Oh yeah, Baby!"  New territory.  What child is this?

     It is an enormous thing to send your kid off to school for the first time - to consign him into the arms of the establishment that will sculpt him for better or worse for the next fifteen to twenty years.   He has known only family as an institution until now, and here comes this intangibly large beast called the education system with it's infinite influences of authority figures, peers and materials.  What Duncan will emerge?

     After his second day of school, Duncan came downstairs in his jammies to say goodnight to me.  We usually have a quick fight/wrestle or some other ritual game, I get the hug and the kiss and up he goes to bed.  Tonight he went straight for the hug and didn't let go.  Finally, he peeled himself off, gave me a kiss and went upstairs.  I mentioned the deep hug to Nicole and she told me about the remarkable conversation they had had during his bath.

     Duncan asked if it was true that he would die someday.  Nicole told him it was as gently as a parent can do when asked these inevitable questions.  Also true that she would die?  Yes.  And Dad?  Yes.  And Shaw.  Yes.  And the cats?   Duncan wept in the tub.

    Nicole told me all this.  I remembered my first week in kindergarten.  I was called "Andy" back then and sitting across from me at my table was another Andy.  Andy Petingale.  We made friends immediately because of the remarkable coincidence.  At the end of the week Dad was reading the paper while mom was making dinner. 

    "Do you know a boy named Andy Petingale?"

    "Yep.  He's my best friend."

     "Oh."   Says my dad from behind the paper.

     Andy had been riding his bike between two parked cars.  A car backed over him and killed him. 

     I remember a very specific night in my bed not sleeping yet seeing, or thinking I was seeing Andy's face and the face of our cat Tiffany who also had been run over by a car.  Seeing their ghost faces and understanding that they were dead and I would die too.

     So the next Monday I'm over at Pete's house for the Monday Night Football hang in his garage.  Pete has a daughter, Dakota, also entering kindergarten .  I tell him about Duncan's revelation and it turns out Dakota has had nearly the same conversation with Pete and Nancy about death. 

     We've certainly had our share of death in our house this last year.  Paul, Guy.   Both ripped untimely.  Both from cancer.   Reawakening the tenuousness of it all for all of us. 

     So.   Is the first lesson that one learns upon entering the education system the true and undeniable nature of our morality?  Is the first lesson of kindergarten not colors and patterns, not abcs and the first halting, sound it out, tentative steps into reading; alongside the smell of paste and crayons, the sound of the bell, is the first lesson of kindergarten death?


Suck it up:

SEARED "LOLLIPOP" LAMB CHOP WITH ROSEMARY BALSAMIC REDUCTION,  COUS COUS WITH SHALLOTS AND SAGE VANILLA MUSHROOMS, ROASTED ASPARAGUS WITH SHAVED PECORINO


Lamb and Reduction

1 Rack of Lamb, trimmed of fat and cut into indivudual "lollipop" chops.
olive oil
1 Tbs. chopped fresh rosemary
salt and pepper
1/2 cup Balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs sugar
splash of Orange Juice

 Let chops come to room temperature and coat with olive oil.  Sprinkle both sides with rosemary, salt, and pepper.  Let sit for 15 to 20 minutes.
Heat a large skillet over very high heat.  When skillet is very hot, sear lamb chops 3 minutes each side.  Set chops aside to rest.
Add vinegar to skillet and reduce heat to medium.  Add sugar, a pinch of salt, and orange juice, allow to reduce until half the original amount remains.  Spoon over chop and serve.

Cous Cous with Shallots and Sage Vanilla Mushroooms

Cous Cous
chicken or veggie stock
olive oil
2 Shallots
10 oz. sliced porcini mushrooms
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 whole sage leaves
salt and pepper

Prepare cous cous according to package directions using vegetable or chicken stock instead of water.
In a saute pan,  heat olive oil over medium heat and cook shallot until soft but not brown.  Stir into prepared cous sous.  In same pan, heat olive oil to to very high heat add vanilla, and porcini.  Brown on both sides.  2 to 3 minutes.
Remove mushrooms and saute sage leaves until crisp.  Season mushrooms with salt and pepper.

Roasted Asparagus with Pecorino

1 lb. trimmed Asparugus,
olive oil,
salt
shaved pecorino romano

Preheat oven to 400º.  Coat asparagus with olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt.  Spread evenly on roasting pan.  Roast for 10 to 13 minutes, until beginning to brown.  Top with shaved pecorino and serve.
If you like, you can blanch and shock asparagus first which will eliminate some of the stringiness that might come with roasting only.