A simple good day

Yesterday I ditched my work for a few hours in the afternoon for a wonderful ramble with my girl. We went to brunch, we did mani pedis, we shopped, we wandered, and later we went to the supermarket so she could come home and make her dad and me her roasted cauliflower with its buttery, nutty flavors, along with salmon steaks for dinner. Simple and delicious. Fast, too.

For those of you who asked, she says the roasted cauliflower is nothing more than florets separated from the stalk and arranged in a pan then drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper. The pan is then put in the oven for however long it takes for the florets to get caramelized and slightly charred in places. She says you can add cilantro and lime, but that it really isn't necessary, and she actually likes it better without. I couldn't stop eating it! It was so delicious it felt almost sinful and yet it was entirely virtuous.

My girl heads back to school tomorrow where she'll spend the rest of her summer as a researcher on a film about bicultural identity formation. She'll be back and forth between there and the city, though, because she has a couple more chef gigs scheduled. She also has fallen back in love with her city; she says that when she was in Rome, as much as she was enjoying herself, it struck her how extraordinary it is to be from a place like New York City. She's looking forward to moving back when she graduates college next year. It is endlessly fascinating to me to watch my children becoming who they are.