FM haul, and we met Alice, as in Waters

Ol and I eagerly braved sub-30s temps this morning to head down to Dupont for the farmers market. He was lured by the promise of eclairs at Bonaparte -"Ol, I really think this constitutes 'cold enough for eclair stability'"- while I wanted beets, apples and Brussels sprouts for Thanksgiving dishes. First stop: Bonaparte.

"Do you have eclairs today?" "Mais, oui!"

Ol beamed and I ordered two because he doesn't like to share even a bite of his, and really, I can't blame him.

Then to Eco Friendly where I was chagrined to find them out of ground turkey BUT did pick up a small container of freshly rendered schmaltz. Bellissimo! And then to Twin Springs Fruit Farm for a huge variety of crisp apples, and finally to our favorite spot, New Morning Farm (an organic vegetable farm from PA), to see Grace and the crew and get all the rest of our goodies. I bought two stalks of these Brussels sprouts and while exclaiming over them was surprised when Ol asked, "that's how they come? You don't make them?" I was baffled and reminded him that all veggies grow rather than are made. He responded, "but then do you make them?" Huh? We were just not understanding each other so I moved on to the basket of beets.

On our way back to the car, we made a wildly enthusiastic detour to the farm whose name I can never remember but really like because I SPIED SUNCHOKES. Oh, praise the sunchoke season. I am giddy.

And then Ol was really cold and wanting his eclair so I said, "now we're really going to go to the car," but then y'all, we passed a book signing and I was curious and sweet jesus, it was Alice Waters herself. She was bundled to about 4x her actual size and was being such a good sport despite the truly frigid morning. In all honesty, I have never been off my head about Chez Panisse or the Waters dynasty, but I do admire all Alice does on behalf of food policy, activism, her Edible Schoolyard projects, local and clean eating, so we ambled over, and I just had to buy her lovely book. Because Ol is the greatest sous chef, I asked her to inscribe it to him too. He smiled radiantly at her, and she told him she was going to put a heart by his name for good measure. At this point he was aglow, and I swear that momentarily, the eclair disappeared from his mind. Is this darling?!

Reiki, collard cobbler, garlic bread and more

Last night, T went to a hockey game with pals, and, feeling the worst of Ol's spell was behind us, I took a full Ambien at 8:45p and tucked in to an awesome night. I even left T's jammies on the stairs, and lovingly suggested he sleep in the basement and get a good one. Just before nodding off, I enthusiastically agreed to meet my trainer this morning. She and I do like to text. My dream was not to be. At 12:30a, Ol woke up calling about a booger and need for water. Apparently, a fever had both come and broken, and his sheets, pillow and PJs were drenched. We changed everything, and I wobbly-walked back to bed. At 5:30a, he called out again, and this time the bed was wet for a different reason. People, please. We changed him and I moved him in with me. He kept trying to talk about going to Disney World; my pleas to wait until morning fell on deaf ears.

As you might imagine, I have not felt fantastic today (understatement alert), was nonetheless a champ at the gym, put together this gorgeous collard green cobbler, some Louisiana garlic bread and some Jezebel sauce, and gratefully went to a Reiki session at my yoga studio. A local Reiki master offers wildly reduced-rate sessions two or three times a year so that her trainees can get more practice. I attend whenever possible as it is the ultimate in relaxation and restoration. Seriously, y'all, there is really SO much to be said about Eastern healing treatments. Don't even get me going about acupuncture; it is incredible!

My leg-warmers have toe-loops!

I have just discovered a brilliant feature of my bouclé leg-warmers: they have toe--loops that hold them close to the front of your foot to maximize the warm factor. Before I go into further detail, let me help you pick your jaw up off the floor. Yes, I have leg-warmers. And yes, I'm aware that they are not that cool unless you are a professional ballerina, but frankly, I'm not sure why they're cool then because if you're chilly in the studio, maybe wear leggings instead of butt shorts which necessitate the wearing of leg-warmers. Since I am not a ballerina and thus do not actually know just how critical the butt shorts are, I will let this go because at the very least, ballerinas look great in both butt shorts and leg-warmers.

Back to my leg-warmers and their magnificent toe-loops. I bought my l-w's last year because you cannot do yoga in socks and aren't suppose to do Pilates in socks either but in the winter, my feet are like ice blocks so something had to give. L-w's were the meet-in-the-middle solution and a good one to boot. I then came to find that when you get a pedicure in the winter, you cannot risk polish smudge but your damn feet are freezing, so again, l-w's are quite a fix. After this ludicrous week, I treated myself to my first Gingerbread Latte (coffee aficionados, I know this is sinful; I don't otherwise sweeten my coffee. Ever.) of the season and a pedicure this afternoon, came home, immediately was beset with ice block feet and recalled my l-w's which just last week I had moved into my winter-wear drawer. Out they came, and as I donned them it occurred to me that the second hole might not be an ankle slot but rather a toe-loop.

Shit, now that I write this I feel certain it actually is an ankle slot, but whatever, I've got my big toe looped in and my feet are cozy.

On a different note I am so over my dog tonight I could cry. He's drinking water like he just sand-sledded across the Mojave in the hottest part of the day and keeps begging to go out and come in, go out and come in. No, he does not have any sort of urinary tract issue, nor is he ever deprived of water or the outdoors. Back off, Percy!