This week things started getting busier again, with in-person stuff I had to do, on top of online meetings. I went to Memorial Library twice for Friends of the Libraries book donations, and on Friday I went over to Goodman and volunteered at the food pantry.
I took hardly any pictures of food or flowers – there’s a gap in my photos from the 14th to the 18th. The picture from the 14th is a screen cap of a nice shot of her & John that Megan posted on Insta, and the 18th (first federal Juneteenth holiday observed) is the sunset.
So, I guess I won’t go into dinners for the week too much, since I didn’t record much about them, anyways, and I’m struggling to recall what was good. On Monday I fished around in the veggie bin, and dug out a shallot that I fried in olive oil, and added to some mustard and white wine vinegar, then used that to dress cherry tomatoes that we ate over lettuce topped with some cheese. Along with the last two pieces of the ham & asparagus quiche – Mark said it was a good leftovers dinner. Wednesday I made pizza, thin crust, one with salami & arugula, and one with tomatoes & fresh mozzarella. I added some sourdough discard to my regular pizza crust, and it was pretty good.
Saturday I got cherry tomatoes from the pre-order/pick-up farmers’ market, Madison Farmers Unite, and I had the first zucchini from my CSA, so I made a pasta that was a riff on this one pot cherry tomato pasta from NYT – I made a half batch of the pasta as directed, but then instead of adding kale or spinach, I fried half a pound of bulk Italian sausage (also from Madison Farmers Unite, come to think of it, Pecatonica – it’s the only way they are selling right now) , and the smaller of the 2 zucchini from my box, cubed, and dumped that over the top instead.
Sunday morning leftover pasta, didn’t get a pic Saturday night.
The real cooking adventures began Saturday morning. I picked strawberries out at Tipi – got $20-worth, almost 2 gallons, in only about a half hour of picking, but man, my hamstrings are sore from the bending. I had strawberries on my cereal when I got home.
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Speaking of sore, that was a bit of a theme – I burned the back of my arm on the oven door, checking some bread on Thursday (white sourdough that came out nice & fluffy, and also some wheat that came out oddly flat; I think because it was a soft dough, and I brushed it with egg and topped it with sesame seeds before letting it rise in the covered baker, it went sideways instead of up in the oven, the egg must’ve softened the crust) and I think I pulled something in my side pushing a big cart of bags of groceries at Goodman on Friday. Sigh. When I went to bed Saturday my left side hurt because of the pull, and my right side hurt because of my arm.
I spent Saturday afternoon making jam. Batches 2 & 3 (I made batch #1 last weekend, and there’s only one jar left, because I gave some away), 2 plastic containers in the freezer and 3 jars. I think we’ll make it through the winter! Although I do plan to give more away.
I bought a case of peanut butter to go with all the jam.
Sunday I made kimchi – we got another giant Napa in the CSA box, kinda like 2018. My CSA farmer Beth said that week 4 box was a short list, and it was in terms of the kinds of veggies, but it was still A LOT of food!
Strawberries, 1 quart
Sugar snap peas, 1.1 lb
Napa cabbage – GIANT!
Zucchini &/or summer squash, 2 -3 pieces
Red Romaine lettuce – large
Spinach, 1 medium bunch
Scallions, 1 bunch
We had blueberry pancakes for Father’s Day brunch, and again I only took a pic of the leftovers. Looks more romantic though the insta filter – see overleaf.
And we finished the day with Dad’s Day cake. Instead of filling the cake with pastry cream I used this cream cheese whipped cream from Smitten Kitchen. It’s a lot like the mascarpone whipped cream that I’ve filled strawberry cakes with before, but I didn’t have to go buy the mascarpone because we had cream cheese in the house.
