Ok, friends, I have finished mourning Benedict because, in the oh-so-truthful words of my trainer, "he was never yours anyway, girlfriend." True that. People, look at what my darling Oliver chose to wear to school yesterday:

Today he went for a different vest/jacket/bowtie mash-up, and I was newly grateful for Jack having gone through the "fancy dress" phase several years ago: back-up clothing stashes are clutch!

After feeding the boys army-sized portions over the course of three separate dinners last night, I got them to bed and busied myself making a good, good meal. I'd bought a gorgeous hunk of Chilean Sea Bass and also had a pound of Brussels sprouts that I wanted to use.

For the sea bass I made a marinade of Mirin, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar and jalapeños. While that enjoyed its soak, I considered the fact that my stove was so very clean, so shiny and neat. Imelda had just worked her twice-monthly magic, and thus I couldn't possibly make my Crispy Brussels Sprouts -despite how delicious they are- because as y'all probably know, having a clean stove is a rare thing. It certainly is in my house. I couldn't bear to splatter it with oil after just a couple hours.

Instead, I made the recent winner of Food 52's Your Best Green Holiday Side contest: Brussels Sprouts with Pears and Pistachios by Bevi. I had a Bosc pear at the ready and love anything with pistachios, so there you have it. I shaved ten minutes off the cook time and would recommend doing that unless your sprouts are extremely large or you like them extremely done. With that minor tweak though, this was very delicious, and I happily enjoyed the rest of the batch today for lunch!