On our walk today we met a flying leaf dancing in the wind, always one inch from the ground.

Of all the altitudes it could have occupied, it seemed to have choosen one inch, where it bobbed and twirled for our amusement at the end of an invisible spider silk.

That I find the actions of the leaf profound, that its pirouettes dazzle me despite my mind’s prediction of the presence of the silk and despite the unsurprising confirmation when I strain my eyes to see it against a darkened patch beyond, that I both awe and understand—that is the great joy of being human.

Homemade turkey burgers with spinach, mushrooms and brie.

To make the patties, I used a 1lb package Trader Joe’s ground turkey, 1/4 cup diced garlic, 1/4 cup diced white onion, 1/4 cup soft brie, and maybe a couple teaspoons of salt. I mixed all the ingredients together by hand, formed them into 4 patties and floured the outside to keep them from sticking to each other on the plate.

When the patties were almost done, I divided the remaining brie among them and let it melt slightly on top. Try to keep the brie from spilling over the edge of the patties! The mushrooms were sautéd separately in olive oil and laid atop the brie.

What would I do differently next time? Probably Worcestershire sauce in the patties.

As it was, they were very good.

MacGyver’ed rig for epoxying the power button connector back onto my friend’s iBook G4 on which I was trying to simply replace the hard drive.

UPDATE: It worked! I managed to press the contacts to the board hard enough during curing that they still had conductivity after the epoxy cured!

Caprese burgers, mashed red potatoes and green beans!

The burgers patties are made from about 2 lbs. of 90/10 lean ground beef, plus 1/4 large white onion (I might use red or sweet next time), 2 cloves of garlic, 4 oz. of mozzarella cheese (all diced) and a couple teaspoons of salt.

Atop the patties are slabs of soft mozzarella cheese (the kind you make caprese with) topped with balsamic vinegar while grilling. On top of that are slices of red bell pepper pressed into the cheese (totally cheated on the caprese here, they should be tomatoes) and basil leaves.

12 California Red potatoes (from a large bag at Costco) make up the potato salad, along with 1 stick of butter, 1/2 a cup half and half and salt—decadent, I know, but very tasty. We’ve been doing mashed potatoes in the pressure cooker. It’s faster at cooking the potatoes, and for added bonus, the steam relief valve popping cues you to turn the stove off (helpful for the multitasking-challenged).

I don’t normally have the energy to make three dishes on a weeknight, but tonight I felt up to the multitasking challenge. The results were happily nominated.

UPDATE: I made some more caprese burgers last night with the addition of ~1/4 cup balsamic vinegar to the patties. I highly recommend it!

In case you were wondering where all the leftover Easter lamb went: Gyros! Well, my take on them anyway.

I started with a good amount of minced garlic and chopped red onions sauteed in olive oil, then added the sliced lamb and cubed roma tomatoes (on the vine, from Costco), added some flake salt and ground peppercorns over the pan. The bread is nothing special, just from Trader Joe’s, but the green stuff is mâche or “lamb’s lettuce” (also from TJ’s) and is quite tasty, like a light, nutty spinach. Topping off the ensemble is some Greek yogurt.

They turned out quite well.