may madness

May, so far, has been madness. Stacks of papers, sick dogs, rain, disappearing students who have magically reappeared, rain, last minute birthday parties which conflict with previous plans, more rain, and just general, all-around grumpiness.

In fact, things have been so bad that I resorted to making crumble last night - a dish reserved only for the special-est of occasions. To be exact, we had quite a delicious dinner - cider-glazed salmon, asparagus with ginger, and apple, strawberry, blueberry, and raspberry crumble. I think we hoped all the good cheer would bring the sun out. The salmon came from Molly Wizenberg's book A Homemade Life, which, if I haven't already raved about, I should. The crumble is a variation on a Martha Stewart recipe - though not a very creative variation. Her Apple-Blueberry Crisp calls for apples and blueberries; I used the four fruits listed above, topping it off with the crumble. Martha calls for 1 cup flour, 1/2 sugar, and 1 stick of butter to make the crumble, and it does the trick everytime. And the asparagus with ginger. You'll have to ask Mr. Beeton for the recipe for that one. But I suspect he stole it from Alice Waters.

And speaking of Mr. Beeton, it's his birthday today! We're headed to 1789 tonight to celebrate.

Keep sweeping, Martha