The meal had to be quick, and it had to include vegetables I already had on hand, because, other than my purchase of the scallops at the Greenmarket that day I had given no thought to what I would be making for dinner in the evening.  I had been concentrating only on the fact that I wanted us to eat earlier than usual, in order to give me time to prepare much of the next night’s much more elaborate meal, of hare, ahead of time.

• scallops from P.E.&D.D. Seafood, dried, seared briefly on both sides, finished with torn leaves of a basil plant (Full Bloom Market Garden, Whately, Mass.) from Whole Foods
• German Butterball potatoes from Mountain Sweet Berry Farm, boiled, finished with olive oil, salt, pepper, and chopped parsley from Stokes Farm
• Maine cherry ‘cocktail’ tomatoes from Whole Foods, slow-roasted with olive oil, dried Italian oregano, and quartered garlic from Migliorelli Farm
• the wine was a California white, Estancia Chardonnay Monterrey County 2012