Roasted fingerling potato and leek soup with spinach

You know how some weeks are just much busier than others? Well, last week was one of those weeks.

On Monday my daughter's school held its spring fundraising party, on Tuesday she had her vaccinations, yesterday we had a class meeting to discuss an upcoming trip (more on that soon - this alone generated a whole new level of matters to tackle), the elementary school she is starting in the fall called to fix an appointment for orientation (which we luckily managed to move). All of these happenings naturally took place during office hours. On top of this, Italian listed companies are reporting their first quarter results this week making it extremely hectic at work and the husband is away on a business trip.

Yesterday was also nail-cutting night.

Yes, nail cutting. If you are wondering why the heck that would even be worth mentioning, you are not a mom. Cutting the nails on four little hands and four little feet in constant movement is no easy task. Even worse when those feet are ticklish or those hands are scared of scissors. To top it all off, for those of you who aren't informed, the speed in nail growth is inversely proportional to the child's age: the younger they are, the quicker they seem to grow. So half of the time, you feel like you gave birth to Struwwelpeter.

As a result it has been a week of simple meals. In my usual quest to feed my kids as many vegetables as possible I made a your classic potato and leek soup with a few handfuls of spinach in it. What made it special was the roasted leftover fingerlings I used in it. Boy did that take it to another level.

You can have it warm and simply call it potato and leek soup or be fancy and have it cold as a Vichyssoise. I promise you, you'll love it either way.

I don't know about you, but I have been having some trouble with blogger the last few days, making it impossible to post or comment. Many comments on my last post were deleted in the process, but for those of you who left them, I want you to know I did read them and answer them. Thanks.

Leek soup with peas and sauerkraut, a recipe for love (and marriage)

Today is about his brown eyes, his beautiful hands and his good heart. Today is about love, friendship, companionship, parenthood. Today is about memories of off-white silk and red wine from the hills of Tuscany. 

Ten years ago we were two kids dressed up in party clothes dancing to Abba, inebriated with wine and love. Today we are a family of four. The two lives we created are a source of endless love we never deemed possible, even more so when we thought nothing could be bigger than what we had.

A decade is a long time in our relatively young lives. I raise a glass to these ten years.

I raise a glass to every slammed door, to every flung object, to each and every tear shed in frustration onto a damp pillow, to late night arguments, to every moment of endured nagging, to every soccer game tolerated or renounced, to every sexy human being that ever crossed our path, to every moment of  boredom, to all the instances of child-related fear, doubt and pain, to every fleeting feeling of missing out and constraint, to every weathered disappointment, to the moments of worry and uncertainty, to sometimes feeling misunderstood by the one who knows you best. To sweaty sports briefs, to unflushed tampon wrappers, to hypochondria, to badgering, to everpresent children, to never-present intimacy, to exhaustion, to exasperation.

If, after ten years, you can still look into each others' eyes and know you want to wake up seeing them every morning to come. If you feel a flutter deep down in your stomach when you know a whole week end together is approaching. If what shines the brightest in your kaleidoscope of memories are your shared laughter, the cuddles, tucking your children in at night together and watching them sleep, secret hideouts between rocks on tropical beaches, oysters and champagne in Paris, reading books under a duvet, sharing a pint of ice cream during a movie, a tiny apartment and a greatly missed red tabby, then cheers!

Tonight the kids are going to bed early and Mommy and Daddy are popping a bottle of bubbly and dining on take out sushi.

For you, a recipe that is humble, wonderfully warm and comforting, full of different textures and flavors and with an unexpected zing in every bite...just like marriage, no?