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Friday, October 16, 2015

Winner, plus Misc. Complaints, plus Smoky Shrimp!

Ben's friend Ava made me this card. Right? When she's famous, I'll auction it at Christie's and use the profits to commission a Cheeto-shaped house.
And the Free-Form Give-Away winner is. . . zameander! Because she wrote this haiku:

Whoa! ANOTHER hair?
Overnight, and wiry, black?
ANOTHER hair woe.

 Zameander, please send me your address and the name of the book you would like. Did I promise the winner would be randomly chosen? I hope not! I love you all, and thank you for playing along and for your sweetest congratulations. When I was pitching that new book a while back, I included some of your nagging write-another-book emails. Seriously. I think that's what did the trick.

Ben, doing his calculus homework. Inside a huge box. Because.
Meanwhile. I sewed the spots onto Ben's cow costume for him. Seriously. After swearing on a stack of a thousand copies of Jessica Lahey's brilliant book that I would not help him with it, especially since he left it until the last minute (they celebrate at school today). What is he now, 40? And I'm still doing this? He teased me this morning that I was going to be the mom in Love You Forever, only instead of sneaking in with a ladder and rocking his middle-aged self in my lap, I was going to sneak in and sew his Halloween costume. "Do you think I wanted to sew it?" I asked and he said, "I'm guessing you must have, since you did." That is food for thought. The problem with that kid is that he is so funny and charming that I am doing things for him before I even realize I've agreed to. Dangit. But maybe that's a good life skill, being so funny and charming that people can't help doing stuff for you? I am still thinking through it. Plus, he has been taking such excellent care of his sister, who is now at his same school. Who could begrudge him a couple of cow spots? Sigh.


Luckily, the half a bottle of pinot noir I drank while sewing cow spots encouraged me to mend our (cat's) couch, which I am thrilled about. (I still think "Drunk Mending" would be a great book series.)


The recipe for today is Smoky Shrimp with Garlic and Olive Oil, which someone requested, and which I can't believe I'd never moved over until now. It is still a great favorite around here, and if shrimp were free, I would make it every night. Unfortunately, only black walnuts and dandelion greens are free, and I'm just not getting a real dinner feeling off of them. Have a wonderful weekend. xo
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15 comments:

  1. Claire Davis3:51 PM

    OMG, I did the same thing to my (cat's) couch, and I thought it looked so good that I considered covering the whole thing in patchwork. I would totally buy anything called "Drunk Mending". And I am dying to see the cow costume! Happy Halloween to you all!

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  2. dale in denver5:42 PM

    I loved that Haiku when I read it in the comments. Such powerful poetry.

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  3. Tara6:17 PM

    Do your kids think it's weird that middle-aged ladies of the internet are wishing to see their Halloween costumes? I hope not. I love the couch.

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  4. sunshine state mom8:35 PM

    Friend, do you have enough black walnuts? Do you need 100,000,000 more, or perhaps 20 trees? Come to NC, where you can listen to them drop all night long, followed by the squirrel debates ("mine mine, no, mine mine') Like you, they don't inspire dinner feelings in me. If only shrimp fell all night long.

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  5. Caroline12:32 PM

    2010?? You posted that originally in 2010? Because when I saw you were re-posting I thought, "she's nuts. She just posted that here last summer or something." Yikes. This time-slipping-away-from-me thing really sneaks up on me sometimes. But this recipe is very beloved around here. It is so, so good.

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  6. Kelly O.1:24 PM

    I want Ava art!

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  7. elspeth9:42 PM

    I love the mended couch! Nice to know that others are like me. Yes to drunk mending.
    And the haiku! Love it.
    And Ava's card!

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  8. Magpie8:09 PM

    Drunk mending, eh? Maybe I'll attack some socks.

    Acorns are also free. However reading about what one needs to do to make them palatable is off-putting. (Why yes, I googled that today after the child and I discussed how much fun they are to crush if you are wearing clogs.)

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  9. Monica9:16 AM

    This is dinner tonight! THANK YOU!

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  10. Anonymous9:57 AM

    Me, too! Happens to be my dinner tonight. Bought a bag of frozen shrimp on sale over the summer and forgot about it. Yeah! I know the last thing anyone needs is more pasta, but I have to admit that the sauce tastes really good when you serve it over angel hair pasta. I love the couch. --Cathy K

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  11. Modern Day Ma12:05 AM

    Love this recipe! I am going to excavate the deep freezer tomorrow and see if maybe there is a bag of shrimp hiding in there. If I bought it long enough ago, it might feel free.

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  12. Andrea11:51 AM

    I'm still waiting for "Craft and Curse" or was it "Swear and Sew"? Drunk mending can be the sequel (or prequel? or in honor of the new Star Wars, a seven-episode trilogy).

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  13. Betsy5:02 PM

    Piggybacking onto the success of your butternut squash galette (also: goat cheese!), we made the smoky shrimp last night! We had to throw in some orzo because we knew we would fight over the hypothetical small child's serving if we didn't have some carbs, too. We were all very happy, and felt it was such a virtuous meal that tonight we are having Trader Joe's appetizers.

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  14. Allyson3:56 AM

    Just wanted you to know that I pre-ordered your book. Can I request that you write a cookbook next? Complete with all the stories that accompanied your recipes on the Family Fun website before they got rid of them all, because they are apparently insane? I would buy the hell out of that book, just so you know. And I'm quite sure I'm not the only one.

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