A little slow?

Y'all, I've never been great with jokes: telling them well is a skill I lack, but getting them is even more challenging. Clever plays-on-words can vex me too despite the fact that I write all the time and have been told I've got some wit.Just recently, Jack -keep in mind he's not yet six and a half- explained a clever title to me. This is not uncommon.

Anyway, as this historical context pertains to this post is that ALL day I've been reading tweets and posts and messages of all sorts thanking our troops for their service. How positively lovely and supportive, I've thought. How thoughtful! Might we all be putting last week's election behind us?

As you all undoubtedly know, today is Veteran's Day, for the love. Do I feel silly? I do! Thank you vets!

Farmers market

The boys opted to stay at home with T this morning, so I headed to Dupont by myself. The farmers market is always a different experience when the kids aren't with me; the pace is slower but the conversations with vendors are fewer, so it's a trade-off. It is a glorious day, and I brought home some beautiful goodies.

Apples, persimmons, carrots, rainbow kale, hot peppers and some gorgeous sorrel. I love sorrel: it has a clear lemon flavor component and the greatest yet delicate crunch. Yotam uses sorrel a lot so I'm going to use this bunch in one of his recipes. The greens are stunning this time of year, and I worked mightily to not bring home more than I'd use well.

With the apples and peppers, I'm hoping to find the time to make some pepper jelly. Otherwise, more applesauce it will be! I'm not yet sure how I'll use the persimmons but will, of course, keep you posted. Look at the size of these daikon radishes!!!

Adventures with the kids, fab-o pizza

After my class today, Jack went on a hike with T's dad, and Oliver and I went on a date (T was rather pooped after a full morning with the boys!). Grandpa and Jack headed to a mountain about 90 minutes from us and there found a great topper of snow. Meanwhile, Oliver picked a playground that this afternoon "is my favorite", and we practiced playing safely since, while I was gone, he tumbled down the stairs with a chunk of wood onto which he'd affixed googly eyes and ended up with this sizable gash. AAAH! We let them stay up late and ultimately had a dance party to Gangnum Style -hilarious- and after finally tucking them in grilled this delicious pizza. No mozz in the house, no pizza sauce either, but we were glad because it forced us out of our regular 'za rut and into something refreshingly new. I made a shallot-garlic-mushroom saute and used all manner of truffled goodies my sister brought me from the truffle festival in Chianti. T used some of the sausages I'd made yesterday, and both of us topped everything with my fresh ricotta. Delicious!

Now we're off to finish enjoying the rest of a bottle of Tempranillo and watch last night's Real Time!