Seemingly endless. Or maybe it’s because this is my 1st retired Fourth.
The 4th was a Thursday so lots of people were on holiday from the 4th to the 8th. And it’s seemed holiday-mode-ish since the beginning of last week. I just deleted literally hundreds of July 4th sale emails.
Our long holiday weekend kind of started on Wednesday the 3rd. We got our new washer and dryer delivered and discovered the complications of hooking up a new fancy washer to an old house’s plumbing. When the delivery guys were installing the washer, the shut off knob on the hot supply line to the washer broke off, so we had to shut off the water at the main. Then the washer just didn’t seem to be getting enough water coming in to run a load, so we shut everything off again to check and there was all this rusty gunk in the line. Who knows if it’s from the pipes or the water heater or from turning the water off and on at the main. I never got a whole load of sheets to wash properly, so I spent 4th of July morning at the laundromat.
I ate the last piece of the new improved zucchini bread at the laundromat while I was waiting for the wash to finish. About 1/6 of this little loaf.
I did get a cold, small, delicates, load to run OK later on July 4. And the new dryer was dented so the guys took it away and Mark re-hooked up the old one so we’d have a dryer. In case we could do laundry, ha. The (next) new dryer comes Tuesday. And the plumber comes Friday to look at the pipes. I’m dreading how much else will need replaced.
Jasper was here too while the washer was getting unloaded and we were trying to remember where the main water shut off was. He had had a hot coffee incident at home, and a first thing in the morning trip to the Urgent Care. Mostly he did OK but during music class he fell and took it harder than he usually would so we left early. Here he is recovering with Appo and Elmo.
4th of July itself was kind of rainy, plus it was just the two of us, so we kept things really simple. After the laundromat I took a quick bike ride to the coffee place and only got rained on a little. For dinner I made hot dogs with some bacon jam, and potato salad. Ice cream with blueberry compote for dessert. No pics. No outdoor fireworks tho we watched some on TV.
On the 4th, I made yet another batch of focaccia for the sandwiches for the picnic (see below). I’d had two focaccia fails, one so bad that I just ground it all up into breadcrumbs. That was using the recipe that made perfect sandwich focaccia when Ethan and Megan and Rowan visited for Memorial Day. Then I tried using my regular sourdough recipe and I think it actually rose OK, I just put too much dough into the loaf and not enough into the focaccia. On the 4th I used my sourdough recipe again, and even though the pic shows a 13 x 9 and an 8 x 8 pan, I actually made a small round loaf, and a big rectangle. They finally worked.
Third try focaccia
We started July 5th with a rainy walk to coffee, then we took the bus to Milwaukee to see the Baseball Project at Summerfest. The timing didn’t really work out for us to see much of any other bands, but we saw the Summerfest parade and ate Dan Dan noodles, made by Chef Dan who almost won Top Chef this season. Chef Dan was in almost to the end, and shoulda won, as I was immediately told by the guy who overheard me mistakenly telling Susan that I thought he got dropped out early. So Milwaukee, sticking up for their guy.
Rained on lilies; this is actually Tuesday, but they were still wet on Friday and a bit more open
The building in Milwaukee with the flame on top seen from the bus. The bus had to wait while they opened a drawbridge for a few boats that didn’t seem big enough to need it – Mark said it was a pontoon boat.
Baseball Project, soundcheck, Always 1976
Saturday we had a little picnic that I originally called a backyard cookout, but I decided I’d rather do a picnic than grilling and thenn we moved it to the porch due to damp and mud and bugs.
I made focaccia sandwiches and oven s’mores and rhubarb cream cheese handpies.
The tuna one, pan bagnat, under construction
Caprese. There was a muffuletta too, kind of non-traditional – it had ham and salami and giardiniera without added olives. It was properly round, though
It was a great menu for ease. I actually got everything set up and then sat and waited for the guests. Instead of running around getting charcoal fires going.
Jasper was up north with Emma’s whole family and he had s’mores too.
They have a lot of 4th of July appropriate outfits.
Sunday morning it was still a little drizzley so I drove to Susan’s to go to the egym at the Y. I was thinking about making zucchini quiche, still have four zucchinis from CSA in the fridge, but again lazy and made potatoes and a cheese omelette and leftover focaccia toast and salad for Sunday brunch. Tonight we’ll have zucchini and cherry tomato and corn pasta. (it was good – follow the link to the recipe) I was thinking about trying zucchini baba ganouj as an app for the picnic, but Susan brought cowboy caviar and chips, so there was plenty and I’m glad I didn’t make it. Lazy is a theme; hey it’s a holiday.
I’m also all prepared to make the zucchini & chicken casserole that you’re supposed to make with stuffing mix and canned mushroom soup, since I made croutons (from the failed focaccia) and mushroom sauce.
We wrapped up the weekend with the Waco Bros. and Jon Langford at the Bur Oak.
