Cubs, brown butter chicken & rice, Junior Botanist follow-up

Y'all, WHO watched Game Six of the World Series last night? It was so fantastic! I mean, how often do you witness a grand slam? We got the boys out of bed to watch the replays and plan to let them stay up for part of tonight's final match. Go CUBS!!!!!!!!!!

I was chilly all day yesterday and wanted a hearty dinner that would warm and comfort me. I also wanted it to be quick. My Brown Butter Chicken and Rice fit the bill to a tee. And, it's a one-pot dish. All the better!

I adore the interplay of the brown butter and lemon, the tender chicken that results from basically being poached in the oven, and the creamy flavorful rice that serves as the foundation here. I made a kale salad as our side, and we devoured everything. You should make both of these things soon!

Doesn't that look divine?

Do y'all remember the U.S. Botanic Garden field trip I took the boys on in late August? A couple weeks afterwards, Jack finished up the last of his Junior Botanist program pack, and we mailed everything in. 

Yesterday, he was thrilled to receive a huge bubble envelope from, you guessed it, the Botanic Society. In it was his official Junior Botanist certificate, an invitation to visit the Society's growing facilities, a clipboard, journal, and cool hand lens. I'm telling y'all, that is one cool DC opportunity for kids!

Excitement with a tinge of trepidation

Fuuuuuccccckkkkk.

The end is barreling down on us: just a day and change to go. I can't tell if I'm glad or terrified by that, but come it quickly will so I guess I best just go with it.

Let's be honest, people. Terrified is tipping the scales right now. Cue the wine pour.

The children are vacillating between angelic loves and rabid loons. Tics I'd thought were long gone are making irritating resurgences. The "heh-heh-heh" constant cough from Ol? Making me batshit crazy because it is SO fake and omnipresent. Also, he has a bizarre chafing on the side of his face in which the first four of his cavities were filled. Swear to god, I have zero tolerance for a latex allergy.

As an aside, did y'all know that when cats drink from a bowl, they take mini-breaks with their tongues? It's like lick-lick-lick-fake lick and repeat. 

I'm taking breaths where I can. Today that meant a 6-mile run in drizzling rain as well as crafting multiple raffia bows and using Stickles pretty glitter to make Thank You tags that much more special. 

A) My legs are like, "Shit, girl. Too far." But really, Some Nights and, then, Raise Your Glass (Fun./Pink) came on, and I was like, "Shit legs, this playlist is the bomb." And there you have it. Plus, I did register for that damn race, so I best get my training on.

B) Raffia bows. Raffia is an underrated craft material. It looks like something homespun from natural fibers in a fantastic shabby chic way. And then. You can stretch it to a thin, papyrus width which makes it both infinitely more elegant and fun AND all the more homespun and natural. #winning

C) Stickles. One of my top three favorite Paper Source finds. Wanna bedazzle any paper good with a bit of flair? Grab a squirt bottle of Stickles and dot away. It's upscale glitter glue y'all, and boy is it fun. A glittery golden dot at the top point of a stamped star? Fabulous! I needed those shiny little stars today.

In spite of escapist running and crafting fun though, the lows, regressive behavior, tics and generalized mayhem right now are just fucking exhausting. Tears spurt forth randomly as if I've moved into a convent of pubescent gals. I can say that because I was one. And I know.

Tonight, after many hours of loving bonding (by which I mean SO MUCH togetherness), Oliver's face crumbled, the tears poured forth as if that kid pulled his finger from the damn dike, and he begged me to "get my kitchen back." The one Santa brought three years ago and had not been played with in two. The one we sold for $50 and replaced with a pimped out, made-for-small-spaces "office" because Oliver said, "I have work to do!" 

Meanwhile, Lunatic the Elder, having spent hours waxing rhapsodic about the magical and singular experience of 3rd grade, proceeded to fall apart in a spiral of angst + ennui. "I'm OVER IT, Mom. I'm over 3rd grade." 

I attempted to make him a nice dinner, but after freaking out over black beans and a pluot, it became clear that sleep was the only solution.

Also, wine.

Scab face attempted to sneak out of bed under the guise of being "unable to cool off." He was just fishing for me to say, "Get naked, honey." So, I did. I just said, "Take your darn underpants off if that's what you want, man." 

And then I seared the heck out of some filets while masterfully keeping the insides nearly walking for T and much less so for me. And making a freaking awesome brown butter succotash'ish thingy for our side and messaging wildly with writer friends.

Cheers!

Tired because of this true story, food

Yesterday was a bit rough, culminating with me crying into a pot of beets like an extremely sad young Russian mother. More about that later. Anyway, I had two large'ish glasses of red wine, dished all over Benedict (as you know) and called it a day. At 2:30am, Oliver toddled into our room and affixed himself to my side in my bed. At 3:00am, Percy raced up the stairs like he'd neglected to pee for eight days and had just realized that the time is NOW. I got up to let him out, waited while he took his sweet time in 18° weather, let him back in and ambled back to bed. Once there, it became abundantly clear that only a person already asleep could ignore the sonorous rumble roaring from Tom. As such, I relocated to Oliver's bed. No sooner had my eyes shut than Nutmeg jumped on my stomach followed by Percy ON MY HEAD.

"What the F*(&?" I cried out, scaring the balls off both animals who fled with unusual speed.

This kind of nonsense, including a nightmare, went on and on, and I have felt like twice-flattened roadkill since 6:35am. I can't make coherent sentences for pete's sakes.

Long way of telling you that while I have much more to say, I simply cannot go on. Instead, to bed!

But I'll leave you with two pics:

• what the teary beets turned into (a lovely soup with roasted garlic, crème fraîche and chives;

• and, tonight's meal for myself: pumpkin ravioli with salted browned butter and Parmesan.

Browned butter makes everything better.

Tomorrow we get to dine alongside Gabrielle Hamilton (Prune) and hear about her new cookbook!!!!