Polenta is the same thing as grits

It's happened: I'm playing Christmas music in my cubicle.  I officially don't give a shit about it anymore.  I've barely slept, I brought tomato sauce for lunch (more on that later), and someone left me a passive aggressive note about my coffee mug.  Monday, I'm over it.

This weekend was bizarre.  There was snow!  In October!  In Maryland!  What?  Yeah.  So to tally it up, it snowed in Jacksonville last year before we moved, it snowed here in late March after turning to spring, we had an earthquake the same week we had a hurricane, and now it snowed for hours (seriously...like six hours) in October.  I don't really know what's happening anymore, but I want out.

Me in the snow

Snow in our complex

At least none of it stuck.

The rest of the weekend wasn't as bizarre.  Running errands, watching movies, burning my boyfriend's leg by pouring hot chocolate on him (it was an accident!)...the usual.

Last night for dinner I was feeling especially cozy.  It's been cold here--after it snowed it dropped to the 20s, and was only in the 40s as the high yesterday--so I wanted someone hearty and warm.  I read Eat,Live,Run (two of those things I actually do) and saw the recipe for baked polenta with mushrooms, gorgonzola cheese and tomato sauce last week.  My coworker and I decided it would be delicious, and pretty easy, but why gorgonzola cheese?  It seems so strong for such a rich dish, polenta being grits and all.

That was the only thing I changed when I made it last night: We used fresh mozzarella soaked in brine as the topping.  It was delicious.  Try it!  Next time, I think I'll throw in some spinach as well.

Here's a fun little story too: I made this last night and Nick made mini pizzas for his work potluck today.  He texted me to say the pizzas failed--they all were ruined upon baking.  Poor guy.  Then I realized it apparently isn't our day today: I grabbed my tupperware to heat up my lunch and thought, wow, grits soak up all the liquid!  This is like soup!  Then I ran my spoon through my lunch.  A lightbulb went off: I grabbed the leftover tomato sauce from the pizzas instead of my lunch.  Neither of us had food.

Some days, you just wonder why you try.

I also made pumpkin spice cake with honey frosting yesterday.  I asked Nick to help so I could get back to sewing quicker.  I didn't realize the boy has never melted butter, whisked wet ingredients or mixed dry ingredients into wet before.  It was teaching time!  He doesn't like it when I teach because I'm not patient and I tend to bark orders before retracting and being nice.  Hindsight is 20/20 and much nicer.  But now he knows how to work with cake batter, and he also learned why we use silicone spatulas for pretty much everything ever.  Also, cake is always better when you've made it yourself.  He enjoyed his with a breakfast stout (not just for college students anymore) and I have been thinking about it all day.

Polenta

The layers!

Pumpkin spice cake.  Looking good, right?

Is anyone celebrating Halloween?  We bought a ton of candy in hopes that we'll have trick-or-treaters, but I'm doubtful.  That just means more for me, I know.

See yall tomorrow.  Eat your grits.