Soon-to-be Mrs. Savory Bread Pudding

Yesterday was Kevin's first day of teaching at USF, and to celebrate, I took him to Serpentine. Having had a rather large snack at 3pm then promptly falling asleep, I was neither alert nor hungry by the time our 7:45pm reservation rolled around. But reading the menu perked me right up so we dug in to:

Baked Marinated Local Anchovies
flageolet & gigante beans - levain breadcrumbs - scallions -
cherry tomatoes - pickled fennel

I think I could eat pickled fennel all day long. Actually, any form of fennel....

Roasted Mary's Half Chicken
summer succotash of white beans - cranberry beans -
corn - summer squash - salsa verde

Savory Bread Pudding
heirloom tomatoes - garlic confit - swiss - oregano
with roasted summer squash - mixed greens

I loved this so much, I'm going to marry it. You're all invited to the wedding. Except for the fig tart we had for dessert. What a letdown to an otherwise wonderful meal.

Incidentally, there was a couple sitting next to us who, based on their awkward conversation, appeared to be on a first date of some sort. Except the guy was wearing this really awful hat. Like, Robin Hood awful. That's fine if you want to dress like one of his Merry Men, but on a first date?? Really??

The reason I've been so tired is that this last weekend I flew to Wisconsin for a huge family reunion. It was awesome to be able to see everybody, catch up, and slide down The Hurricane (twice) at America's largest waterpark, but getting there was a bit of an ordeal:

4 am - leave house to get to airport
5 am - arrive airport
6:20 am - don't make flight to Chicago because it is overbooked
8:50 am - don't make flight to Chicago because it is overbooked
9:59 am - don't make flight to Chicago because it is overbooked
10:15 am - decide to double-list ourselves for both Chicago and Denver. Dad waits at gate 81, mom and I wait at gate 89.
10:50 am - Mom and I are instructed to wait by the gate in case we get on the Chicago flight, which is supposed to leave at 10:49am but has been delayed to noon.
11:10 am - Dad calls, we made it on the Denver flight, mom and I sprint to gate 81
3:10 pm - arrive Denver at gate B32. Need to make it to gate B88 by 3:25. Run really fast. Realize I am super out of shape, but cut myself slack because I am wearing three-inch heels
3:23 pm - arrive at gate, but they won't let us get on the plane. Next flight to Madison, WI is at 9:20 pm. !!!!

Meanwhile, in Atlanta....

5 pm (eastern time) - Brother arrives at airport
5:15 pm - Brother realizes he relinquished his MA driver's license to get a GA one, and now has no government-issued photo ID, just a temporary license.
5:16 pm - Brother drives to apartment in crazy rush hour traffic to get passport. Once at home, looks at mail, and there is his new driver's license. Gah.
6:30 pm - Brother nervously high-tails it through ATL (ie, worst EVER) security line to make his 7pm flight.
6:45 pm - Brother finds out flight is delayed, and will get him to O'Hare at 9:12 pm. His flight to Madison leaves at 9:13 pm. AWESOME.

Luckily, his flight was delayed so he arrived safe and sound. Our flight was also delayed, so we stumbled into the airport at around 1:30am. The super nice Hertz guy was waiting for us, and we got into our rental car and drove to Wisconsin Dells. After about 24 hours of fun with the fam, we left at 2:45am to make our 5:15am flight out of Madison back home.