Hi, friends. We are in the home stretch: less than 9 days of school left (9 wake-ups, but two half-days). DS is suffering through one final project for social studies - a group project designing a board game around Alexander the Great. I think it is teaching him more about the horrors of group projects than reinforcing history lessons.
Boston is doing its typical early-summer weather shenanigans: 90s Thurs and Fri, then 50 yesterday and today. I’m bundled up in fleece and warm socks, again. So much for switching out summer and winter clothes today!
I didn’t make the quinoa salad for my lunches last week, so will do that today, along with the weekly batch of chicken stir-fry for DS’s lunches.
Sun: meatloaf (haven’t decided which recipe yet), potatoes (I’m planning to buy Yukon Golds, and make some mashed and some Old Bay salt and vinegar potato salad), something green
Fri: I’m thinking pizza… will buy dough for the guys and try the GF version in Baked to Perfection
Have a great week, everyone!
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Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
22
Gosh. Is it usual for schools in your area to finish for summer that early? Secondary schools here don’t close until 20/7, with primary schools not closing till 27/7. They reopen during week beginning 4/9.
Hi everyone! Everyone is back home, although not for long. Lulu’s boyfriend (!!!) lives in Florida, and is graduating from high school this week, so we’re going down so she can be there for the celebration. I’m taking bathing suits and books, although the weather isn’t looking great. Going to try to make the 12 hour drive all in one day on Tuesday- send me good thoughts please. Here’s what we ate this week:
Mon: asparagus goat cheese tart (Dinner in French), salad
Tues: chicken biryani, kachumber
Wed: carry out
Thurs: smoked trout panzanella (Venice, which was COTM last month). This was better than I’d imagined it would be, and I put dibs on leftovers, which I never do.
Fri: Durham Bulls game, Bulls beat the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp!
Sat: carry out
Sun: LLD will be cooking, I’m going to guess some sort of meaty fish with potatoes and salad.
Tomorrow will be white chicken chili (forever grateful to Autumn for this easy recipe). Then no more cooking for the week. Hope everyone has a beautiful early summer week.
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Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
24
A feeling of football euphoria descends on Casa Harters, with Manchester City’s cup final victory yesterday over our arch rivals and, historically more successful, Manchester United. The first time time the two clubs have met in the final since the creation of the competition in 1872). We have already won the Premier League and must win next Saturday’s European Champtions League final to complete an historic “treble”. If we do, you will hear my cheer where you are.
As for dinner:
Thursday - chilli (freezer brown gloop meal)
Friday - out
Saturday - pigeon breat salad to start. Braised beef, spuds, veg. Summer pudding (if blackcurrants have come into season).
Sunday - out.
Monday - cod fillet, spuds peas
Tuesday - pork chops, apple sauce
Wednesday - lamb neck fillet curry, with new potatoes and baby sweetcorn
Thursday - sausage and chips (that’s Brit chips, not Yank chips, of course)
School calendars vary by region, based on history and climate. In the Northeast, schools tends to be out from mid-June till late August/early September because of the historically agrarian economy - farms needed their kids working, not in school in the summer months! Doesn’t make sense in this day and age to have such a long break but it’s what we are used to.
Actuals for this past week, cooking for 2 in MN. Where my husband has been watering the rhubarb patch to ensure continued growth and harvests, while I’ve handled daily watering of newly-planted bushes and flower containers. It’s been an week of especially successful meals, inspired by photos from discussions here on HO and topped off with dessert favorites. And magically, an avocado was perfectly ripe after being stored since late April in my FRUIT (set to low humidity) drawer, not the VEG (set to high humidity) one.
Mon: Lunch - Reheat kebobs, salad, potato torte, rhubarb upside down cake
BAKED – rhubarb upside down cake, and also rhubarb orange pecan muffins
Dinner - Copycat KFC Bowl - Chicken over cheeey garlic mashed potatoes with corn and gravy, rhubarb upside down cake
Tues: Reheat French Dip slider sandwiches, Reheat last Kebobs, baked bean, bag salad with added tomatoes, artichoke hearts, h.b eggs. Rhubarb upside down cake w sliced strawberris
Wed: Lunch - Chimichangas (previously made & frozen), salad, Rhubarb upside down cake w whipped cream. Dinner - Salmon, Salad, Normandy Veg w American cheese, reheated dab of potatoes & gravy.
Watermelon, mandarin orange segments, Dessert -Strawberries & ice cream w Girl Scout cookies
Thurs: Lunch - Tamales, black beans/Rotel/Brown rice casserole. Dinner -Dessert first (at 4 PM) – last of this batch of Rhubarb upside down cake, with ice cream. later, Quick cucumber shrimp crab soup, (Joy of Cooking), Leftover salmon, naan bread
Fri: Walleye on hoagie bun, with lettuce and tomato, reheated quick cucumber shrimp crab soup, Watermelon.
BAKED Almond Yogurt cake, enjoyed with strawberries and whipped cream
Sat: Chicken burger cooked w lemon oil & Greek seasoning. Sliced tomato, Irish cheddar. Corn on the cob. Avocado/radish /lettuce salad inspired by WFD photo by GretchenS
Sun (today): Shrimp & diced bell peppers over cheesy grits with BBQ sauce, inspired by an Amandarama post over on the Breakfast discussion. Fresh spinach and more avocado/radish /lettuce salad, watermelon. Dessert: Strawberries and almond yogurt cake. Grits based on this Budget Bytes recipe
Boston-area schools tend to finish sometime in mid June - this is a little early for us because our district did not use any of the 5 contingency (snow) days in the calendar. They’ll go back on Aug 30.
However, other areas - especially other states - are already done for the summer! I have friends elsewhere whose kids finish this week and go back in mid August.
Yeah, our students are finishing up on June 15. The teachers go to the 16th. Then we go back the last week of August. The end of this school year can’t get here fast enough!
Interesting. Down south in London and within the M25 both types of school finish on 21st July although those who take formal exams will have effectively broken up in late May/Early June especially those who sat A-levels and anticipate going on to university.
I live in Truman’s area, greater Boston, and our schools here in eastern Massachusetts close much later (late-ish June, depending on how many days school was closed due to snow) than schools in other areas of the US, where schools close as soon as early May, and reopen in early to mid August. Here we reopen in very late August or after Labor Day, the first Monday in September. There are 180 days of school prescribed by law in Massachusetts.
Here there is at least a week (depending on days of the week around Christmas in a particular year) of “winter” vacation starting close to Christmas and ending just after Jan. 1; a week of “February” vacation, starting the the legal federal Monday holiday of Presidents Day the third Monday in February; and a week of “April” vacation, starting the Massachusetts legal holiday of “Patriots day”, the third Monday of April. Other than that, all the US legal (what I think you in the UK call bank) holidays are also for schools. Some Wednesdays now and then are “early release” days, when schools get out at noon, always on the Wednesday before the US Thanksgiving (third Thursday in November), when school is out on Thursday and the following Friday. There is no uniform Easter vacation except for Good Friday off in most school districts, and Jewish high holidays off in some districts.
It’s always interesting to me to hear about how many legal holidays there are in other countries, and for what reasons. I suspect there are more school vacation weeks in the UK and other European countries, but I could be wrong.
Lulu’s boyfriend. Yes, !!!. Best wishes for the Florida trip! Where is he going to college? Might influence Lulu’s plans?
I just made that Dinner in French goat cheese asparagus tart, which I make at least once every spring. We love it. I also made the creamy bean dish with garlic and greens from the NYT that you recommended. It’s a keeper here! It did take longer to cook than the directions specified, and I used cooked from dried beans with their cooking liquid rather than canned. And I added lots of farmers market greens: dandelion, spicy mustard, etc., that added to the cooking time. Thanks again for that recommendation.
I added the fresh lemon juice suggested in some of the NYT comments to those creamy braised beans. It is really crucial, I think. I have never cooked beans with milk before, and it is a revelation. I added a lot of Sicilian red pepper flakes, too; that goes so well with the garlic. The older adult male who lives here is terrified of calories (in other contexts, no fear of consuming many). He felt reassured that it was milk and not heavy cream.
He does love that NYT asparagus tart on puff pastry with 8 oz of creme fraiche…but that recipe is for us 8 servings, and that does reduce his fear enough to eat that enthusiastically!
Last week heralded the arrival of Copper River sockeye salmon to our neck of the woods – yay! Summer begins! As a result, one of last week’s planned stir-fry dishes was rolled to this week to make room for our favorite seasonal fish.
Still chipping away at those freezers, although it proves more difficult as summer’s bounty is all around us.
Cooking for two adults in the PNW:
FRI: Moo Goo Gai Pan (chicken with snow peas from the garden - rolled from last week). Rice.
SAT: Leftover carnitas from the freezer. Roasted squash (from the freezer). Corn tortillas (store-bought). Pico de gallo.
SUN: Beef on the grill. Creamed garden spinach (from the freezer).
MON: Lamb kebabs on the grill. Homemade pita wraps. Greek salad. Hummus.
Hi, all! Cooking for 2 in smoke-hazy Chattanooga, where I’m still dealing with Covid fatigue but using my scant energy for cooking…
Breakfast: Bran muffins from Joy of Cooking
Saturday, June 10: Zucchini and peas with grits, not semolina
Sunday: Almond-crusted chicken cutlets, potatoes, spinach salad, a simplified version of this cake, assuming energy levels have improved
Monday: Shrimp with zucchini strips, maybe a carb just to be rebellious
Tuesday: Pizza/trivia, I hope
Wednesday: Paella with lima/butter beans, not fava (broad) beans
Thursday: Scrounge
Friday: Scrounge or dinner out
Hope you in Canada and on the East Coast get a break from the smoke soon. Have a good week, and happy cooking!
Happy Friday everyone! Tomorrow will be spent at home doing chores including making a couple of batches of pesto sauce. I got some radishes in my CSA yesterday so I will use the leaves for pesto sauce. I also have a pepper leftover from last week - it is store bought for a lunch dish that I thought I was going to make this week then didn’t so I will make roasted red pepper pesto. I won’t need to buy any groceries this weekend except for some fruit for breakfast for next week so I will probably pop into the store while I am out and about on Sunday so this means I can spend the day doing something fun. Onto my menus for a solo diner in Ottawa this week:
Today: A felafel platter from a favourite restaurant near the office. Today is their last day open since they will be moving and lucky for me their new location will be a short walk from home. Apparently the building they are in will be demolished. There is a resto next door that sells arepas so I assume they will be moving too. The arepas are delicious and really popular with the local office workers so I hope they find somewhere in the neighbourhood to move to since it will be a shame if we lose another business in the area. Tonight’s dinner will be a salad.
Saturday: sausage and cornbread leftover from last weekend’s ribfest. Squash and green beans from the freezer on the side.
Sunday: Maybe a museum visit, maybe a matinée movie. Dinner will be a basa fillet cooked en papillotte with the asparagus and some of the cherry tomatoes I got in my CSA this week.
Wednesday: Chilled soba noodle salad from an old Cooks Illustrated magazine.
Thursday: Pasta night. I won’t plan anything this week since I am anticipating having a few random veggies left which I will probably stir fry then serve over noodles.
Have a nice week everyone. I hope you survive the smoke.
Hi, all. It’s a marathon weekend - with a big sprint to the finish! Last day of school on Thursday…
Sun: out (DS’s birthday party with friends before they all disperse for the summer)
Mon: stuffed peppers (Mexican-ish), green beans, maybe biscuits as I’m curious to see if the NYT recipe I really liked actually works with GF Measure for Measure flour
Tues: ranch chicken, broccoli/rice/cheese sheet pan casserole (omitting bread cubes as recipe author commented they’re not really needed, and more cheese/ no @#&&ing GF panko on top)
Weds: tortellini, red sauce, sausage, salads. Maybe I’ll see if DH can be in charge of this dinner… he is working from home on W/Th for the summer…
Thurs: chicken pot pie with cornmeal biscuits (NYT)
Fri: probably amusement park food while chaperoning DS and friends
