All you’re hearing is about back to school sales. Some kids start back at school this month. Some don’t start until early September.
But lots of parents are already doing the Staples Back To School commercial Dance Of Joy.
And later in August? We’ll start hearing about PUMPKIN EVERYTHING. Which I know everyone loves. (NOT!)
Christmas decorations are fighting with Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations already on store shelves. I swear, if I see Valentines’ hearts before New Year’s, someone’s gonna get hurt.
Meanwhile, those who are still sweltering in the heat are trying to enjoy cookouts, camping, cookouts at camp, cookouts on the deck, cookouts on the lake, pond, cleaning the grill for yet more cookouts, fresh sweet COTC and homegrown tomatoes, and trying to foist off on neighbors the rampant zucchini and summer squash that you grew too much of.
WFL, including some delicious Jamón Iberico that my niece kindly brought back from Spain
It’s the real deal and fekkin delicious subbed whole grain crackers for crusty bread because I’m seeing both my endocrinologist AND my doctor later this week and I don’t want to freak them out The crackers actually worked really well with this.
Dinner report in real-time, 7 pm is our usual mealtime. Burger sliders on pretzel rolls for Spring Onion (forgot to take a pre-dinner photo, so action shot below). He said they are good. Leftover halibut with liberal lashings of S&B chili crisp, leftover Korean-ish cukes, and celery marinated in the leftover cuke marinade (because that’s how Korean home cooks roll…we re-use/re-purpose; little goes to waste). I found mushrooms that survived while we were away so I sautéed those in the same pan that I cooked SO’s burgers (in butter and burger fat and deglazed with mirin). TJ’s vegan bulgogi strips, which we haven’t tried before — B was dubious but I topped them with the mushroom pan juices and he’s like, “not bad.” My “proprietary” rice mix (random amounts of Himalayan red rice, forbidden rice, farro, tiny bit of white short grain).
Oven went out a few days ago. Service guy will be here tomorrow. My grandkids are here tonight. Yah! So King Ranch chicken egg noodle casserole, stove top style. They like it and so do I… Probably hot buttered salty popcorn for dessert. And movies!
Love fresh Jalapeño, never can finish even the half dozen or so we bring home. Recently started slicing and “pickling” in pickle marinate/juice. Bingo!!
I now even do a simple marinate of vinegar/water/sugar and whatever. Not really trying to embellish the flavor, just nice to have Jalapeño ready to go instead of having to open a can.
Tonight a NYT recipe for grated tomato pasta. Very simple and delicious. Fettuccini, grated garlic, grated tomatoes, a little white wine, pepper flakes, parm. Served with mesclun salad and garlic bread. Son took the leftovers home for his lunch tomorrow.
I went to a lecture at an art gallery with a friend after work today then dinner at an Indian restaurant. We both ordered a thali with lamb as the protein and it was delicious. There were nine small vessels on the plate each with a different dish and with the exception of one I liked all of them. The thali included chana masala, zucchini stewed in tomatoes, stewed lamb, a paneer dish (it was in a white sauce but didn’t taste like coconut milk), turmeric rice with shaved coconut (this is the dish I didn’t like), raita, a squash curry and rice pudding. There was a pureed dish on the plate as well but neither my friend nor I knew what it was. The thali included rice, naan bread and much to my delight a papadum. For some reason papadum is hard to come by where I live so I think I am going to have to learn how to make it. No pictures this time because we were too busy scarfing down dinner The mango lassi I had with dinner was also very good.
Kuku sabzi tonight for me. I had a TON of herbs leftover from the weekend, and used some up in this Persian herbaceous frittata i used to make very often. (BF is dealing with major dental issues, so he’s making soups for himself, ad infinitum, poor guy. even this would have been too hard on him.) I had a fat slice with a bit of yogurt, a few chopped pistachios on top, and a couple triangles of pita, which i forgot to take a pic of. Turned out juicy and tender inside, super herby, and tasted wonderful, despite how dark it looks. I love the flavor of the fresh herbs, fenugreek and turmeric in this eggy dish. And this time, I used baking POWDER instead of baking SODA; i shall not make that particular error again.
subbed whole grain crackers for crusty bread because I’m seeing both my endocrinologist AND my doctor later this week and I don’t want to freak them out 
The crackers actually worked really well with this.
