🍴:

Mon – Hampton had to be at auditions before I got home from dance class, so, as per usual when cooking solo, I attempted to recreate my favorite seafood antipasti from a restaurant that no longer exists in D.C. I was so ready to eat I had my arugula salad while cooking and it wasn’t my best recreation but still a dang delight.

Tues – Basic Taco Tuesday. We debated fancy tacos, but it’s been a long few days. We did bust out some Rancho Gordos, at least.

Wed – Chicken And Sweet Potato Skillet With Smoky Maple-Dijon Sauce, arugula salad

Thurs – veal (plus leftover grilled portobello slices from a board meeting) piccata with mash and arugula salad

Fri – Moroccan meatballs with cardamom and lemon, harissaish roasted cauliflower, pomegranate molasses-glazed carrots, quickle with Tan-Tan and zhoug.

Sat – Creamy Lemon Pasta with Lobster and tiny catering shrimp leftover from a board meeting, arugula salad

Sun – bone-in pork chops with a creamy tapenande? tzatziki with olives? Whatever, we just added diced olives to a rando yogurt/dill sauce leftover in the fridge. Pan-roasted teeny tiny potatoes with roasted red bell pepper and feta, arugula salad.

🥃: The Cauldron Creations was swapping out autumnal teas, so I hurried up and bought three packs of my fave (so far) before the midnight deadline only to do something wrong so PayPal sent me five confirmations AND forgetting I had a discount code for being a monthly mystery box subscriber, but Hestia applied it anyone and sent a refund. That’s customer service!

But also, this tea wasn’t one of the ones being phased out. My bad. So go buy some for yourself!

🐶: Libby continues to excel at being comfortable.

📚: Working on my NetGalley catchup and read one white lady thriller that I super liked, The Storm by Rachel Hawkins, who is very consistent, and one white dude thriller that shall remain nameless. I’m about to have 12 hours in the car this week, so come on, getting that feedback ratio out of the 50% range… you know, so I can get even more books on my TBR list. Bless Minotaur Books for all their recent Read Now (no matter what your feedback ratio) options!

🎭: Adult ballet started winter break, so to fill time, UNCSA’s Prep Dance and Community Music School added a four-week contemporary jazz class and IT WAS SO FUN. I wasn’t at all sad I skipped the gym that morning because Fayth gave us a great workout. My dear Ethan and two colleagues with extensive dance backgrounds joined, as well as a ballet class friend, so feel free to give me an account credit for marketing any time, UNCSA 😉

I’ve talked the past two weeks about Hampton directing The Seagull, and I didn’t have Chekov on my bucket list but here we are. Apparently the only person my husband could see as the self-absorbed aging actress was… his wife. I kept hoping someone better would show up so I could get out of it — until I got to audition and read it out loud opposite Ethan and another friend, Ken Ashford, who was just my fiancé in the Moredreadi! staged reading a few weeks ago.

This cast is pretty dang stacked, and I’m excited to hear the read tomorrow night*. ….Ethan and I will be late because of dance class, but that’s what happens when you cast triple threats 🤗

*I swear, I had this drafted on time for once, I just forgot to publish it.