Three Beautiful Things 05/25/17: Costco for Molly, Roasted Cauliflower Salad, Remembering the Tahini Days

1.  I volunteered to make a Costco trip for the Diazes in preparation for Adrienne and Jack's visit over the this coming weekend. I had Molly's list in hand on my phone (the Out of Milk app), but as always happens when I shop for Molly, I was gripped by uncertainty. What does she mean, apples, but not green or red? Grapes.  Should I get red or green? Are frozen fruit bars the same as popsicles? Does Costco have this chunky guacamole? Shredded cheese -- Mexican or mild cheddar? Text messages flew between Costco and chez Diaz and Molly patiently helped me find the goods she wanted, even sending me a picture of what the chunky guacamole packaging looks like. I succeeded. I delivered the groceries and then went to MOM's and did some shopping of my own.

2. The Deke had found a recipe on Pinterest for roasted cauliflower salad with spicy chickpeas and a lemon tahini dressing. I loved making it. I love roasting cauliflower (with red onion bits) because the roasting makes the florets taste like candy and, likewise, roasting the onion sweetens it up, too. The lemon in the dressing and the cumin and pepper flakes covering the skillet fried chickpeas gave this salad a nearly perfect blend of acid, sweetness, and heat and it was all made earthy by the tahini and the chopped parsley. Debbie and I were astonished by how delicious this recipe turned out. It's here.

3.  Making the tahini lemon dressing transported me back to Eugene over twenty years ago to a time when I was single and trying out recipes from a Lebanese cookbook I have since lost, a cookbook, by the way, that I purchased at the Book Bin during its short life span on the corner of 8th and Willamette (I think) in Eugene -- where Sushi Ya is now, right? I used to buy tahini in bulk at the Kiva or at Oasis/Wild Oats and I used to love making hummus out of this cookbook and, even more, I loved baking snapper and topping it with a tahini sauce. I wondered tonight if the lemon tahini dressing I made would work as a topping for baked tilapia and possibly help me approximate the pleasure of that recipe I've lost.  We'll see. I loved having tahini back in the kitchen. I don't think I've had tahini around since since the early days of being married to the Deke -- back then, I was cooking for Patrick and Molly as middle and high schoolers and the Lebanese stuff didn't go over very well! Ha! Now it would!