Fab farro salad!

In all seriousness, I'm not sure I've had this hectic of a day in some time. And coming from me, that's saying a lot. It started at 7:30a -still dark out!- with a fantastic presentation at the kids' school. Now it's 8:17p, and it's all kinda blurry. Not least cuz I've had two glasses of wine. And the gov shut down. And all that jazz. I will say that it's true that cats LOVE catnip -sweet Jesus is that true- and that I created a fabulous farro salad to go alongside our grilled chicken this evening. Y'all, seriously, this is delicious. Farro, roasted golden beets, feta, maple-glazed pecans, chive-sage oil... Bene, bene. I'll post the recipe tonight.

Thank you for the wonderful response to Cinderello, by the way. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your many notes of support and heck-yeahs!

The government

Shut down. Again.

The Republicans are pitiful. Ted Cruz is just insane. Truly, there are not enough words to describe his selfish, narcissistic misdirection.

Michele Bachmann is "giddy" and said “I think the reason is because President Obama can’t wait to get Americans addicted to the crack cocaine of dependency on more government health care.” As the shutdown approached, she also said, "It’s exactly what we wanted, and we got it.” I hope all the people who elected these loons feel just great about how those officials are really looking out for the welfare of their populace.

If I hear one more time about repealing the Affordable Care Act, I'm going to consider throwing a tantrum.

This is gross and despicable and is going to negatively affect so many people who are just trying to work hard and live their lives. The Republicans should be ashamed. Offering a 45 day delay in shutting down the government for repealing the ACA, allowing the Keystone XL, etc is not negotiation and Reid et al were right not to acknowledge that pathetic offering as such.

DC, dinner

Another shooting. 13 dead. An armed man with "a history of misconduct" (cnn) heads into the Navy Yard and opens fire. Remember all the times the NRA has yelled that if only more people had guns, we'd be so much safer? Well, the Navy does have guns; they're the military for christ sakes. And 12 of their crew are now dead. I find the whole thing depressingly familiar. A place shuts down, people mourn the loss of family members and friends, the President speaks movingly of the tragedy and waste, the media lights up with musings on mental health, possible security break-downs and "what.went.wrong." and still our country will do nothing more than a symbolic wringing of the hands. The gun-rights activists will hunker down and find an argument about we can't possibly do anything but give out more guns; those who work for stricter regulation and more stringent and regular background checks will have to put aside their sadness and disgust about watching yet another shooting spree happen and then resume their work, trying to keep hopelessness about change at bay. Shame on us. ~~~~~~ On a completely different note, we had a wonderful Meatless Monday dinner comprised of three hearty salads: fresh burrata with tomatoes, good olive oil, salt and basil; garlic-oil-rubbed kale with walnuts and cherries (yes, that one; the regular); and grilled fennel and leeks with fresh ricotta (still warm!) and a marjoram-fennel frond-almond pesto.

My friend Bevi makes a marjoram-cashew pesto that sounds out of this world, and I was keen to whip some of that up tonight only to find that I had no cashews. Ok, plan B. I decided to serve the pesto atop the other stuff I mentioned and so threw in the fennel fronds. Almonds seemed like they might pair nicely so they went in too. The marjoram's floralness started to feel out of hand so I tossed in some kale. The floral bouquet kept coming, so I went with it and grated Meyer lemon zest over the top of the finished dish. T asked if I'd accidentally spilled flowery soap into pesto. I liked it. Different strokes for different folks. And it is pretty!