Biscuits and chili

Tonight's dinner was delicious, but I admit to hoping that it serves as a final goodbye to temperatures in the 30s and 40s. Today was downright cold which made my indoor MHD that much cozier, but...spring needs to spring. ASAP. I've got sandals and shorts to wear, sundresses and tank tops, floppy hats and flip flops too. I want to get my Vitamin D from actual rays of sunlight rather than gummy Ds in my bathroom. My VegTrug plants looked at me in a fairly accusatory fashion today, as if wondering "why would she so loving plant us and then subject us to freezing rain?!" It's a reasonable question little ones! In any case, Jack is about to test for his red belt in Tae Kwon Do so I took him to a penultimate practice session tonight and when we finally got home I was thrilled to remember a bag of chili verde waiting in frozen repose in my garage chest freezer. A quick thaw would make for such a warming dinner! I have been DYING to make biscuits, knew they'd pair winningly with the chili and had just enough cream left to make a 1x recipe. Though I wish they'd puffed more -I fear I overworked the gluten- they were very tasty and, as I'd suspected, were a tremendous addition to dinner. I used this recipe from the recent NY Times Dining section. Next time I'm going to try a different recipe, just cuz.

Aren't the flaky layers of good biscuits irresistible? I love, LOVE a good biscuit, especially when smeared with cream cheese and pepper jelly, fresh jam or dunked into something wonderful, like tonight's chili. I have yet to take a picture of this chili that doesn't too closely resemble something gross, but imagine turkey, tomatillos, pounds of peppers, etc. It's marvelous.

The news was so stultifyingly reguarly both yesterday and today. Just violence, horror, silly Congressmen and natural disasters for the love. Maybe the MH 370 black box has been found though?

Mental Health Days

Throughout the yeas since I graduated from college, I've called in a "Mental Health Day" once every six months or so. During my career days, I'd call in sick; since, I just pick a weekday with little to nothing scheduled, play my MHD card and stay home, getting my house in order in both the literal and figurative senses. I find these staycations both necessary and restorative. Today, a rainy and gray one, is just such a day. Having burned the candle at both ends all last week and weekend, and unable to look at the month-old pile of unfolded napkins draped over a railing in my dining room for one second longer, I purposefully did not put on a bra or brush my teeth before bringing the boys to school; this double-whammy of not-terribly-appropriate-beyond-home would surely keep me committed to returning home post haste after drop-off. And indeed it did.

So far, I have done and folded laundry and those pesky napkins; cleaned the kitchen; finally sorted and tossed much of an insane pile of crap, aka not critical mail/papers/drawings/hopeful lists/etc; taken a nap with Nutmeg; finally put away the last of the suitcases from spring break; and started in on de-pilling and -pethairing the 95% of my sweaters that are being packed away today. I've still not brushed my teeth or changed my outfit, and frankly, my slobby state feels awesome.

The soft patter of the constant drizzle outside is soothing, and because we spent so much time outside during this past very beautiful weekend, I feel no sadness that I can't be in my yard today.

One thing I noticed in CA was how utterly off the hamster wheel I felt. Surely this was in part because I was, but it's also because the pace does seem slower out there, at least in the beachy communities we called home for a week. It was as if I'd gone all amnesiac about regular life which A) made for a hell of a vacation, and B) reminded me that maybe a MHD was a bit overdue.

And so here I am, back on the couch after a half-hour cleaning sweaters and playing with the Nut. He's licking his paws next to me, Percy is hiding in the basement because I keep making him go outside to pee (hey- it's my couch otherwise) and he detests rain, and my halcyon abode is serenity, messy serenity, at its loveliest.

Carrot Pistachio Pasta, Chard Roots, FM

Isn't that a gorgeous plate of pasta? Shredded carrots sauteed with lemon zest and pistachios, lots of Parm, garlicky breadcrumbs sprinkled over the top just before serving...I had such  high hopes for last night's meal, and boy was it a complete disappointment. Y'all, this was a fail. It was a beautiful, bland, completely lacking in textural variation, mound of meh. Gall-dang was it sad. Tom and I were salting and squeezing lemons like it was our job. If we'd been prepping for a big morning run, it might have at least been a good carb load. But alas, it was, again, a mound of meh.

You win some, you lose some!

After spending yesterday morning shuttling cute little boys to and from multiple birthday parties, whiling away a full hour in Party City sourcing appreciation luncheon supplies, and enjoying a quick lunch by myself (say wha?!), I worked in the yard for hours. HOURS! It was delightful. It's truly amazing just how much detritus a yard can amass after a long and destructive winter. I filled four lawn bags with old leaves, broken sticks, ancient clots of roots, a boxwood that couldn't weather the polar vortexes and related snows. My compost bin finally yielded black gold which I sifted over my gardens. A smattering of new perennials now fills in the spots I usually plant with annuals, and my muscles ache pleasurably from having pitchforked and shoveled my way around.

My VegTrug is full and stunning, the promise of future, fruitful yields in every leaf. I had no idea that rainbow chard roots were as luminous as the stems they produce. Incredible, yes?

Ol and I went back to the farmers market this morning for the first time in a long while. It's still cold but the sun is out, so we donned our jackets and eagerly drove down. He rightly noted that cool climes often mean that eclairs will be available at Bonaparte, so could we please stop there first. Indeed. You have never seen an eclair devoured so quickly. Then he asked for a croissant, two Asian pears, some apple cider and some samples. He ate/drank it all. Wow small boys. I know these sorts of appetites are only going to grow but it is truly incredible to watch male children eat.