Libs,

As you know, I started my new job this week, which is at the same time exciting and exhausting. Meeting new people (whose names I can never remember), learning new systems while still trying to be efficient and accurate – it’s daunting.

But, as I am sure you will agree, all of that takes a second to the emotional toll of leaving the littles for 12 hours at a time. My kids have always had a caretaker, because I have always worked. Full-time with my first, and part-time now, but still – they know what it means when “Mommy has to work today.”

June is great about it – this is old news to her and she knows the drill. She will still get to go to all of her classes and have her play dates – her day will go on as usual. And Harvey is a baby – too young to really know the difference. So it should be easy peasy, right? Well…

The last few days I have worked, Harvey has been rejecting the bottle. Like, hard core, no way, don’t-put-that-in-my-mouth-or-I-will-have-a-melt-down-that-lasts-for-hours kind of way. I pump the milk for all of his bottles, so it's not like he’s getting something he doesn’t know. And up until about 2 weeks ago, he has taken a bottle just fine.

But, apparently, my working more days has translated into his having more bottles and he is just not happy about it. The last two days I have worked, he has gone on a complete hunger strike and waited over 10 hours until I get home to eat. Have you ever gone 10 hours without eating??? I’d like to think I have, but even if so, they were never waking hours.

So, when I get home, the kid is red-faced and listless and starving. He’ll spend the next 30-60 minutes nursing on and off, fall asleep, then wake up every 3-4 hours over night to make up for his daytime Ramadan-style fast.

Which is how I ended up making biscuits. Today, I am off and Harvey has been up since 4am, nursing and making up for lost meals. June loves making breakfast together and, last night, when I asked her what she wanted this morning, she said biscuits.

I have to reiterate my love for Deb Perleman of Smitten Kitchen - the woman rocks. And so do her best-ever buttermilk biscuits. They come together quickly, taste AMAZING (think flaky, buttery, pie-crusty biscuits) and the pre-shaped dough literally freezes for months (I was cleaning out the freezer recently and found one dated January of this year. It went into the oven and 18 minutes later, heaven!!).

So, I will get out all the ingredients and when June gets up we will measure and stir and shape and bake. We will eat them with jam and butter and mascarpone. I will drink coffee - lots of it. And Harvey will watch intently, making sure I’m not going too far with his next meal – which will not be from a bottle.

Best Ever Buttermilk Biscuits (From Smitten Kitchen's My Favorite Buttermilk Biscuits)

Oven at 400. Cover baking sheet with parchment paper.

2 ¼ C (280 g) all-purpose flour

2 t to 1 ½ T (10-20 g) sugar, to taste

1 T (15 g) baking powder

¾ t (5 g) salt

¾ t baking soda

9 Tlbsps (125 g) chilled, unsalted butter, cut into small chunks

¾ C (175 ml) buttermilk

Whisk dry ingredients together. Add butter and with pastry blender or cool fingertips, work butter into flour mixture until pea sized clumps are formed. Ad buttermilk and stir until just combined and dough is just coming together. Dump out of bowl and need a few times. Pat into round disc, approximately ¾ inch thick. Using biscuit cutter, cookie cutter or knife, cut out biscuits. Transfer to prepared baking sheet and put in oven, cooing approximately 12 - 15 minutes.

Alternatively, freeze shaped dough on cookie sheet until hard, then store in Ziploc bag. Probably best within 3 months, but as above, 6 months didn’t seem too bad either. Bake directly from freezer, adding an extra few minutes to baking time.

PS. Try eating just one...