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In a Flash

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

I don't need to tell you how time flies. So I won't. Let's get to it.

There was the time I became a second year resident four years after graduating medical school. It was bitterly wonderful and only briefly did I ponder the 'what if' of making the correct career choice right off the bat.

This little girl turned two years old. She celebrated by consuming no less than three ten inch retriever raw hides in record time.


There was a wedding. It was everything I didn't know that I had been dreaming of since I met Steve. It was warm, beachy, isolated in a tropical remote island sort of way and involved all the people I love most in this world. Our wedding is one of those memories that holds the power to transport me to a place of perfect peace, serenity and love every single time I recall it. I can't even begin to fathom my good fortune or the amount that I love my family and my new husband.




As for right now, there is a much needed home renovation going on. As excited as I am to take a bath in a tub not created in 1942 (not joking) I'm somehow perhaps even more excited about the teeny tiny barn my father is constructing in the back yard while the various grouts, paints and sealants dry in the bathroom. That adorable little barn (a coop really, but it's much too perfectly constructed and adorable to call it a coop) will house.... chickens! Plucky, clucky, feathery friends who will scratch around our yard, eat our bugs and provide us with richly yellow yolked, delightful, delicious eggs. Not to mention every time I see them I will get a small piece of my childhood back- moments in time of earthy creation and connection to sweet farm animals and fresh air. I simply cannot wait for those soft, peepy little chicks to arrive in the mail.

With that project came many glasses of this perfectly frosty, fruit infused white wine. Words cannot do justice. Recipe to follow.




Of course, there was much more than that, things not worth mentioning and things too darkly personal and difficult to try and confine to a page (just yet anyway).




As for the recipe- it is the perfect marriage of spring and winter. It is deeply rich in flavor, surprisingly light for something so satisfying, and just plain beautiful. I serve it alongside fish or just by itself. It's the perfect weeknight date: no accessories required, just like the pretty, dishy little lady it is.



Pepita Beet Salad
Makes 6 servings

5 medium to small sized beets, peeled, washed and chopped into 1/2 inch sized chunks
8 medium sized carrots, washed and cut into 1 inch sized chunks
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 teaspoon coarse salt (can substitute 1/2 teaspoon of the finely ground stuff)
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
2 cup roughly chopped baby spinach
1/3 cup raw pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

   Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place the beets in an 8 inch square baking dish along with 1 tablespoon of the oil and half of the salt. Do the same with the carrots in a separate baking dish. You may need a slightly larger dish for the carrots to get them into roughly one layer (but don't sweat it too much). Toss them each to combine. Cover the beets with foil. Place them in the oven and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, undisturbed. They both will be fork tender and the carrots will be nicely caramelized when finished.
   Remove them from the oven and place them in a medium mixing bowl. Set them aside to cool when you prepare the rest of the ingredients. They should be warm but not scorching hot before you continue.
   Sprinkle the beets/carrots with the vinegar. Add in the feta cheese, parsley, spinach and pepitas. Gently toss to combine.