June 28, that is. Just a reminder. Here’s the original announcement. I am still checking out picnic sites and places with parking. Details, soon, I promise! In the meantime, stock up on beach blankets, sunscreen, and charge those camera batteries!
Poodelate. Well, it made sense at the time.
Revolufried? We couldn’t decide if it meant some newfangled frier machine that revolves, or some wonderful new fried food that was so revolutionary that it was, well, revolufried! (And really, it’s all my fault, because I was the one who played Wii on the second turn and got the “that’s not really a word” ball rolling.)
Missing from the pictures? Vacake. As in, you bring a cake to a party, but then leave early and take the cake with you when you go, instead of leaving it for the rest to enjoy. As in, “Aw, man, Shelly made this awesome Angel’s Food, but then she went and vacaked before Stan got any.”
Hope your weekend was full of drunken scrabble goodness.
Take some israeli couscous (pastina would work fine, too), cooked 15 min. in olive oil and double the amount of water. Put chopped thin asparagus on top the last 7 mins., uncovering the pot halfway to make sure the water is absorbed. Pour the hot couscous and asparagus into a bowl, add one bunch chopped raw scallions and one julienned (Boston Organics) zucchini. Stir. Dress while warm with a fresh herb pesto made of olive oil, 1 branch rosemary, and generous amounts of parsley and basil, the zest of one lemon, and the juice of 1 1/2 lemons. Adjust for salt and pepper– I added a fair amount of lemon pepper seasoning. When cooled, stir in chunks of goat cheese or feta. If the salad absorbs all the liquid as it cools, add the juice of another 1/2 lemon and a splash of olive oil just before adding the cheese, to moisten. If you leave the cheese out, you might consider putting in more herbs right before serving.
This should be a more-vegetable-than-couscous salad, with the starchy couscous just a hint of sweetness against the predominating flavors and crunch of the vegetables.
I am not a gardener. My proudest accomplishment is not killing the Spawn of Larry the Jade Plant, a jade plant at my brother-in-law’s work the size of a triceratops. But I have always helped my Dad plant his garden, and harvesting’s not a problem– I am a cook, a former CSA sharer, and a lover of vegetables. I am all about helping harvest, helping bed the strawberries and braid the drying garlic. I so enjoy the fruits and flowers of a garden, and I relish the metaphors that the concepts of growing, tending, and nurturing that gardens lend to speech, as well as the creative flowering of thoughts and deeds that gardening inspires. Which is why, among many other reasons, I so enjoy reading the posts that Cathy at Growing Curious and Angelina at Dustpan Alley share with us. I’m a gardening lurker, a vicarious farmer. Maybe someday I’ll manage not to kill those herb pots on my windowsill, and tend my own, for once. Here are recent posts from Cathy and from Angelina that made me want to get my grow on.
My husband’s coworker, Amy, recently started a website to showcase her lovely mosaic boxes, wall hangings, and mirrors, at Riverview Crafters. She makes things like the box, below, and I’ve seen them in person– they’re beautiful and unusual. Amy’s a talented artist– she also has her priorities right and has insisted that the BH needs to go to a trade show in Vegas in the fall, especially once she heard I’d never been there. Of course, I’m far less likely to gamble, and far more likely to do the desert tourism and Hoover Dam stuff, dork that I am. I do love me some desert. Anyway, here’s an example of one of Amy’s boxes:
Personally, I’m hankering over this mirror for the front hallway. Got that, Better Half? It’s never too early to start Christmas or anniversary or birthday shopping.
