What-Day-Is-It-Wednesday?

I can't recall all I've done today but it was productive, fun, crazy and wow. I did get my first haircut in nearly eight months and that was exciting. Market, exercise, gymnastics, carpool, dog walk, yada, yada... I then remembered that tomorrow is the annual grade-wide Mom's Cocktail Party that I and a few pals have hosted each year since Jack was in PK. Uh, Em, you better get cooking. Shite. Lemon-ricotta bars now made. Brownies done. I need to start in on the Brussels sprouts slaw but am entirely too tired to do so. And 40 kofta sliders? Hilarious. Shite again. Tomorrow will be busy, not least because I've not yet bought the beef for the sliders and am library mom.

In the meantime, my dear T has been pretty weary of late so tonight when he arrived home, I sent him to the bath with a glass of Bourbon splashed with an ice sphere. In the meantime, I made a truly scrumptious dinner; T said it was a top-5-ever meal. Creamed kale with garlicky breadcrumbs, caramelized shallots with toasted baguette, and fabulous Piedmontese filets rubbed with my super-duper steak rub and done on the stovetop in the Lodge. Amazing.

Have you heard of the documentary opening on March 1, A Place at the Table, about hunger in America? It sounds like it's going to be extremely powerful and, hopefully, a legislative game changer.

Tabasco's McIlhenny

R.I.P. Mr. McIlhenny (Paul Carr Polk). The McIlhenny family invented Tabasco sauce after the Civil War and ran the business from Avery Island, LA, one of the five salt dome islands in south central Louisiana, between Lafayette and the Gulf. We took a field trip there once, and before you even entered the building, the acrid, tangy smell of the fermenting pepper mash made you gasp. Involuntarily, your eyes began to weep. But there's nothing quite like it (though admittedly I only like the original red sauce; T likes the green one), and one of the items I most wanted when I got married was a filigreed silver Tabasco bottle holder for my table. I still love and use it.

Misc musings

When my dear husband decides to close all the computer windows I've purposefully left open so that I can return to them when I have time, it peeves me to the max. How has he not learned this after nearly 9 years of marriage? I am quite vocal about my dislike of this tendency of his and still it persists. Grr! Today was a marathon run in cold rain. That's actually a nearly literal statement. The weather here blows, but March is a'coming Feb, so watch out. Around 2p I realized I'd never had lunch so flew into some juice bar'y market near Ol's school to grab something before picking him up. I chose the Morning Tonic juice (kale, celery, apple and grapefruit) after considering the fact that all I'd eaten thus far was a bowl of cereal, one clementine (or was that yesterday?) and a handful of corn nuts I found at the Spanish market I went to (recommended by chef-teacher from this past weekend) sometime before this stop. Quick fun fact: corn nuts are called quicos in Spanish. I didn't know this before. Have y'all had corn nuts? They're puffed/probably fried corn kernels that seemed everywhere in Louisiana snack aisles. Tom got home tonight, said he'd never seen them before, and promptly fell in love with their consumption after the first handful.

Anyway, in addition to the Morning Tonic, I got a breakfast burrito that included tofu, kale and black beans but, oddly, no eggs. Don't breakfast burritos always have eggs? Bygones. I didn't have time to eat it before picking up Ol, and when he and I returned to the car he asked, in the most disdainful voice, "what IS that yukky smell?" I said, "thank you, Ol, that's my late lunch." To which he replied, "oh... what is it?" I told him and he said, "I want a bite" after which he ate half before telling me I "could have a bite." Then he asked about my juice, and I said he could taste it but may not like it, and next thing I know the suck sound that happens when what you were drinking is gone but you want more and think sucking harder will make some appear happened. Mother effer, that kid had drunk all my juice.

Now, for a foodie mom, this was vexing. I was, on the one hand, extremely proud of my guy's palate. Good for him, just downing all that healthy, not-vanilla-in-flavor food. On the other hand, I was still hungry.

For dinner tonight, collard green-chorizo handpies and some pimenton-roasted cauliflower. Delish, and now goodbye.

Suggested reading: the cover story from last Sunday's NYTimes magazine, "I feel so sorry for the public", an expose of the processed food industry in the U.S., and the article in today's NYT Science section about owls. You just didn't know how cool owls are! Damn evolution, damn!