잠깐 반짝 - a peek of spring

 

Spring is the time of Rosé, and of course that is why probably H was had a sudden crave for some when he saw the delightful array of Rosé wines on shelves of Wholefood wine corner. Of course, we had to go through the process of which Rosé would be ourfirst pick of the season. First, have to go read all of their labels, their logos, their names, their region ('I'm sure French Rosés are light!') and then ask the clerk (who himself, did not seem to have a clue what he was talking about - oh, I miss good old Amanda who had her own distinct style of wines!) then going through each and every one of them skepticism and trying to prevent with our feeble experience from wasting the few pennies leaving our pockets. In the end, the most popular-according to the clueless clerk- Rosé from Province, France was our choice. 

To color-code our spring picnic meal, a creamy avocado and grapefruit salad with tripleberry jam mayo was chosen for our appetizer (of course we could not ignore the fact that there was one lonely grapefruit waiting for us in the fridge, new meals are all about old leftovers :)) with the simple artichoke dip. And we can absolutely not go without our daily bread, oh so nicely accomodated by Hungry Ghost Bread from Northampton, our new friend recently excavated nearby our middle-of-nowhere Amherst. A simple French sourdough - it was warm right out of the oven, and you could smell it through paper bag it was tucked into (H and I immediately had to tear a bite off, cannot resist! Yum, our mouths and car seats were gradually covered with white flour that had covered the rustic bread, but it was oh-so-worth-it! We had to refrain ourselves from finishing before we even started cooking the meal.)

Aha, but today's highlight was not the Rosé (which was a little bit sweet for my taste, H enjoyed it), nor the avocado-grapefruit combo (this salad absolutely needs no effort- the fanstastic ingredients make it all.), nor the bread (but it came as very close second), but the clams. 

Yes, yes, yes! These little morsels were the true homerun of the day, credit to H. After a brief shower, these presents of the sea were popped into the oven. After thirty minutes or so, the tray was brimming with clam juice and wide open clams, showing their yellow flesh inside. A little hot sauce, melted butter, clinking glasses filled with pale Rosés (yes, roses!) made us just sigh with happiness. We devoured them all! 

What happened to the brimming clam juice? We soaked our crusty bread into it, the clam juice giving a slight saltiness and moist to the bite. We were so full after finishing a full loaf of bread with this full three course meal, and only the bread crumbs and empty clam shells could speak of our sheer satisfaction. 

* the artichoke dip could definitely be improved though. Parmesan cheese, a slight squeeze of lemon juice, got everything in there, but don't know exactly what was missing. I thought cheese and brown crusty cheese, and more cheese could just not be unsatisfactory, but will experiment more in the future! 

* oh, and the hunt for a perfect Rosé will continue! Spring is yet to come (literally - it started raining later in the afternoon and is continuing till today, which is three days after this wonderful day).