Steamed Baby Red Beets (with greens), Spicy Savoy Cabbage

Last weekend, we had picked up some small red baby beets from a local farmer's market. I prepared them simply steamed for about 20 minutes like I did last March, including the "greens" (actually deep reds) in the last five minutes or so. I also steamed some yellow beans from the market. I made a simple saute with Savoy cabbage and onion, but also included half of a jalapeno which proved to be particularly hot. Compounding the heat, I mixed in some jerk seasoning (and salt); it was a bit too hot. I liked the other dishes, and even the cabbage when I pulled out the jalapeno, but was surprised that (perhaps for the first time in the 4+ years of cooking for her) my wife didn't particularly like tonight's meal. I'll do better for her!

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It seems like we've been eating out a lot. Yesterday was the last of my six week photography class in Carrboro (NC); a student joined my wife and me at Sage Cafe; it had been too long to go without their fabulous pomegranate reduction with tempeh, which I, as almost always, had. We were in Atlanta on a very short visit for an appointment that my wife had. We left around 3:30p (allow 8 hours - 6 1/4 without stops) on Tuesday, stopping a couple hours away in Charlotte at Meskerem, probably my favorite Ethiopian restaurant (even compared to the good ones in the Adams-Morgan section of Washington, DC); we had what we always do, a vegetarian combination plate (and an avocado salad appetizer).

After her morning appointment on Wednesday, we met up with a friend of mine and had lunch at Cafe Sunflower, an all-vegetarian restaurant that I used to frequent when I made a number of business trips to Atlanta in the late 1990s - I had a good polenta dish. We made it late in the evening back in Charlotte for good California-style pizza (vegan dough, many vegetarian toppings) at Wolfman's Pizza.