It’s easy to make fun of those mixed-use residential/retail developments that pollute cities like Atlanta. “Live-work-play” is the urban planning version of “live laugh love.” But now it’s how we live! All of us! We may live in cooler buildings, but none of us is above a bad platitude.
Anyway, we rearranged last weekend. In itself this is not particularly interesting, but 24 weeks into relative quarantine, rearranging is a restorative act.
We won’t be in this house forever, which is funny considering we’re getting married in it in just over a month (!). But we know we’ll be here through the winter, instead of in offices. And hey, the facelift felt pretty good.
YOU’RE HERE, YOU MIGHT AS WELL LEARN SOMETHING
Another entrant into the rat race of Instagram pandemic trends: tablescaping.
An incredibly sweet and inspiring look at Leo McGee’s Tennessee hydrangea sanctuary.
What coronavirus has to do with making weather forecasts less accurate!!!
I firmly believe that Bring It On is one of the greatest teen films of Our Time. It’s better than Mean Girls, which I know is Millennial heresy. It’s Kirsten Dunst at her peak, Gabrielle Union as perfect as ever, prominently features Blaque, and on a personal note, it inspired a very real middle school pinefest for the ‘who?” that played the brother. And so, 20 years later, a phenomenally correct take from ESPN:
“Bring It On is not just a teen rom-com; it is one of the best sports movies ever made, often discounted because of the simple fact that it's about women who are cheerleaders.”
In other restorative film-inspired news, Frances Mayes, played by Diane Lane in the American classic Under the Tuscan Sun (a cinematic touchstone of my wisdom tooth surgery), on the abundant ancestral table of Italian cucina povera: “The Italian Renaissance flowering occurred after the plague. The wartime, hard-times grandmothers facing meagre cupboards developed one of the most loved cuisines in the world.”
THE BEST NEW THING I MADE: LAMB MEATBALLS IN SPICED TOMATO SAUCE
Two developments of Warm Weather COVID: Adrian and I have gotten really into lamb chops, and we use Instacart a lot more frequently. I haven’t had the best luck with grocery delivery; more often than not, I end up with exactly 1 banana when, like most people, I’d rather have a full bunch.
It was a similar story last week when I ordered the usual lamb shoulder chops through the app, but received … 4 pounds of ground lamb. So I made lamb meatballs with ¼ of my bounty, zipped up a tomato sauce, served it over pasta with some feta. Pretty great!!
INGREDIENTS:
Meatballs:
1 lb., ground lamb
1 generous cup of parsley, chopped
1 tsp. cumin
½ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. paprika
Pinch of harissa (or cayenne pepper)
½ white onion, peeled & finely chopped
2 egg yolks
¼ cup, heavy cream (or half-and-half)
¾ cup, bread crumbs
Salt & pepper
Sauce:
3 tbsp. olive oil
Strong dash, dried rosemary
2-3 shakes, red pepper flakes
The other ½ of the white onion, regular chopped
1 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
½ tsp. dried thyme
½ tsp. cumin
Pinch of cinnamon
Pinch of harissa or cayenne
½ tsp., granulated sugar
¼ cup mojo marinade (or orange juice; we don’t usually have juice in the house so this is the next-best option. Mojo is basically the juices of lemon/lime/orange + garlic and salt, and the pre-made Publix kind is just fine)
1 bay leaf
Salt & pepper
WHAT TO DO:
Set broiler to high. In a large bowl, mix together the onion, cream, egg yolks, and spices. Put the lamb in the bowl, and season it aggressively with salt and pepper. Mash it around with your hands to warm it up, add the bread crumbs and parsley, and combine. Shape the meat into slightly larger than golf balls (you should have about 12).
Grease a baking sheet, and put the meatballs onto it. Place beneath the broiler, and cook, turning once or twice, until the meatballs are well browned, approximately 5 to 7 minutes, then take the meatballs out and set them aside.
Meanwhile, make the sauce. Heat a high-sided, ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat for a minute, then add olive oil, rosemary and red pepper and heat until fragrant. Add onion, spices, and bay leaf and sauté 5-7 minutes. Add tomatoes, sugar, mojo juice, along with salt and pepper.
Cook for 8 to 10 minutes over medium-low heat, until reduced by a third. Taste and add more salt & pepper if you need it. Transfer the meatballs to the sauce, putting them about ½ inch from each other. Bake for 15 or 20 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and the meatballs are cooked through.
Top with feta and serve over linguine noodles or pearled couscous.