Fun things to do with Italian sausage, canned tomatoes, parsley:

For gluttons: Slit the skin, and shape small blobs of meat between the palms. Shallow fry until golden, drain fat, add a few Roma tomatoes crushed between fingers and simmer until thick. Serve with pasta and parsley.

For saints: Remove casings, brown sausage while breaking it up. Remove and set aside. Add mirepoix to a tablespoon or two of rendered fat. Cook for 15 minutes. Add rinsed lentils, cooked sausage, tomatoes with juice, bay leaf, water or stock. Simmer for 40 mins, add chopped kale or chard and cook until wilted. Serve with parm and parsley.

For norms: Brown whole sausages, remove from pan. Soften sliced onion, pepper and garlic in some of the rendered fat. Add broken up tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Return sausages to the party, cover and cook until no longer pink inside. Serve with a root veg mash and requisite parsley, plus a pile of wilted greens.

Picture Books are my favourite category of book. For me, Tomi Ungerer and William Steig are the masters – a bit grim(m), with an adult sense of humour. Artistically very different, but both worthy of framing every page: graceful curly lines in Ungerer, brash dark strokes full of wit in Steig.

Graham Roumieu’s illustrations, especially in his trio of Bigfoot books, remind me of Steig and Ungerer mashed together. Soft watercolours in blues and pale browns, with dark expressive lines on top – gorgeous and macabre. Story-wise, side-splitting and strangely philosophical. Me Write Book, the second in the series, is the funniest book I’ve ever read bar none.

We’re super proud of our shrine, and welcome you to visit the shop to pray to the artist known as Roumieu.

But when you refer to it as “chilled” soup, suddenly it becomes something sophisticated and refreshing. I made one to start dinner tonight, and it was perfect for a sweltering summer night. We had poached salmon and a potato and leek salad to follow, cherries and cookies for dessert.

On the suggestion of our new brainy staffer Jess, the inspiration came from Yotam Ottolenghi’s “Green Gazpacho.” I made some changes (less salt, more hot pepper and herbs, no nuts or dairy, no croutons), which made it lighter and fresher. Serve with something bubbly.

Chilled Green Soup

Pulse celery, cucumber, green pepper, hot green pepper, garlic, scallion, mint, chives, parsley, crustless bread, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper in a processor or blender with some water until pureed to your liking, but with a bit of texture left. Chill for an hour or so, serve in chilled bowls with chives scattered on top.

We’ll start with shaved raw veg (e.g. radish, beet, carrot, cucumber, asparagus), and a dressing to dip. I could pound some olives and capers into a mustardy vinaigrette. Anchovies would be good too, but Kelly and Laz both don’t eat fish. So maybe I’ll make a yogurt and beet dip instead.

Kelly, my twin-like friend, smiled AND winked when I joked about making grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for dinner. So that’s what we’ll have. “By request” sandwiches, made to order with a choice of fontina or cheddar (not both, I won’t allow it), hot peppers in oil, sautéed and/or roasted veg (e.g. mushrooms, whole roasted garlic, tomatoes). With or without Dijon. Ketchup to serve.

The soup base will be sofrito, tomato and vegetable stock (no chicken stock for Kelly’s bf, Laz), and lots of veg in small dice. Leeks, carrots and green beans look good right now, and maybe a potato or parsnip for body. We’re having cheese and bread, so I’ll keep the soup light. No legumes or grain, and no pork fat (also because it would offend otherwise affable Shane), but I’ll use some herbs and spices for flavour.

Pineapple and mango sprinkled with cayenne for dessert, dates and chocolate for after-dessert. And then we’ll put some cards on the table.

But apparently not awake! The roast potatoes were too crisp (another way of saying burnt), the braised fennel and leek too soft, and the tea I made with dessert was too strong. Three mistakes in one meal? Total and utter humiliation.

Maybe it’s just bad luck. We’ll go with that. In any case, my mom and step dad were gracious and chatty, and unlike the last time I cooked for them, we came away from the experience unscathed.