Ever have one of those Mary Poppins days that was practically perfect in every way?!?

For me, that was today.

It started off by heading to the garden store to pick up a few things and then we headed into the garden. Even though it was pretty windy, the sun was shining and it was warm…

We amended the soil, got the weed cover down, planted some tomatoes, eggplant, beets, beans, tomatillos, and lettuces in the main area and set up a separate area just for peppers. We still have more tomatoes, leeks, and melons to plant… all started from seed. And room for a few more things as we think of them…

Meanwhile… I was also making sourdough bread.

Our friend, Susan, was over on Tuesday and brought with her a plethora of goodies – from a pappardelle roller/cutter to salmon and halibut fresh-caught in Alaska by friends of hers, to her sourdough starter. A truly good friend shows up with food items.

I made one of the best loaves of bread I’ve made in a long time. I didn’t follow a recipe for this one – i just took the starter, fed it, increased it, and after playing with it, baked it off.

When you’ve made enough loaves of bread, you just kinda know what to do… It’s really about technique – not measurements. And this worked on every level. It’s the perfect starter – and I’ll be keeping this one going! Perfect sourdough using bread flour and sprouted wheat flour.

But the real hit of the evening was the Pappardelle with Salmon that Victor made.

It’s an egg pasta and the eggs were fresh eggs from Jimmy. The pappardelle roller was a gift from Susan…

As was the salmon…

Our entire dinner had its roots in friends. Life does not get much better than that.

The dish was salmon poached in white wine and lemon, and the sauce was fennel, artichoke hearts, clam broth, fresh tomatoes, dried pepper flakes and dried oregano from our garden… very simple but bursting with flavor.

Everything about it worked. A perfect meal to top a perfect day.