Cheese

I just bought so much cheese at Whole Foods (remember, all hand-cut cheeses are 25% off today) that I should be arrested for dairy gluttony! Kinda awesome.

This farro salad last night was also awesome, as are these huge honking cauliflowers I just bought! Yee-haw!

Two dinners, bits of news

Spiced yogurt is really a fantastically good and easy marinade for chicken, and what you don't use to marinate makes a fabulous dipping sauce for your finished product. Chicken prepared in just this way was our dinner last night. I seasoned some Greek yogurt with lots of cinnamon, cardamom, coriander, cumin, salt, lemon juice and freshly chopped mint; then I tossed most of it into a Ziploc with two chicken breasts, sealed the bag, shook the hell out of everything and let things stew in the fridge for an hour or so. Then, into a hot Lodge went those chix and voila, a wonderful main. The boys enjoyed our leftovers today and said "that chicken is SO good, Mom. You are the best cook EVER." I love it. I also made some mustard and panko carrots for a lovely side!

It's a good thing they had darling moments today because those were interspersed with Pill of the Century behavior from both. Oh my god! Not 10 minutes ago I heard Jack wailing that he couldn't sleep. So, I went in and asked if he'd been reading Harry Potter since 6:58; he fessed up and I removed HP from his room. Yes, I'm thrilled he loves to read so much it makes him want to stay up late; little is as good as a book you can't put down. But post-9pm on a school night? After a service trip to a farm that included two hours on a school bus? Before a full day of school plus baseball practice tomorrow? I think not.

Anyway, for tonight's meal I made my farro with gold beets, feta and candied pecans salad, heated up the rest of the romanesco cauliflower and grilled T his favorite sweet Italian sausages from the farmers market (Cibola Farms is the vendor if you're interested). Also, I had an Applejack Rabbit.

The BlogHer '14 conference was just announced and open for registration. San Jose next July, here I come!!! I'm totally excited. In other news, my French Silk Pie (an old recipe from my Nanny's older sister, Hilda, that I've reworked a bit) is going to be included in Just Desserts, a cookbook published by KCTS, a PBS affiliate serving more than 1.5 million folks in Seattle, Central Washington and British Columbia. I'm so pleased and flattered and placed an order today!

Sub-par morning

This morning is one of those that feels endless and terrifying. Like the road in Kenya I was once on; I thought surely that's where I'd die. It all started off so sweetly what with Oliver coming in for our morning snuggle, J sleeping in a bit, the cat sharing bed space generously before retiring to the bath tub. Then breakfast-time happened, and now, an hour later, I'm sitting here in stunned silence, stomach aching, very much wishing I didn't have all to do today that I do including chaperoning second graders at a farm-based service trip. I actively disliked the children for nearly an hour. They were whiny and annoying and loud. Their ears appeared broken. Brushing teeth was a monstrous parental mandate that couldn't be handled. Socks provided irritating bumps that literally couldn't be dealt with; new ones had to be found. Oliver went to school looking like Rainbow Brite meets Santa Claus in need of a haircut while Jack insisted on wearing his snow gloves despite the fact that it is only 44 outside. It's possible people will wonder, based on their appearances alone, if something really whacked went on over here this morning.

I try very hard to respect the fact that relatively speaking the boys are still mere babes. They often seem more capable than they are, and I feel it is unfair to children to expect them not to act like children. That robs them of a special time.

That said, g-damnit, brushing teeth is not negotiable. Ever. And so I completely and, I think rightfully, expect that by now we will no longer be having full-scale meltdowns and resultant Come to Jesus' about this basic act. I resorted to extreme threats this morning when I told Ol that if he didn't brush his teeth they would all rot and fall out and his breath would smell and no one would ever talk to him again.

It worked.

Probably because yesterday morning, during our traditional snuggle, Ol suddenly said, "YEW!!!" (his way of saying yuk/ew/gross). I asked what was wrong, and he said, "I came close to your face to tell you somefing secwet but somefing smells SO bad." Long story short, I had morning breath. So sue me.