Crazy time at the office is over for the moment, but I have a new distraction… the kittens are back, and they are as adorable as ever. As you can imagine, I have spent most of my free time over the last few days hanging out in the yard watching the kittens frolic and play rather than writing about what we ate, but here’s a quick recap.

Tuesday night’s meal was blackfish with white beans in a fennel-herb broth, inspired by the fish dish I had at Marlow and Sons the last time we ate there.

I sliced up a fennel bulb and sautéed it in olive oil with a few smashed garlic cloves, and then added a cup each of white wine and water to the pan. I seasoned it with salt and pepper, and added a cup of chopped mixed herbs (I used a combination of fennel fronds, chives, tarragon and flat leaf parsley; sadly the chervil I planted in our garden this year died a swift death). Once the broth came to a boil I added one can of small white beans (drained and rinsed) and reduced the heat. I laid two blackfish fillets, seasoned with salt and pepper, in the pan skin side up, covered the pan, and let the fish poach until just cooked through.

It was easy as can be to put this together, and while it was not as good as the original, I was very pleased with the result.

Last night I put together a classic Cobb Salad, with fresh greens and grape tomatoes from the Greenmarket, lemony grilled chicken, some of Mike’s delicious bacon, ripe avocado, one of our favorite blues, and a chive-spiked vinaigrette. In my distracted state, I actually spaced on the hard boiled eggs I was making and ruined them, but we had one left in the fridge from a batch I made earlier in the week, so dinner was saved. (Call me a perfectionist, but a Cobb isn’t a Cobb without the hard boiled egg!)

These were two light, quick dinners which I’m sure will become go-to meals for us on warm summer evenings.