I have a quick and easy idea for you. Chicken Naanwich with Saffron, Capers & Raisins. Get it? It’s a sandwich made with naan and it’s the perfect solution for “one of those days”.

I think you know what kind of day I'm talking about. The kind of day when you wake up in the morning and rather than bound out of bed you lay there a bit longer than you know you should. After all, there's a dog to walk and he’s already clicking around on the hardwood making his needs known– besides there is bread to “win” and bacon to “bring home”. Why does a big city life require so much bread and bacon?

So you drag yourself out of bed, aware of a building mantra in the back of your head. It starts out as a whisper. But you can hear it “I don’t wanna cook today.” You try to ignore it as you pop a bagel in the toaster, but the voice gets louder and more persistent “I don’t wanna cook today!”

You push the voice back and quickly decide against packing a lunch. Even the idea of chopping carrots and celery for a quickie bag lunch starts to feel a lot like cooking. “How about lunch out today?”

“Lunch on the run” (you convince yourself) means you’ll have a lot more time for those errands that don’t run themselves. See how smart you are?

Paprika Grilled Shrimp with Olive Oil Poached Baby Purple Potatoes, Pickled Onions & Italian Style Salsa Verde. That's quite a mouthful for a small plate. And if that's not enough for you to digest I have an interesting wine pairing too. Terrebrune Bandol Rosé 2009.

This is the fourth recipe and wine pairing from this weeklong series of small plates. So I am going to be brief. Because there are a lot of ingredients and instructions for this dish. But don't let that intimidate you. It is essentially a salad. I know you can make a salad. Even a salad with a long complicated name...

That's because you can marinate the Shrimp, make the Salsa Verde, Poached Potatoes, and Pickled Onions way ahead and then simply grill the Shrimp, toss the Arugula in Lemon and Olive Oil and assemble the salad as you serve it.

I do want to say something about the potatoes because they are special. They are from Tasteful Selections and are called Purple Passion. Now I don't usually buy "branded" produce. The good stuff shouldn't need a marketing department. But despite the overly cute name, I found that a bag of them ended up in my hot little hands. I needed potatoes, my Farmers Market was a week off, so I thought, "is one plastic bag of produce gonna kill me?" But guess what? They were a joy to cook with and to eat. Slightly sweet, yet nutty with a plump texture and firm skin, they were all very uniform in size making them ideal for my poaching method too. But what makes these potatoes so special in my mind is their ability to hold their purple color. Have you ever noticed how purple potatoes sometimes end up looking like any other potato once cooked? These babies held their dark hue and really were an asset to the taste, texture and visual success of this luxurious little plateful.

I am in the middle of a weeklong tribute to the recipes of my mother. I am lucky to have so many of her recipes compiled into a cookbook my brother put together after she passed away in 1993, long before her time.

Up until today I chose recipes from this collection that were familiar to me. Foods strongly attached to the woman I knew as mom and the food she provided my childhood tummy. Some comfort foods from my past, or dishes that I find endearing because they highlight some aspect of my mother's quirky attributes, or maybe just plain old childhood favorites.

But my mother knew a heck of a lot more about food than merely being the person who filled the bellies of three ungrateful eaters night after night. She was well read and had a sophisticated palate. So, until today none of the recipes I have presented really spoke to my mother's great love of exciting flavors. She was at the front end of American housewives branching out into classical French cooking styles at home. My mother had strong attachments to culinary cities like San Francisco and New Orleans. I remember my parents traveling to these cities and I remember my mother coming home and talking about the food.