Tuesday, 8/27/24

 Another slightly odd recipe from the NYT, for a white bean salad with caramelized zucchini. Due to a slight rush job, I don't know if I would call them caramelized or just quite browned. Anyway, onions and grated zucchini are sautéed up, then mixed with white beans, herbs and some lemon juice. As written it was a bit dull and heavy; I added pickled peppers and cherry tomatoes for a bit of brightness and some parm blend for a bit more flavor. I actually think it would have been better with small pasta instead of beans, but overall it was pretty good. Jason made us a nice loaf of bread to go with it.

Monday, 8/26/24

 I wanted to try the tomato-dumpling salad while it was still fresh in my mind, so we picked up some potstickers from Aldi and gave it another go. These dumplings were definitely tastier, which was good as my tomatoes were slightly mealy. Chili crisp vinaigrette really makes the dish; next time I would like to add the optional fried shallots. I bet those French's fried onions in a can would do just fine.

Sunday, 8/25/24

 Lunch at Priya with the in-laws, which was wonderful as always but didn't exactly leave us hungry for dinner with Jen, John and Laurie. Luckily the Blue Apron du jour, tofu bahn mi, wasn't one of my favorites and I still enjoyed making it. Jason made some pita and we had that for an hors d'ouevre with hummus and goat cheese. it was great to see everyone on a really lovely summer evening but I was very, very tired.

Saturday, 8/24/24

 Very busy day (visited my dad, hung out with Ramona, Corrina and Zac, took a hike with Carter) culminated with dinner with Jay, Jodi and Sam. We made 4 pizzas of their choosing (potato being my favorite) and even had time for a game. Then I totally crashed.

Happy Belated Birthday!

Friday, 8/23/24

 Pizza night! A repeat of a ricotta-zucchini (or in this case, summer squash). Because I haven't been forthcoming with the details previously: thin layer of ricotta, very thinly sliced zucchini (salted and dried off a bit), cherry tomatoes, garlic, and a sprinkle of parmesan blend. so light and fresh tasting .I think Jason and were both disappointed with the spinach-prosciutto pie of a couple of weeks ago, so it was nice that this one turned out so well.

Thursday, 8/22/24

 How could I resist the words "halloumi croutons"? I finally got around to making pasta salad from the NYT with cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions and the halloumi. Some changes: Aldi didn't have halloumi but did have something similar with the dubious name "bread cheese" (it works fine, as it still had the same property of holding up to grilling), and I didn't have any fresh herbs on hand so I tossed in the last of the chimichurri (plus extra tomatoes). You sort of marinate the tomatoes and onions with red wine vinegar and olive oil and then mix with everything else. I thought it was so delicious; fresh and summery. Lot of room for improvisation, too.

Wednesday, 8/21/24

 A big batch of fried rice, which happily used up some odds and ends of vegetables. Instead of seasoning it much, I made another batch of chili crisp vinaigrette to be added at the table. I wasn't so excited for fried rice (I knew Jason would like it), but it turned out pretty well.

Tuesday, 8/20/4

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi...Jason made bread and pita, plus we brought some farm vegetables and all made various sandwiches. Jay had foraged a bunch of black trumpet mushrooms; since I am typing this two days later I think it is safe to assume they weren't poisonous. Exciting!

Monday, 8/19/24

 Knowing I would be tired from work, we just planned tater tot nachos. Even with the addition of some various pickled vegetables on the side you couldn't call it the most well-rounded meal, but nobody can say it wasn't tasty.

Sunday, 8/18/24

 I had been wanting to try making sabunada kichdi again and finally had the time and ingredients (even raw peanuts!). Tapioca and potatoes seems like an odd combo, but it's quite tasty, especially with some cilantro chutney we still had. Mini samosas from Aldi and a couple of cucumbers to round things out.

Saturday, 8/17/24

 Jason has been wanting to try Korean fried chicken forever, so we finally got around to attempting it. I used a recipe from the NYT which had you marinate the chicken (I used boneless thighs) in a mixture of garlic and grated onions, which struck me as weird but what do I know. You then dredge them in a cornstarch/flour blend and fry away. They are tossed in a spicy gochujang sauce afterwards, which made them a bit like the boneless wings from the Hangar, albeit much, much spicier. Jason was hoping it would be crunchier; after doing some reading it seems like double frying is the way to go for that. Still, they were hard to stop eating, being spicy, salty and a little sweet. Served with rice, kimchi and some cucumber pickles.

Friday, 8/16/24

 An enormous camp breakfast (eggs, Jason bagels, bacon), then time to pack up. John had to go back to work, so Jason, Jen and I took a more roundabout trip home, stopping at Mass MoCA and having a delicious lunch there (Casita; excellent tacos). Then home to do all the laundry, have leftover bagels for dinner and go to bed early. Camping is fun but no one sleeps well.

Thursday, 8/15/24

 Camping! We made it up to Savoy with plenty of time for a short hike and floating in the pond. Dinner was steak, tomato-mozz salad, watermelon-feta salad, corn, and chimichurri sauce (which I made by using pretty much every herb at the farm along with garlic, olive oil, red wine vinegar and hot pepper flakes). S'mores for dessert. Super fun day (and the power stayed on).

There is a loon out there somewhere

Wednesday, 8/14/24

 Jason made a loaf of bread for us, taking advantage of the only somewhat hot day. We had that with cheese, homemade pickles, and tomatoes, plus I made a batch of zucchini fritters. I used basically a recipe from SK, subbing in yellow squash and adding some nigella seeds for flavor. I love it when the summer produce starts filling our table.

Tuesday, 8/13/24

 Another odd recipe from the NYT, for cold silken tofu with a gochujang sauce. I sincerely wonder why I thought I would like this (for the record, Jason thought it was great). Cold plain tofu just felt terrible in my mouth, and no amount of tasty sauce could hide it. Luckily, I had made a nice little salad with the last of the chili crisp vinaigrette and random leftover vegetables-----when I dumped that into the tofu I could at least eat it without grimacing. Sorry Jason, this will not be going into the regular rotation.

Monday, 8/12/24

 An odd dish from the NYT that I had been wanting to try for a while: a tomato and dumpling salad with chili crisp vinaigrette. You cook up pot stickers (ours weren't the best--next time I will go to Trader Joe's) and serve them with a tomato salad. This odd sounding combination was so tasty, even with our wonky potstickers and mediocre tomatoes. I loved the flavors and want to make again soon, with better ingredients. Dessert was hamantaschen; some lekvar that we had stashed in the freezer, and some strawberry. I made the strawberry filling from a recipe from a random blog; no need to save it as it wasn't any better or thicker than jam from the store, and took forever to cook. I loved the flavor, but finally accept Jason's belief that strawberry is too wet a filling. They basically held their shape, but got soggy way too soon. Oh well, back to dulce de leche, I guess!

Sunday, 8/11/24

 Dosas (postponed from Saturday), with potato filling and the leftover sauces. I also grilled up some broccoli that was making me feel guilty; i am glad I rescued it from decline. Jason has really mastered the dosas to the point where they are as good as ones you would get in a restaurant. I'm glad we persevered. With the last bit of batter we made a couple of dessert ones, with maple syrup and a sprinkle of salt; Nutella would also have been good.

Saturday, 8/10/24

 Last minute invitation to Jay and Jodi's (how could we say no to the nephews?). Jason made pita and I was the prep cook; Sam sauteed up some cool mushrooms (hen of the woods, maybe?) and Zack, who is turning into a really good cook, made grilled chicken with a herby yogurt sauce. The usual assortment of grilled vegetables to go alongside. So fun to see the boys; I just wish Carter hadn't been at work.

Friday, 8/9/24

 Jason was still riding the wave of almost-cool mornings and made another loaf of bread to bring to Jen and John's. We also brought some beef to bulk up their meatloaf Blue Apron....served with mashed potatoes and bok choy it made for a tasty if oddly wintery meal.

Thursday, 8/8/24

 Pizza night is back! At least for this week. We invited Carter over and he was happy enough to eat his cheese pizza and the last piece of strawberry cake. Nothing like living on your own to make you appreciate your parents' cooking. We made a pizza with prosciutto, spinach, cream and cherry tomatoes, but we both felt that it wasn't as good as we remembered. Too rich? Too heavy for August? The crust was excellent, though.

Wednesday, 8/7/24

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi: Jason felt it was finally cool enough to bake a loaf of bread, so we brought that and then made turkey sandwiches with it. We also brought over some cucumber and onions, as those seem to be the farm's most reliable crops so far.

Tuesday, 8/6/24

 Eggplant grinders (using some eggplant from the freezer). We experimented with using fresh tomatoes instead of tomato sauce and I am not sure if it was an unqualified success. Maybe it would have been if we had had big juicy summer tomatoes (but we used tasty but small cherry tomatoes instead). At east it was a quick dinner to assemble.

Monday, 8/5/24

 Sushi bowl...no surimi this time, but with just Jason and me there was plenty of tuna to go around.

Sunday, 8/4/24

 A lot of cooking. We had a fancy lunch (arugula salad with fresh mozz and the best little cherry tomatoes from the farm) and corn fritters (from Paula Dean; eliminate the sugar, add a teaspoon of baking powder. Good use for lackluster corn!). Jason made dosas for dinner, and with a couple of tweaks they really turned out well this time: We got a different kind of urad dal (peeled, for the record) and he used rice flour instead of rice. Finally thin and crispy, with no grittiness. When I say Jason made dosas, I mean he literally made the dosas. I made the potato filling, tamarind chutney, and cilantro mint chutney. I used recipes from a new cookbook, "Amrikan". The chutneys were fine, but too sweet as written. I did like her method of microwaving the date-tamarind mixture since it was another hot gross day; the potato mixture was nice but I messed around with it a bit (added some pakora masala and some lime leaves). A successful dosa dinner!

Saturday, 8/3/24

 Eggplant, tofu, rice. I am trying and failing to recreate Chinese restaurant tofu with garlic sauce. This was pretty good flavor wise but failed to achieve the textures I was hoping for. I froze and thawed the tofu hoping that would help (only somewhat) and Chinese eggplant might work better than the globe style we had on hand. The sauce was cobbled together from various recipes and was tasty but nothing like that garlic sauce even a mediocre Chinese restaurant does well. Sorry, Jason! Not perfected yet. 

I also made a strawberry cake (SK) but fell asleep before dessert.

Friday, 8/2/24

 Grilled chicken with what was supposed to be chimichurri sauce. We ran into problems when Jason brought home celery leaves instead of parsley (I will say they don't look entirely un-alike, but still). So it was chicken marinated in an unusual celery sauce. Once you accepted the flavor, it was fine? Jason made us buy some corn from Stop and Shop which of course was subpar, and I made a pasta salad with grilled summer squash, cherry tomatoes and the celery vinaigrette. It was impressive that dinner made it onto the table at all since we also had Ramona all day AND picked up and assembled a bed frame for Carter's new apartment. We didn't sit down until almost 8. Absurd.

Awaiting more furniture

Thursday, 8/1/24

 One of Jason's farm friends gave him some baba ganoush, so we had that with pita and hummus, plus a little cucumber salad. Nice that summer produce is finally coming in. Since it has been too hot to make bread, Jason has been leaning more on pita to satisfy his baking urges.

Wednesday, 7/31/24

 Pasta with pepperoni, adapted from a NYT recipe. I added some summer squash, which didn't bring anything to the party but at least provided a vegetable, used less fennel seeds and pepperoni and threw in a bunch of Parm at the end. Nice quick dinner and pretty adaptable as long as you have tomato paste.