And what did I make of it? Friday it was still ridiculously hot, and we went out to dinner, at Madison’s star chef gastropub, Graze – the place Tory Miller opened so he could serve burgers and pork buns and fried cheese curds – sometimes there’s even poutine on the menu.
Yesterday, Saturday, was mostly just farmers’ market and errands. I made granola. I did the AFS host family refresher training, since it looks like we will have a student from Germany moving in in the fall. We went to see a local theater production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s Iolanthe. (it was good, but unfortunately the actresses playing Iolanthe and the Faery Queen – big parts – could not sing)
It cooled off drastically last night, even though it never really rained. Sunday morning I went for a walk and admired the lilies. MapMyWalk said I only went 1.8 miles, but I know I was out there for an hour, so I know it was closer to 4 miles – I think I suspended MapMyWalk accidentally, maybe by taking pictures.
I cleaned the cat litter – mopped the floor and put down new newspaper. Made an apple cake for breakfast, using Deb Perelman, a.k.a. Smitten Kitchen, Big Crumb coffee cake recipe. It’s designed for rhubarb, and the first time I made it I felt like there was not quite enough fruit, so I used a whole pound of apples – the first apples to appear at the farmers market, Lodis – instead of the ½ pound originally called for. The Lodis turned out to be very tart, so rather than reducing the sugar as Deb suggests, for when using alternate fruits to rhubarb, I actually added an extra tablespoon to the filling. Good thing, too, because I forgot to put the sugar in the cake part – although we all agreed that you do not miss it – the filling and crumb were plenty sweet.
I made a strawberry apricot pie, for an annual party that one of our librarian friends always puts on – a potluck where everything has to be pie – sweet or savory, you name it, but pie. It’s in a park, and in the shelter, but there was a massive downpour right when we were going to leave the house, so we wimped out. Leaves more pie for us <grin>.
I made part of a 16th birthday present I’ve been plotting for my niece, but I don’t want to post pictures till I give it to her next weekend. Speaking of pictures, I scanned a bunch of old photos for my brother – they’re all here, but I picked out my faves and added them to the slideshow below.
I answered a few work emails, and checked in to my online course a few times – of course, I could do more, but I just might wait till the weekend is over.
