Food is becoming increasingly important to me as I try to be more mindful about planet Earth and my place on it. I was intrigued by Ezra Klein's pointer to a grilled bread salad from Marc Bittman because it seemed like I could get all of the ingredients besides olive oil at our farmer's market up at Grand Army Plaza. I struck out with one thing -- lemons, which give the dish a nice citrusy kick. (Perhaps a bit too much of a kick. If you try out the recipe, I might recommend cutting the lemon juice by about a quarter.) Lemon trees just don't grown in Brooklyn, it seems, nor its environs. I was, though, able to pick up some organic ones at the local natural food store, and with the leftover juice I made what I have to say was a tremendously delicious simple-syrup lemonade.
I'm a big eater, and a bread salad alone seemed like it might be a bit insubstantial, so I made up a batch of my mozzarella to kick in some milk proteins. Nice pairing, I think. Jane's studying for her upcoming bar exam, but she carved out a little time to have this meal out on our stoop. She said it made her belly happy, and fueled her up for the tough task ahead.
