Pleasing pasta, RomNO

I have been on a real tear to clean out the pantry lately so tonight we bid arrivederci to all available paccheri. Bye bye fat, tubular Italian yumminess. To top it, I used up the rest of our Cibola Farms sweet Italian sausage (seriously, head to some DC-area farmers market and visit Cibola Farms; wowzers!), the rest of my Tuscan kale, some mascarpone, Parm and red pepper flakes. This was not out of this world but it was good and was an easy, satisfying dinner.

You guys, is Romney pulling a Palin, by which I mean he's going down in flames and thusly avoiding the media at all costs? He cancelled his campaign event in Kettering, OH, by "suspending" it -John McCain redux anyone?- only to host another event in the same spot in Kettering, OH, during which he offered the Red Cross canned goods his campaign bought and which they (the Red Cross) don't want.

What is wrong with Donald Trump? Why is he orange? Why is his hair like it is? Why doesn't Melania do something about said hair? Why is he trying to pay off our President? And is he serious that he extended his offer because of Hurricane Sandy? Who keeps his/her passport application? Don't you have to surrender that when you apply?? Mother of god.

Go Chris Christie! NJ, I am so sorry.

Yum, fun

Ok, the kids really are so flipping cute on Halloween night. Every knock is a thrill, every candy is the best! It's very dear, and I was terribly proud of how often people complimented their manners. Aah, the seemingly endless lessons are sinking in I think. This bread pudding sure is yummy...

Halloboo

Y'all, I have never been a huge or inspired fan of Halloween. Costumes aren't my bag. I believe my best effort was in high school when I pinned lots of purple balloons to a sweatshirt, made some odd green felt hat and called myself a bunch of grapes. Halfway through trick-or-treating, I'd popped completely and just had to call it quits. My laziest costume came about in college when I dressed in black, drew a moon on one cheek and a star on the other and declared myself Night. When my friends and I reached the party to which we were headed, and I saw all my guy friends dressed as Hasid cheerleaders, I felt pretty lame. It's not like Halloween in Chicago is warm, so really, they and pretty much everyone else put me to shame. Until I had kids, in fact, the only thing I did much like about Halloween was candy corn, a sweet that is nearly unpalatable the rest of the year but right around 31 October draws me in with some sort of waxy, sugary allure.

The kids think Halloween is AWESOME, and though I've still not found the love for it, I try to be festive for them. If, however, they suggested going out just with their dad tonight, I would take them up on it 5 minutes ago. Damn would I love to just light a fire and have a glass of wine in peace and quiet. I'm got a hell of a headache and am tired as get-out. Rather, T and I will watch -and they are cute when they amble up to people's doors- as the boys go nuts with glee and become increasingly high. Then we'll wrestle them into bed and I'm sure there will be tears along the way.

Sigh.