Yummy kinda-Carbonara pasta

Well, the eggs are in the pasta (homemade, freshly rolled) but the cream and bacon are saucing this puppy up. Plus kale, a leek, scallions, black olives, lots of Parm... Umami was everywhere; we liked it! www.em-i-lis.com

Let's give a huzzah to Pope Francis! Did you see that beautiful photo of him embracing the disfigured man in Vatican City this week? The man has a genetic disease which causes tons of painful tumors to grow all over his face, neck and head (whole body? not sure), and the Pope's hug was the picture of christian grace. Walking the walk, this man is!

Nasty night leads to better things

Y'all, last night was the absolute worst. A pox on that flu shot! I woke up at 2:00 am on the precipice of full-scale puke, feverishly chilly, shaking and sweating concurrently. For nearly two hours, I just huddled under my comforter, shivering and increasingly wet and trying not to bother T. I think my chills woke him up though because he offered to get Advil, and I said "yes, please." It helped some, and I got back to sleep for a couple hours. When I awoke, I felt as if I were on another planet, and good god almighty, you should have seen my hair. I looked like a wilting Medusa. Ugly! www.em-i-lis.com

A few hours later, a good pal came over so I could teach her how to make Nanny's cranberry sauce. It was so nice to spend time together in such a way, not least because we talked without being interrupted the whole time. After she left, I made my own batch and then boogied to school to help sketch the background set for the second grade play. My adobe buildings were better than my forest. Fortunately, my friend, C, was there too, and her pines were totally redemptive. At one point I looked at us, spread out on huge, bright blue, taped-together paper, and thought bemusedly, "we are two very well-educated women, and here we are on a floor, sketching a Native American backdrop at 2pm on a Thursday and kinda stressing about proportion and scale." You just never know where life will take you. It was fun frankly.

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Back home, and Ol and I made vanilla fig scones for a breakfast I'm hosting tomorrow. I need to get on the cherry-spelt scone bandwagon too, but first there is the pasta (made the dough an hour ago) I need to roll out and the underlying nausea (still!) with which I must deal.

Who joins me in a shout-out to the Senate for passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act today?? Finally, it is illegal to discriminate when hiring on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. And we've got marriage equality in IL! Yee-haw!

**PS- now taking orders for holiday-time Cranberry Sauce!

Tuesday

Today was a true Tuesday: productive yet not overly thrilling; busy yet not overly productive; good yet not overly memorable. As simple and simultaneously as vague as all that. I worked out hard right after dropping the boys at school, and then limped home, an oxymoronic invigorated wet noodle, to make a rejuvenative smoothie. Banana, spinach, coconut, dates and almond milk. Delicious, pretty and easy. I made and slurped it just in time to return a few emails and head out to visit one of my favorite friends who I've not seen in too many moons.

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We enjoyed a couple hours of catching up before I realized the time and scurried home for lunch and to pack up for the afternoon: pick-up; orthodontist; market; bank; etc. Jack's expander needs even more expanding! Homework can really be onerous! Not! The cat can eat through any zipper! Sadly true. Jack asked if he could "burn his nuts" which terrified and baffled me until my doubletaking head spied his handful of acorns.

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Daylight Savings is still effing with us all, so I put the boys to bed early (actually, kudos to T; he got home early enough to put them to bed for me; I was fried because during bathtime we'd had a ludicrous conversation about balls. Yep, the gender-related ones.) So, whilst princely husband dealt with the loons, I put together some dinner: grits cooked in whey; shrimp marinated in orange and lime juices, garlic and ginger, crushed red pepper and a dash of tamari, and then seared with sherry and butter; spinach Roman style (minus the pignoli). It was delicious, and the cream was Real Time afterwards.

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Buona notte tutti!