Saturday supper

Before I left the house on Saturday afternoon, I asked the Frenchman whether he would mind laying the table for me. The good friends were coming to dinner and I would not have time. Yes, he said, he would.

When I got home from Brooklyn  a few hours later,  this is what I found: boat napkins!

I was thrilled.

My surprise source of pincushions has not yet dried up, outside a supermarket, all the way down Lenox Avenue, just above Central Park.

And my sumac vodka has not dried up, either - here it was shaken up with some brown sugar and cinnamon syrup.

Mimi had red currant gin with splash of cassis, we'll call it a Harlem Mule, and then we all ate a salad of Honey Crisp apple chunks with kimchi and pickled vegetables: carrot, celery, Japanese knotweed, and a dollop of labneh. Stolen from David Chang, and tweaked. A pork belly curry high with galangal and ginger, black soy, quick-pickled garlic and  fresh turmeric. Sticky rice, my first attempt, and nicely sticky. Let's just skip dessert. Smoke ensued...

I leave for Cape Town, tomorrow and within the matter of 24 hours my life will be transformed. Cold to warm, baring to blooming, small terrace to large garden, cat to dogs, concrete to mountain, noise to...silence. Owls in the night.

And a few more things, besides.

Say a prayer for the cat. I would like to see him when I get back.