ROASTED CARROTS WITH WALNUTS AND FETA CHEESE

As I walked through the house tidying up the other night, I spotted Sloane's papers lying on the dining table. At first glance, it was a mess. But I stopped to examine it: a piece of paper on which she had written all our names, Sloane, Logan, Mama, Papa. Next to that, a drawing of colorful dresses, and a worksheet of the letter "p". On the floor, Marie the stuffed cat was laying sideways, and Logan's rattle was keeping her company. Little items, considered treasures by little hands, overflowed out of a box.

In the quiet and stillness of the evening, I thought ahead to another evening years into the future, where I might find myself doing something similar, but realized that I would probably feel the absence of these 'messes' around the house: evidence of a small life relished, joy displayed on pieces of paper and in the worn fabric of a stuffed animal. Take it all in now when you can, my future self whispered back to my present self. I stood there, paused, appreciating the mess of it all before finishing up. 

After I was done, I took out leftovers of this dish that I had made the previous weekend. It was good cold straight out of the fridge, and I ate while making a mental list in my head of all the things I had to do for the next morning.  

Sloane has been requesting a lot of carrots lately. She wants to eat them like her friend Jack at school (Jack is four, older, wiser, "he can run really fast!").  She wants to eat them "like a bunny!".  That night, I packed her lunch the way she requested earlier that day: a peanut butter jelly sandwich, carrot sticks, and Craisins in her lunchbox.  Then a clemintine for her first snack, and "long, long, carrots" for her second snack. 

I've been eating carrots alongside her too, and when I noticed we had a bunch of carrots leftover from last week, I decided to roast them. I don't roast carrots often because I feel inconvenienced by having to peel each one, but every time I taste a roasted carrot, I'm rapturous, and I'm always resolving to eat more of it.  On this occasion, I resolved to have roasted carrots as my dinner, and added feta cheese and walnuts. It was delicious and very filling:

Preheat oven to 425 degree. Peel and cut carrots and throw them on a greased baking sheet. Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, celery, dill, paprika and oregano. Bake for 30 minutes, flipping them halfway through. Add toasted walnuts (I toast them in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes) and crumbled up feta cheese.