The Difference a Day Makes

Well, friends: it’s over. The Bar Exam is over. And I just have to thank you all for putting up with my yammering on about it for two months—even on a daily basis recently. And more than that, thanks for all your well wishes. Each one was a little glimmer of happy in what was otherwise a not-so-fun few days. But after you’ve been so patient, so thoughtful, so all-together wonderful, I have just one more favor to ask of you.

Do you remember how I’ve been saying for the last two days that we’d return to our “regularly scheduled” programming today? And do you know how said programming involves some photos, a story and always, always, a recipe? Well, I’m hoping if I ask nicely, you’ll permit me just one more non-recipe post? Pretty please?

(Click “more” for the rest of the non-recipe—sigh—post.)

Day Two

These are the items on the menu for Day Two of the Bar Exam.

Sadly.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow. Tomorrow!

Day One

I found this photo of a wee-sized me at a Kitchen Sink (get it?) of yesteryear. I’ve been meaning to share it here for a while and I think Day One of the Bar Exam is a perfect time. How great is that kitchen? Not to mention what must have been my mom’s very stylish handbag to the right of me. And then there’s me. I look like a real hoot, if I do say so myself.

We will return to our regularly-scheduled programming on Thursday, when my post-exam life begins.

Multi-Tasking

I’ve always considered myself quite a multi-tasker. But for the last few weeks of bar exam studies (it’s tomorrow!), I’ve taken it to a whole new level. I’ve been multi-multi-tasking. I can study for the bar exam while doing just about anything. There’s the obvious multi-taskable activities: riding the El, sweating on the elliptical trainer, waiting for the coffee to slowly drip its way into the pot. But everything I actually like doing is not all that multi-taskable. Cooking and grocery shopping, for instance, are decidedly (blissfully) focused and single-minded. You cannot exactly flip through flash cards when you’re wielding sharp knives or hovering over an open flame. And one should not have her nose in a book as she wends her way through a farmers’ market. But! But I have found a way to make blogging multi-taskable. That’s right, today (Bar Exam Eve, if you will) I am not only blogging, I’m also menu planning for the week!

I’m taking a page out of Eggs on Sunday‘s Amy’s book, who has been allowing us a glimpse into her weekly CSA boxes, giving us an idea of how she’s planning to put her pretty pile of produce to use. I’m also kind of boasting about the gorgeous bounty I hauled home from the farmers’ market yesterday morning:

Can you blame me? As you can see, I nabbed some bi-color sweet corn, as close to candy as a vegetable can get; a collection of summer squashes, in various shapes and sizes; a heap of tomatoes, half bite-sized, half as big as apples; and a handful or so of beans, green, yellow and purple.

(Click more for the week’s menus, more photos & a recipe.)

I Got Nothin’

Well, it finally happened. The legal rules have found their way into every single nook and cranny in my brain. If you can believe it, there is no room for daydreamed menus, to-do-list recipes or mental grocery lists. These things typically take up quite a bit of space in my head. But, sadly, the bar exam is occupying that precious real estate now. As such, I declare this day, July 25, 2008, to be Food Porn Friday. It shall feature gratuitous close-ups of my favorite BLT, complete with a creamy pesto spread. Enjoy!

(Click “more” for the photos & recipe.)