Feeling decrepit

The bro wrote a nice post yesterday, about John & his friends, passing through Seattle, the art school students on their great cross country trip.

The happy coincidence was that my 21-year old son was in Seattle on my brother and sister-in-law's 21st wedding anniversary (in the wedding pictures there are many of me holding baby John, baby John in his stroller being joggled to keep him content whilst I baked the wedding pies, Unky Dave in funny pose with baby John, etc., etc.)

My brother decided NOT to let the impressive age of his marriage make him feel decrepit - I, on the other hand am feeling really over the hill today.

I ran race for the cure yesterday (a 5K in 35. something, roughly 12 minute miles, so pretty darn slow); I biked to the race and biked home, and I am embarassingly stiff and sore today.

Today, I made a luncheon at the house for a party of six -- the last two years, I have donated meals at the house to the library school where I work's silent auction fund raiser during National Library Week -- so this was the meal for the high bidder. I think it was a pleasant spring lunch:

a salad of greens and radishes with Patricia Wells creamy lemon chive dressing (this dressing is a nice trick - it's only fresh squeezed lemon juice, chives, and half & half - but it has to be fresh squeezed juice, so the acidity makes the cream thick up!), and asparagus with its own green garlic vinaigrette from the NYT, with finely grated egg on top of that

grilled chicken sandwiches, with caramelized onions, smoked paprika mayonnaise, and arugula, on home-made focaccia

My favorite potato salad for the last two years, since the recipe was published in Gourmet, salt & vinegar potato salad

Mascarpone cream cheese tart, with strawberries and a dab of sour cream on top

I sat with the guests, and ate small portions of everything, and a few fingers of each wine - but how uncomfortably full I have been feeling ever since is only adding to that sense of decrepitude.

And I only took photos of the salad, and the tart, unadorned:



Maybe when the kids get back, I'll feel young again, too.