Perfect for a cold night

I had dinner at former Globe restaurant critic Alison Arnett's house this weekend. She cooked a pork stew with roasted root vegetables from Suzanne Goin's delightful book. There was lots of other good food and wine (my husband, wine writer Stephen Meuse, brought some to taste for a seminar he and I are giving on Saturday for the Globe).

The next morning, I headed for the farmstand to buy turnips, parsnips, and carrots to make the roasted vegetables. It took a while to cut everything up, but then Goin is a chef, not a home cook.

Instead of the chef's suggested method -- two skillets on the stovetop; I already had a big pot of soup on one burner in a borrowed pressure-cooker (a story for another day) -- I roasted the vegetables in the oven.

The vegetables were almost done, and I had to rush out to a pilates class, but was saved by Steve coming in the door. I asked him to keep an eye on the vegetables, explaining that they needed another 20 minutes.

When I got home later, Steve had a funny look on his face and finally confessed that he had forgotten the vegetables, let them burn to smitherines, and felt so bad about all my hard work that he returned to the farmstand to buy everything again and reroasted all the vegetables. He felt like "Groundhog Day."

Then I felt bad about all his hard work. In any event, they were delicious!