Seriously? cardamom crumb cake

Say what? An animal or child woke me up roughly every two hours last night: a nightmare; downstairs scuffling that sounded entirely too mischievous for my liking; coughing in a too-hacky sort of way; scratching and mewing at the door. Something was in bed with me at least 50% of the night and as T is in Boston, it surely wasn't him. I'd finally fallen back asleep when I heard Oliver saying, "Mommy, I can't get out of my bed because my bottom hurts but my sun is up so you should come in." Now I've never been bed-ridden because of bottom pains so I did go to investigate, and it was 6:14 or thereabout. As far as I could tell, there was some minimal diaper rash -maybe- so I put him in bed with me. Then Nutmeg arrived, then Percy. Jack awoke last and, keep this in mind because it'll haunt him later, thanked Oliver for "not waking me up for the first time in a while." We head downstairs, I get breakfast for everyone and start making a crumb cake as a few girlfriends were coming over later. I'd been wanting to try this recipe, a Dorie Greenspan confection, for quite some time because as you may now know, I adore cardamom. Things were going rather swimmingly, and we even had time for a quick game of Operation before carpool arrived for J. He suddenly went ape and had some bizarre meltdown before being belted in my friend's car. Said Oliver had woken him up early (oh really) and it was all Ol's fault. Never a fun spectacle. I got the cake out of the oven, got Oliver dressed for school and went to drop him off. On the way home, I started feeling insanely dizzy, like I'd played dizzy-bat in a room full of fun-house mirrors. Chalking it up to not yet having eaten breakfast and being ridiculously tired, I made it home to brew a pot of tea.

Not a second after one pal knocked on my door, J's school called. He was in the nurse's office feeling ill and I needed to come get him. I was so dizzy that my friend made me sit down and eat some cake which, tragically, I really didn't love but forced down anyway. At that moment I realized what had happened: instead of taking my thyroid supplement earlier, I'd swallowed a whole Ambien. On an empty stomach.  After being up all night. Terrific. I went to get Jack and on the way home started having a more-than-sneaking suspicion that while he may have had a momentary pang of something, he was not sick.

Folks, I was beyond irritated. After lunch, I sent him into his room for a reading-only lockdown. He could neither play nor come out until the time at which, were he in school, he'd hear the bell ring. If you don't think we've since had the mother of all conversations about respect, responsibility, honesty and so forth, you're wrong. We've had it twice. This is so unlike him. I get that kids test boundaries, or perhaps he was anxious about something- I get that too, but damnation was it a trying morning and early afternoon. It is always something. Something that might embarrass, anger, disappoint, sadden you, or some fun-time combo of any/all of the above.

Was I just in Charleston all relaxed and zen?

Design complaint, lovely and light dinner, Charleston recap

You know what makes me nuts? When you buy a product - usually refrigerated, usually in a lidded, plastic container as the ones in which come cream cheese or the like - and the vacuumed-on plastic seal (the one between the product and the removable lid) doesn't have a pull-tab. Why does this peeve me so? Well, because those suckers are basically epoxied on. Don't get confident and think you can grasp the tiny lip o' plastic between two fingertips -hell, even between two sharp fingernails- and pry that puppy off. Don't circle the rim hoping for a weak spot. It's not happening. You're going to have to dirty a clean knife by slicing that plastic wrap off, neatly around the perimeter of the product of course. You don't want to make things worse by slicing and slashing whatever goodie lies beneath. This almost makes me even more frustrated; like I've got to surgically remove this plastic wrap as carefully as if I were operating on my flipping dog. No one needs it, Crave Brothers mascarpone, for example. Sorry to call you out; you irk me regularly so came quickly to mind. I do like your mascarpone, so at least you win one. In any case, I'll let that go for tonight, but poorly designed anything just needs to get the boot. Like the airport bathrooms in Frankfurt. Jesus H, who thought up those?

Tonight I both needed and desired a fabulously healthy and flavorful dinner. The bazillion percent sub-par burrito at Baja Fresh today did not, in any way, cut the butter. Even Ol, and J's friend, R, were like "heck no!" Jack dove head-on into his and devoured it but as he weighs about 12 ounces, that's good and I wasn't going to get in his way. We, all of us, did think he ate in a rather slobbish manner, and I was grateful friend R called him out on it. Go good friends!

So back to my dinner. I knew I didn't have all the makings for my attempt to recreate that ridiculously good crostini T and I had at Social on Sunday night: ricotta, sage, apple, butternut squash; but I did have a b'nut so roasted it up (with some dried sage) in anticipation of heading to the market tomorrow. Half I chopped in large chunks, while the other I diced to accommodate the category, topping. I had kale, had accidentally peeled a meyer lemon earlier rather than a clementine after having been ordered to make "TWO MORE fruit salads now, MOMMY" so needed to use that, some gorgeous pumpernickel and some lovely smoked salmon. Perfect- this tasted gooooood.

I may have also opened some red wine because really, it's a) arse-cold and b) I was a champ mom today and am now pooped and slightly overwhelmed by the thought of solo-parenting for the rest of the week.

We really did find some great spots in Charleston so I thought I'd post a last recap in case anyone is heading there and wants some scoop.

Places I highly recommend for food/drink/coffee/misc in all those categories:

Husk: what a fan-fucking-tastic place; awesome food, great service, awesome bar, terrific ambiance. F.I.G.: " " though definitely more hipster than Husk; sit at the bar. McCrady's: terrific spot for a more formal, old-school dining experience; great wine list; beautifully presented food; superb service. The Ordinary: if you like Frenchie meets a raw bar, you will love this; incredible style, rockin' atmo, great wine, fab seafood. Bull Street Gourmet and Market: ridiculously awesome wine selection (to buy by the bottle) for such a small joint; it's the best 7-11 you'll ever find as it's all hardwood, top-shelf food-for-purchase (and I was told I wouldn't find Geechie Boy grits anywhere, hmph; go Bull St), yummy food to order, and it delivers. You can sit or take, and you will want to. Social Wine Bar: yes, there's a TV in the corner (egads!) but you'll get over it because there's only one, the wine list is super unique and fun, the beers are great too, and whoa! on the appetizer-like yummies. Bartenders are cool and know their stuff, good vibe all around. Dixie Supply: there is not a Confederate flag to be found (amen), good low-country food abounds, and the chef/also the owner? is awesome. In fact, everyone there -workers and patrons- are awesome; friendly, enthusiastic, hell-yeah kinda folks. We devoured our respective slices of tomato pie and were sorry to miss the fried okra and other goodies. Not open Mondays or for dinner. Black Tap: fabulous coffee made by sincere hipsters (read: you get none of the BS associated with some hipster baristas who think they're saving the world via espresso). These guys are nice and can really pull a shot; love the spare yet friendly decor; love the neighborhood. One size, don't ask for skim, just go with it. Delish!

One final spot to seek out is Lily, a charming shop on King. You'll enter with nothing in mind but, while wandering about, feel you simply must buy everything offered. I know I walked out with the most random sampling of unnecessary-but-happy-to-own-it cool.

Quickest re-entry you ever did see

Wow! Talk about immediately being back to it. We stepped in our front door last night and hit the ground running. It was rather shocking to be awakened at 6:14 today; better than 5:45 but NOT the 9am+ we'd been sleeping until (clearly we need it) in Charleston. Tom had to leave again this morning and likely won't be home until Friday evening, and the boys seem to alternate perfect health with burgeoning colds and at times appear to have been attacked by the demanding stick: parasitically-needy-minus-manners is not my bag! Jack was off from school today, and I kept Ol home just in case. One of J's buddies came over and we spent most of the day at the Building Museum which was fun, but I took it as a real kindness and act of vicarious empathy and understanding when a random man came up to me while I ordering lunch for everyone and said, "no way could I do this with three kids in the city." I shot him a smile of thanks to be sure. It's 4:33p, and I can't wait to go to bed. And I'd planned to make blood orange-ginger jam today... Hardy, har, har!