The last couple dinners

So, when we left our beloved blogger, she had planned on making Mediterranean Chicken Stew with polenta for her beloved husband. Instead, she spent the evening complaining on the phone about all the work that she needed to do on the house and then spent a lovely hour or so drinking wine and watching the fireflies from her front porch with her handsome husband. Dinner ended up being a hastily-thrown-together salad and a Trader Joe's pizza.

The next night, Evan went out with his work buddies. I ate some leftovers and he drank his dinner and had a lovely times with many friends.

On Friday, we were invited to a surprise party for a neighbor and friend, Tracy. Her husband Todd threw together a down and dirty but perfect surprise party for Tracy's 41st. Instead of making some awesome side, I ended up bringing some leftover Costco potato salad, cupcakes and a bottle of wine from our 100+ person BBQ the previous weekend. Such are our awesome friends that they welcomed the leftovers and didn't point out how lame we are. It was an evening to remember, another one of the touchstones that I will look back on and (mourn, I want to say mourn but it's the wrong word) miss when I think about my village here in SO/M.

Sadly, I also drank too much that evening and wasn't able to really enjoy the amazing brunch spread put out the next day by our dear friends and next-door-neighbors to the neighbors that had the party the previous night (got that?).

Jennifer and I met in 2005 when we were both 4 or 5 months pregnant with our seconds. She was out for a walk with Lucas, and Oscar and I were watering plants in the front lawn. We started to chat and it turned out we were both art directors in genre publishing (her, children's books, me, comics). Oscar and Lucas have been inseparable ever since, even though they go to different schools (and yes they live two blocks away from each other!). Jennifer has been one of my favorite people in these towns, someone who I can gossip about Chip Kidd with, debate typefaces with, and ponder parental decisions with. Her husband Jorg had been a great friend to both Evan and I and has taken some of the best pictures of my kids. Their daughter, Maia, is Arlo's age, but we joke that Lucy is Maia's apprentice. Lucy follows Maia around with the dedication of an assistant editor emulating Anna Wintour.

Jorg and Jennifer gave us a cutting board in the shape of New Jersey, with a small heart tucked into the location of South Orange. OH, the waterworks. And then, they let us leave our three kids there for a half-hour while we went to our safe deposit box to retrieve birth certificates (Evan needs then to register the boys in school in Burbank next week). Those of you with kids know that a friend taking care of your kids for even a half an hour while you need to go do something mundane can be, at that moment, the most precious gift ever bestowed.

Saturday night. Finally, a chance to cook for my sweetums.

Ah, the hell with that. Sliced tomatoes drizzled with olive oil, fresh mozzerella, basil from the garden. Some chilled shrimp with lemon (the only protein Oscar loves and will devour from his lunchbox, so we make a lot for leftovers), a bit of paté and some sautéed garlic scapes. Garlic scapes! My favorite veggie in the world, only available for a week or two in the early summer. Jennifer had gotten some at the farmer's market and dropped off half her stash with me. How lucky am I?

Okay, so the next evening, I only have two days left, and I need to pull out all the stops. So! A recipe from my friend Dileri: Caramelized Black Pepper Chicken. I use twice the amount of garlic and ginger and use breast meat instead of thighs (Evan is a breast man -- tee hee!). I served it with steamed Jasmine rice and roasted asparagus spears tossed with sesame oil and sprinkled with sesame seeds. I also like to steam some dumplings and shumai, since that's also a big lunchbox favorite.

Caramelizing chicken, rice in the Le Cresuet, and dumplings steaming in the background. Worth all the dirty dishes it makes.

Today. Big breath. Evan's last day in New Jersey. Also Independence Day. Since his birthday is 7/10, we gave him his presents today. I found some vintage Superman fabric online and found someone on Etsy to make him some Hawaiian shirts. (Years ago I bought Evan a collared short-sleeve shirt made of Spiderman covers. It was the object of much desire at the office until he wore it the day he needed to shoot a photo of the president of DC and the president of Dark Horse. Apparently you don't want to show up at the President's office wearing a licensed shirt from Marvel.) So I had two shirts made for him. One is waaaaay too loud for office-wearing, so he wore it today. What's more American than Superman?

Arlo and Oscar being silly, Evan being the father of all that's silly, and a tired, crabby Goose.

We had a lovely day in and out of the Maplewood 4th celebration. Oscar scored an honorable mention at the ice cream eating contest, while Lucy and Arlo basically disappeared under the table when it was their turn. We saw many friends, patted many dogs, and I burst into tears at the circus because I'm going to miss this town so damn much. The circus was lovely. We saw a lot of friends and neighbors, cheered and oohed and ahhed, and bought the damn kids whistles that are certainly going to mysteriously disappear tonight. We came home, fed the kids dinner, and I snuck off with Oscar to see the fireworks with some friends so Evan could put the little guys to bed by himself. By his telling, they were asleep almost immediately.

Oscar and I met a rag-tag group of friends by the Maplewood train station to watch the fireworks at 9pm. Our best friends (and Lucy's god-moms) Robyn and Sarah were there, along with Sheila, Robyn's mom and my Local Jewish Grandma. My friend Deborah was there with her lovely wife Gabriella, who gives me cooking advice via Facebook and has also raised two awesome sons, so I love her. Craig tried to cheer me up with tales of snowless winters and gourmet food trucks while his wife Sue just chucked me up with that gorgeous gravelley voice of hers and hugged me endlessly. If you need a shoulder to break down on repeatedly, a guerrilla public art project to get involved with, or maybe just a great massage, may I suggest Sue?

The fireworks were gorgeous. This is the first year we've not been in Seattle at my MIL's house boat (yes, that house boat) watching the most incredible fireworks display with 70 of our nearest and dearest. I was very homesick for Seattle and our family and friends there tonight. Next year!

Oscar and I made it home and he had some quality time with Evan and went to bed.

Now, what are we here for? DINNER!

Spaghetti Carbonara. I got home at 9:55pm, and I had Evan's dinner in a heated bowl at 10:15.

Evan's bags are packed and he's ready to go. I'm standing here outside his door. I hate to wake him up to say goodbye. But the dawn is breaking, it's early morn. The taxi's waiting; he's blowing his horn.

Already, I'm so lonesome, I could die.

Tonight, I'm just going to miss my sweet babboo. The next couple of weeks is going to be rough, but as I reminded him tonight, two things I am very good at are crisis control and asking for help. If you live near me, I might be asking you to pick up my kid for camp, or mow my lawn (something I've reached the age of 41 and never done) or give me a shoulder to sob on. Let's all wave a fond fare-the-well to Evan tonight, and wish him many great dinners made by his beloved wife in the near future.