A perfect Saturday

Saturday mornings are wonderful in general. This one, in particular, was great. It's easy to get up early and linger over coffee when the get-to-work clock isn't ticking; the coffee even seems to taste better. Today a couple of hot cups at home were followed by a little more at breakfast with my Saturday morning Book Club. Such a treat to meet one a month (or so) with good friends who share a love of reading. We go out for a leisurely breakfast and catching up and book talk. The latter sometimes takes a back seat the the catching up, but that doesn't seem to bother any of us.

Our most recent book was Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl. This memoir of Ruth's time as the food critic for the New York Times was a good entertaining light read. It was exactly the type of book I needed (it was my turn to choose) when we last met. In addition to being entertaining, it includes a few excellent recipes. To celebrate book club day -- the highlight of my week -- our dinner tonight was made with Garlic and Sapphires recipes. We had Roasted Chicken with Garlic, Onion and Potatoes. Yum. Excellent and very easy. All that was needed in addition was a green salad and some good crusty bread. Dessert also came from the book. Last Minute Chocolate Cake was another very easy recipe with excellent results. This simple loaf cake is made with chocolate, coffee and Grand Marnier. Enjoying it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, as suggested, makes it one of life's simple thrills.

Book Club and good cooking were not the only thrills of this day. I also had the joy of spending an hour (O.K., it may have been closer to two hours) in the Cotton Thimble picking out the fabric for Kit and Violet's wedding quilt. Talk about exciting! When I suggested a quilt as a wedding present, they were both happy to take me up on the offer and agreed they'd like a flannel quilt. Since then, I've been patiently waiting for Cotton Thimble's February flannel sale; it's safe to say that this shop has one of the best selections of flannels anywhere. And did I buy flannel! The Cotton Thimble uses red Radio Flyer wagons to hold fabric bolts after cutting; the staff then pulls the wagons around the shop to restock the shelves. Today, after years of shopping there, was the first time I was ever offered a wagon to cart my fabric selections around the store. What a treat. Lining up the bolts again the wagon's wooden sides gave me a great view of my palette and allowed easy editing of my fabric selections. I started out by choosing a few neutral prints and plaids and then added deep brown plaids and stripes and soft blue prints and plaids and finally a beautiful large floral print that will tie together the earthy colors that Kit likes with the soft sky colors Violet prefers. I can't wait to cut into these beauties to try a block or two tomorrow. My perfect Saturday may very well be the beginning of a perfect weekend.