Back to the Farmers Market

Tom and Jack decided to do yard work and play catch this morning, so Oliver and I headed off to the farmers market. It's a gorgeous day; a perfect Advent of Fall type. We donned pants and long sleeve shirts and made our way to Dupont. Oliver beelined to the popsicle stand, and although he was disappointed that chongos wasn't on the menu, he quickly reframed and ordered a ginger peach. Remnants of summer produce intermingled with fall's bounty. "Last week for peaches" signs urged final purchases while all manner of beans and squash popped up next to them. As the boys have been studying rattlesnakes together, Ol and I were excited to discover rattlesnake beans and quickly snapped up a bag. I also got some flat beans too, with the memory of Ghibellina's fagiole umido dancing in the back of my mind, two quarts of sungold tomatoes (probably the last of the year), yellow romas to make sauce, some more rhubarb, fresh burrata and creme fraiche, the boys' favorite cheeses, radishes, a variety of peppers including paper lantern, hatch and ancho, fresh ginger and garlic, beef sticks, and on and on I think.

Once home, the boys ate beef sticks and marble cheese while I made a fagiole umido with mint, eggplant and capers. It'll be part of our dinner tonight, and I can't wait. Off to the gym, writing class, baseball....oh.my.god. #donewiththeweekend

Wine night is a'coming!

Veg-out!

Both at and after dinner, friends. Little Ol was up several times last night with a fever and felt fairly awful today. Then the Cinderella dress arrived, I helped him get it on and he immediately shrieked, "TAKE IT OFF! IT HURTS!" Feverish skin and lace don't mix, but also most boys have no idea how much girls deal with in dresses. He was dismayed, but not so much so that he didn't readily agree to a return; the slippers we'll keep, but that dress is history. I suspect the search will commence anew in the near future. The rest of my day involved bike rides, yard work, Tae Kwon Do, monitored match-striking, grocery shopping and various other activities. I'm going to bed stat. Tonight for din, I made some old faves: roasted, curried cauliflower; and zucchini-feta fritters (tonight, griddle cakes instead). A very good meal!

I'm reading Unorthodox right now, a memoir about a woman raised in a Satmar community in Brooklyn who ultimately leaves it. In part because I majored in Religious Studies with an emphasis on American Judaism and in part because I like Deborah Feldman's writing style, I'm immersed in it and am going back to it now. The reviews were very weak, but so far, I really can't tell why.

I'll keep you posted. I've also been meaning to write an attempted explication of my thoughts on Syria, but that's been a bigger fish than I've had time to fry lately.

Happy Friday: it's cookin' time

Yesterday, in hushed tones and bear-hug snuggles, Oliver and I shopped on amazon for a Cinderella dress. "Mommy, it's a secret. I don't want Daddy or Jack to see. Can we please buy my Cinderella dress?"

We found the perfect one -the skirt lights up via some bizarre battery pack!!- and some delicate slippers that bear an image of Cinderella and with which Ol was immediately besotted and ordered everything after he assured me he would actually wear the items. He tends to treasure his princess acquisitions in serious secret; I found his Wonder Woman journal hidden in the depths of his closet earlier this week, for example. I do not want the same fate to befall the too-pricey dress and shoes coming our way.

This morning, a warm little body moved quietly into bed with me. It was Ol, and he said "Mommy, I love you. When is my Cinderella dress coming? And, I think I need the pretty gloves too." The elbow-length satin ones. Oh lord. We proceeded to have a lovely conversation about the dress and we might consider the gloves but let's wait and see a bit when it occurred to me to check the time.

3:31am people. 3-honking-31.

I said "Oliver, it is more than definitely time to return to bed as it is the middle of the night." He obliged and then climbed back in at 6. What a cutie. Then Jack got in and pretended to be the cat, purring with abandon and so forth. These kids just wake up at 100%. Was I ever like that?

After a meeting at school this morning, I made a beeline for the gym and then headed home to get my cooking on. A triple-batch of apple chili chutney is now cooling, and I devoured some seared tofu with lemon-yogurt-tahini sauce and just-picked greens from my garden. Dee-lightful!