Punk'd by Oliver?

I'm slightly steamed right now.  As you might know, last week was veerrry long with O sick and not sleeping. I was thrilled that this morning O seemed back to normal and eager for school. He had a great day, took a good nap and afterwards we took a walk to throw pennies in a nearby fountain. On the way home, he started complaining of a bad stomachache. I made him some toast because he hadn't eaten since breakfast but he wah-wah'd and wouldn't really eat it. He whined the whole way to get Jack, and I was so freaked out that I called the doctor and made an emergency appointment for the afternoon. We get to school, he jumps out of the car and starts dancing and says he's fine. Y'all, he better have had a raging case of gas. On the drive home, we had a big talk about not tricking Mommy about scary things like health. Good lord.

Plans for the week, new recipes posted

It is another perfect day here in D.C.- I hope you all are experiencing the magnificent fall weather that we are enjoying! Wow!  Though I swore off mums several years back -because I wrongly lumped them into the annuals camp; it appears that us lucky folks in zone 7 can encourage our mums to be perennials if we treat them right (more on that later)- the gorgeous, chameleon leaves that are a'falling and these blue skies have inspired me to add a bit of mum bling to my yard: rust, magenta, and yellow pompoms have really made things even more vivid out there. If you do plant mums, don't waste them by tossing tossing out the entire plant (rootball and all) at the end of the season. When they start to look really ratty, cut off all dead flowers and brown foliage. When all foliage is brown and looking quite deathly, cut the mum plant off about an inch from the ground. You just might get a number of them to regrow the following year; I've got at least a handful in my yard right now that are from last autumn.

In honor of Meatless Monday, we will be enjoying Yotam's burnt eggplant tonight as well as a radish/daikon/kohlrabi salad. Yotam does one with dried cherries and nuts that sounds quite good. Later this week, I'm hoping to whip up one the leek confit-Bûcheron tarts that we enjoy a couple times a year. And since I'm rolling in kale and chard, I gotta find something to do with them! Oops, Oliver is up.

More later. All recent recipes except the apple butter are now posted. That one's a little long so I'll add it tonight after the kids are in bed. We're nearing 130 recipes now so get cooking. :)

Tagine, tart, wine

Yum! Tonight we had grilled steak with thyme-preserved lemon compound butter, the veggie tagine with couscous, apple tart and a glass of Stuhlmuller Vineyards Cabernet. If you have not had this deLISHous wine, go find some. It is somewhat of a splurge but is divine. Mmm...