Tired as get out, one day shrimp deal, bitter orange-chicken tagine in the near future

Wow, Em-i-lis is really freaking tired today. It hit me like a ton of bricks at about 11am this morning. Jack and I dropped El and Michele at the airport, went to the market to replenish dwindling supplies of many things, and hit the big sale racks at Crate & Barrel for a few items. It was great fun, but when we got home, I plopped down on the couch and fell fast asleep despite a double-electric guitar and top-of-the-lungs singing concert of "OOh wecka-wecka" by the boys about 5 paces from my left ear. Fortunately now, O is napping and J is in his room for quiet time, so we've got an additional reprieve before the afternoon home stretch. In the context of the past week, it's impossibly quiet in our little abode right now, and though we miss folks, the space and silence feels nice right now. T is letting me sneak out for a pedi with a girlfriend at 3:30, and then I'll come home and do bathtime. It seems like a fair trade! And I had a yen this morning for a wonderful bitter orange-chicken tagine we make so am planning to work on that today. It's better after a day of flavor-marrying so perhaps that will be our meal tomorrow night, or even Sunday evening. I found fresh turmeric root at the market today- it's very cool although I must admit it does sort of look like an orange pupa which is a little gnarly. Anyway, a neat find.

Last night with our pals, Double G, was such fun, and they treated us to such a gorgeous spread in addition to the conversation and laughter that always flows in abundance. Please observe this table!

And, lastly, for those of you in the DC/PA area, today's One Day Deal at Whole Foods is: HUGE, BEAUTIFUL raw, shell-on shrimp for $9.99 a pound for large, and $11.99/pound for XL. I forgot I bought some of those too. I better get cooking....

New Year's Eve menu, random musings

What are you making for NYE? Never much ones for going out that night, and especially now that we've got 2 roosters to whom we're accountable, T and I have established a lovely tradition of just the two of us cooking a great meal, opening a great bottle of wine, and passing the evening away in PJs. I know, that sounds no different from many generic week nights, but so be it. I've not even made it up till midnight since before Oliver was born. But as T and I coined on a trip to Vienna once, "See it or so be it." Hah! We just did not fall in love with Vienna in any way and, tired anyway after trekking through Prague and Budapest, thusly decided to spend most of our time at the gym or in our insanely gorgeous hotel room which was nicer than any apartment in which I've ever lived. "See it or so be it" worked for us then, and it works for us now.

We've got a gorgeous bottle of Rioja that I've been salivating over during recent trips to the old wine fridge, so I may see if T wants to go that direction for New Year's, or I may just make an executive decision along those lines. With our new cookbooks on hand, I think we might do a BBQ/Southern feast of sorts which sounds marvelous and will segue nicely into our New Year's Day feast for health, wealth and luck (greens, cornbread and black-eyed peas).

Tonight, my sis (Elia), Michele, T and I are going over to some friends' house for what will surely be a fun evening. Sadly, El and Michele leave tomorrow. It sure will be quiet when they're gone, and I will truly miss them. I'm off to write thank-you notes. Am I the only one who still likes the post office? They do a good job for $.42, and plus, it's fun to get real mail. I had the most hilarious cards printed during a recent Tiny Prints sale- the card is elegant and beautiful but smack in the center is a photo of J and O wearing adhesive mustaches and staring into the reader's eyes. Hilarious.

Spice shop in Georgetown, holiday season coming to a close

My parents headed home earlier today, and after the boys' naps, we went to Georgetown with my sister and Michele (pron: Mee-kell-ay in Italian) for cupcakes and coffee at Baked & Wired (I opted for a piece of cinnamon-cardamom coffee cake which was awesome and which I will try to replicate) and a little walking around on what was a gorgeous but windy and chilly afternoon. At one point, Jack's cowboy hat flew off, and he screamed, "I want to shoot the wind for blowing my hat." He is my dramatic son if you haven't already discerned this. While wandering, I saw a spice shop someone mentioned to me a few months ago and headed in to check it out. It wasn't amazing, but there was a little bit of everything, including filé for gumbo. I got a small pouch of a white-tea/berry blend, some green rice the boys insisted upon but which does look extremely cool, and three flavored sugars: lemon, lime and ginger. Fun! If you're local and interested, it's The Spice and Tea Exchange of Georgetown at 1069 Wisconsin Ave. I made some fresh ricotta this morning but otherwise have just been getting the house back in order. T and I had a wonderful time hosting everyone but are 100% pooped today. It did not help that the boys woke up at 5:30am. I'm not sure there's much in my future as far as cooking this evening -presently I am prostrate on the couch thanking the heavens that T is doing bath time- but hope tomorrow to have time to start perusing my new cookbooks in a serious manner and get back to shopping and creating regularly. I'm off now to scour today's Dining section and enjoy the quiet that comes when 7 people suddenly depart and the children's voices are muted by the filling tub upstairs.