A blur

A second babysitter cancelled. Tom is in CA. The cat bit my nose at 5 am. It's cold as balls outside. The dog needs to be walked. Have I brushed my teeth today? Am I late for something? I don't know about those last two. It's distinctly possible that the answers are no and yes, respectively. My U.S. Food System class ends Wednesday, and I've just managed to finish things up. Talk about cutting it close. Good lord. I swear to you, dear readers, never again while the boys aren't in school full-time will I take two classes concurrently. You can hold me to it.

Highlight: The mailman delivered good news to us, and we are all feeling terribly happy. Jack hugged and kissed Oliver, and they did a jig in celebration of knowing they'll be at the same school starting in the fall. That was adorable and dear.

I managed to get some ricotta made though with heavy whipping cream rather than just-your-basic heavy cream as I was out of the latter. This is an unusual item to be missing from my fridge, and I'll remedy that soon. Today's ricotta is delicious but it didn't curd as tightly as the usual. Comforting nonetheless.

Gawd, I've just realized my writing is as jumpily staccato as has been my day.

Wine tonight.

A frigid morning at the farmers market

This morning was one of those visits to the farmers market in which the idea of a leisurely stroll through the myriad stalls disappears immediately upon opening your car door and realizing just how darn cold it really is. Jack and I were on a date and we'd bundled up but wow on the wind: it was a sharp knife on wings. We scurried to our favorite stops, a raspberry palmier for Jack here, sunchokes for me there. All in all it was a fun, productive visit but as Oliver would say, "I'm brrr."

We returned home to find Oliver in prime dude form, thrilled to have just walked with T to Crate & Barrel for a new bathroom cup. I assume orange was not available as he picked neon "lellow" instead.

I had big plans to make the salad highlighted in today's NYT Magazine (house salad from Canlis in Seattle) for dinner but as T left for CA, I had class, my babysitter and I had a miscommunication about her coming today, Percy continues to pee on our couch and I can't find his dog-diaper, I decided to go with a tried-and-true house salad a la Em-i-lis (the compost salad), enjoy a single Applejack Rabbit and hit the sack with today's paper. See you all on the other side. Of the day, peeps, the day.

Oh, and I did indulge in this insanely delicious chocolate eclair from the Bonaparte stall. Perfection! DC-area folks, I highly suggest you find your way to Bonaparte (bricks-and-mortar or at the Dupont FM) and treat yourself to one or many of these.

Thank you USPS

Not. I am, generally, a true fan of the postal service. They do a lot for the relatively minimal cost of a stamp. However, today I'm disappointed because we didn't get a thing. Now we're stuck anxiously awaiting Monday's mail.

I simply must go bake.