Greens, slaw, steaks

I did thin the greens, and just look at this gorgeous haul. I also spied the culprit behind the new holes in the leaves- some awful, green, spawn of a moth worm inching up the lacinato stalks. To the toilet with the three villains that ended up in my salad spinner! Then T diagnosed what they were and how to deal with them organically. Spinosad: a biproduct of distillation and fermentation discovered near a rum plant in 1982. Cool, huh?! Anyway, we happened to have some (I think because of the tomato horn worms in my past; awful, revolting pests), so while I cooked, T sprayed my greens. I'm hoping this does the trick! In any case, the creamed greens were delish! I made the steaks and served a green tomato chutney with those (lovely, but I did not make it; go Virginia Chutney Co), and for our final side made a carrot-radish-turnip slaw with a lazy-girl's chimichurri (read: a huge, indiscriminate bunch of herbs from my garden + garlic + EVOO + red wine vinegar + coriander + red pepper flakes). Nice and fresh.

Per the rather crappy week I'm having, I now have a cold and am stopped up like it's my job. At least the applications are finished- a major to do off the list. I love to-do lists, especially crossing items off of them. Delightful. Admission: sometimes when I've done something that wasn't on the list, I write it on and then cross it off, just to have the experience of doing so. Don't you do that too?

Fantastic shrimp-n-grits dinner

I woke up with a real yen for shrimp and grits today. I love grits, like really love them. Must be my Louisiana upbringing, but I just think they are fantastic in pretty much every form: plain, buttered, cheesed, fried. Mmm! At the market this afternoon, I spied some fresh corn from FL, the first I've seen this season. At once, a vision of a dish coalesced in my mind: grits with a corn/scallion/green garlic sauté topped with some slightly spicy sherried shrimp. Y'all, this was fantastic, and I'm not going to tell you just how much of this enormous bowl I ate.

What I will tell you is how much I needed something good and successful. What a freaking tough week this has been. Shit is what I have to say, shit. Overextended, underslept, overtalked, overcold.

Ricotta, zoo, nap inspo

I finally got the ricotta made and feel comforted just looking at it. :) Ol and I spent the morning at the zoo as it's finally a beautiful day. At one point, while passing the elephant house which is under construction, we got seriously hung up -like, had to stop, sit on the ground and watch- when O spied an excavator at work. I finally lured him away with the promise of lions. We also visited the reptile house which is not my favorite but Oliver wet bananas for it. It must be molting season because snakes and lizards were shedding their skins to beat 60; this fascinated Ol to no end.

When we got home, I could tell he was pooped. God, so was I! Anyway, I knew he would refuse a nap is his crib, but hark, a light went on and I suggested his crawling into Jack's bed with some milk and listening to stories on tape. He agreed and I got to eat lunch by myself.

Will it work?