It was a blissful August afternoon, and I was full of joyous anticipation. It was my husband’s last day at his job before we would go on a two week vacation and then move to Chicago. It felt like the last day of the school year, but ten times better. I knew Jordan would want to go out to dinner to celebrate, but I had a dream of first preparing an Alison appetizer recipe for us to share on our balcony overlooking the city of Minneapolis. Alison’s recipes have marked special occasions for us all year long.
I chose to prepare these steamed artichokes with salted garlic butter. Artichokes were on sale, and I had lots of butter in the fridge. Plus, I thought they’d go really well with some cans of sparkling rose (the true hero).
I knew my way around the artichoke this time, since I’d technically already made this recipe before. Alison’s Grilled Artichoke recipe requires you to steam the artichokes first, using this recipe’s method. You can read more about that process and lessons I learned in the link. It was a bit of trial-and-error.
The garlic butter was nice and simple. I wanted it to have more acid, so I added some lemon juice to it, which did the trick. I’ve decided I prefer lemon aioli to garlic butter when it comes to artichokes, but that’s purely a personal opinion. Reasonable minds can differ.
I realized last week that I’d forgotten to write about this recipe after I made it. Which tells me just how much I was occupied by both joy for the end of that season of Jordan’s life and grief over all of the change that was about to come. Even writing about food, which is generally therapeutic for me, seemed too big of an ask as I became preoccupied by the transition.
Our lives have been constantly changing in big ways over the last four years. Changes that felt exciting, terrifying, unsettling, adventurous, and downright tiring, all at the same time. This move and the new jobs we’d take as a result, was the last set of major changes on our foreseeable horizon. And I am thankful for that. I’m thankful for steamed artichokes as a marker of celebration on that long path of transition. I’m thankful I forgot to write about them so I could look back on that joy-filled day and feel gratitude now. I marvel at what has happened. I marvel at what’s to come.
156 recipes cooked, 69 to go.
