swimming through sick lullabies

I had an excellent day today. Sadly, I didn't get nearly enough real work done, and so I will need to work this weekend so that I can get caught up before I leave for DC on Sunday. But, all of my meetings were good, and I feel like the conference that I'm planning will continue to progress in my absence next week. I also had lunch with John at my favorite cafe; I ate way too much because of the temptation to have a full plate of salad and fruit salad while waiting for my sandwich. But, lunch was entertaining, and then we got ice cream and sat out in the sun and watched the crowd and for some strange reason ended up discussing children, which, given my aversion to commitment and my dislike for baby vomit, was an unlikely topic for us to end up talking about. It was still fun nonetheless, and it restored my spirits so that I could make it through the rest of the day.

After I got off work, I scurried home (with a quick stop at Whole Foods) and cleaned like a madwoman so that my place would be presentable for Lauren (aka Subz) and Nathan's visit tonight. Happily, I was totally successful, and now cleaning the apartment is checked off my list for the weekend. I also made a caprese salad using the recipe from a Barefoot Contessa cookbook -- it yields possibly the best caprese salad ever (and I know -- I also had caprese salad at work today, and mine was way better even if they were using special heirloom tomatoes).

Then, Subz and Nathan arrived, and we opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate many exciting things -- Lauren's nonprofit foundation is launching next week and she's starting business school in less than two month, Nathan's start-up was featured in The New York Times, and I signed with an agent. We hung out for a couple of hours, taking our time and catching up. When we were slightly recovered from the salad, I made another recipe out of the same cookbook -- this one for tagliarelle with truffle butter. It was insanely easy and quick -- heat half a cup of cream, melt 3oz of truffle butter into it, add some salt and pepper, and keep warm. Then, boil the pasta for 3-5mins (depending on the directions), drain it, and stir it into the truffle butter/cream sauce. Sprinkle some chives and parmesan on top and you're all set.

I can't express how delicious this was -- even better, it took less than fifteen minutes start to finish, and yet was special enough to serve to my very important guests. So, I think Lauren and Nathan enjoyed the food, which was my goal. They also brought v. tasty desserts, in the form of individual carrot cake cupcakes.

All in all, it was quite nice to see multiple "old" friends in the same day, particularly since I intend to spend the rest of the weekend in hermit mode. And since I'm falling asleep at the keyboard, it's clearly time for bed!