🍴:

Mon – ramen noodle salad with Chinese sausage as inspired by this month’s Food & Wine.

Tues – cider vinegar-braised chicken thighs, also from this month’s F&W.

Wed – Domino’s. Because we won’t talk too much about what happened last night when Hampton tried to braise chicken thighs before rehearsal when he was already stressed out.

Thurs – chili/lime spiced bavette with elote-ranch corn on the cob, and a medley of veg we marinated in some habanero vodka we made de-spicing a pepper the other week.

Fri – chicken cutlets topped with prosciutto and parm via yet another new F&W recipe. Fun fact: I was so focused on the chicken, given Tuesday’s challenges, that I screwed up potatoes I have made approx. 37 times just this year 🤦‍♀️ It all worked out.

Sat – Hampton is in tech weekend, so we had linner together between his work and rehearsal: polpo e patate using our go-to octopus recipe, and our fave arugula salad with bresaola.

Sun – Hampton had to fend for his own before rehearsal, and when I got home from an afternoon out (more on that below), I did what I always do when cooking for one and attempted to recreate my favorite dish from a D.C. restaurant that no longer exists. The base is white wine and tomato paste, plus some TJ’s seafood blend and frozen peas. Salad and a crusty roll for all the sauce. Which was good — even if still not an exact dupe.

🥃: Having now grabbed several from the little market on campus, I think I can safely say I am too old for Celsius.

🐶:

These two are the biggest cuddle buddies this week.

📚: Happy pub week to What He Left Behind, by Benjamin Bradley!

Bradley’s books always feel like coming home — not just because I, too, now call North Carolina home after growing up the next state over from him.

This is a solid small town murder mystery with likable, flawed characters that feel real and familiar. Grace’s internal monologue, reliving the past and trying to figure out what it means for the present reminds me of my own brain that never shuts up and elevates this book from a simple procedural.

It’s rare to find a mystery that makes you feel more than adrenaline as the hero is chased by the bad guy, and this book is sweet and sad and hopeful on top of a classic whodunnit.

I’m also about to finish another atmospheric small-town murder mystery starring a gal who grew up there and maybe needs to leave, Bitterfrost, by Bryan Gruley. This has been very enjoyable, and I will be looking up more of the author’s back catalog.

🎭: I will write more in depth on this later next week, but what a week! Monday I did Storytime with an Opera Singer, and Wednesday I did a table read of a web series for some graduate students.

Audience-wise, this afternoon I went to Reynolda House to see the Reynolda Quartet, which is comprised of UNCSA staff. The pre-show email mentioned the museum has been especially busy with their current special exhibit, so to leave plenty of time for parking. I hustled after yoga to shower so I could park at Wake Forest University and take the casual .6 of a mile stroll over and avoid parking issues while getting some steps. It was a lovely and energetic concert. And possibly my first string quartet?