Room to Breathe

With the prospect of lots of out of town summer weekends ahead of me, I've been savoring the last few that I have at home for the foreseeable future.  Saturdays are generally spent puttering about...farmer's market in the morning, yoga and then various necessary tasks.  Later Paul and I meet up after he is done with whatever epic bike ride he's undertaken that day and we either have a quiet night in or a night out on the town.

But Sunday, glorious Sunday!  I sleep as late as I like, I make a decadent breakfast, I tussle over the TV with Paul for a bit (my political talk shows versus his downloaded British dramas) and then the afternoon is wide open.  For whatever.

Now of course more often than not things don't quite go according to plan.  There are errands to be run, people to be seen, chores to be done.  But everyone once in a while, things are perfectly free and easy.

I have just enough odds and ends in the refrigerator to make a beautiful, balanced breakfast.

[The one merguez sausage left over from dinner the night before was just as luscious and fat-studded as I had hoped it would be.  The bit of dill I had kicking around in the vegetable drawer added the perfect je ne sais quoi  to my eggs, and the slightly wilted red mustard greens (currently my favorite variety of greens) provided the crunch and vitamins.]

I have the freedom to thumb through inspiring cookbooks, both new and old.

And the time to cook from them.

[Jim Lahey's carrot bread, nascent stage]

These are the times to be savored.