Deb's Lunch … and dinner and breakfast too

Still with the peaches, and the blue bowl cereal bowl I bought from King Arthur Flour, that I like to use for ice cream or oatmeal or yogurt and granola.

Greek yogurt topped with granola, Door County peaches, and a raspberry or two

I’ve got the house to myself this weekend – Mark & Ethan & Abby went to Lollapalooza, but my distance students’ week long orientation starts Monday, and I didn’t think I could take the time – not to mention getting back to Madison at like 2:00 a.m. Monday. Al (& Emma) was here last night, but they headed back to camp early this morning. Rachael’s wrapped up a week of her little brother & fiance getting a big chunk of her kitchen remodel done, and Isaac’s gone back to Pittsburgh, and Rach & Iain have gone to Door County. And John lives in Milwaukee.

Yesterday I blew my chance to get to the Farmers’ Market early – Mark likes to sleep later on Saturdays than I do – but even though he wasn’t here, I puttered too much, paid bills, cleaned the cat litter, talked to Rach on the phone  … I really don’t know what the hell I did between 6:30 a.m. and  8:50 when I finally headed to market, roughly the same time as I would have gone if Mark was here – and it was ridiculously crowded, of course. At least I biked.

And it was a good thing that I biked to the market, because Ann & Lou & I were planning to bike to the the Sugar Maple Fest, but thunderstorms were threatening, so we drove. I got to see the band I wanted to see the most – The Tillers; got one of their albums playing in my iTunes now. Lou & Ann were going to be out there until 8:00 or 9:00, though, so I grabbed a ride back with Heike & her granddaughter – in the midst of the heaviest rain. So I missed the Mike Seeger tribute, and I kind of liked the band who was playing when we left – the String Ties – tho I was making fun of them to Steve, because in their band bio it says the band “calls the hills of the upper Mississippi home” – which seemed to me a funny way to say Minnesota.

Al was here when I got home, and I made corn pudding for dinner, with the 6 ears of good corn I bought at the market in the morning – nicer than the shrivelled stuff we got last week, that I made into corn salad – and some key lime bars for them to take back to camp.

Today is probably the nicest morning we’ve had yet this summer – blue, blue sky, 70s, breezy – so after Al & Emma took off, I biked to the eastside co-op (stopping at my office to pick up this handout I got at a workshop this spring, that I need to re-type for the icebreaker at bootcamp tomorrow – stupid piece of paper; it’s been at home when I need it at work, and now at work when I need it at home …) Came home for breakfast, and, once I finish this post, no more excuses for not working. Sigh. But if I   get done soon enough, I could head out for another ride, maybe with a stop to sit somewheres outdoors with coffee or a beer and a book.

Solitary Sunday Breakfast: my wheat rolls with Jaarlsberg & Matt Smith little orange tomatoes, Tipi produce melon from my CSA box, iced coffee, Sunday NYT

Peach, cherry and the 3 old apples, all different varieties, that had been rolling around in the bottom of the fruit drawer in the fridge since May.

Ate supper by myself tonight – there was a yellow summer squash casserole, too, for the 2nd course.

Ramen salad, end of the loaf of ww bread with Jaarlsberg & yellow tomatoes & tabasco, and Storm for Crows

On Tuesday, my friend and neighbor Ann had sort of a repeat of the dinner I made for her last Wednesday – about 20 people, I made a bunch of salads, and desserts, and she grilled brats. This time, they had:

• potato salad – a really nice one; little yellow potatoes from the farmers market, sweet Walla Walla onions from my CSA box, lots of fresh parsley and hard-boiled eggs, also from the farmers market, and mayonnaise from the Hellman’s jar. I made it Monday night (whilst recovering from colonoscopy), and chilled it overnight – then, since the potatoes had soaked up a bunch of the mayo, I sort of frosted it with a little more mayo, dusted it with paprika, and sliced the last HB egg on top.
• Ramen salad (this recipe, but less sugar; 1/2 cup to 3 packs of ramen – 1 1/2 X the recipe) and left out the seasoning packets from the ramen) – again a good one, with CSA box cabbage and shredded salad turnips, and shredded carrots, too.
• Big lettuce salad with a mustard-y dressing, and hunks of good tomato, with croutons – buttery, herb-y, homemade ones, olives & feta on the side.
• Fruit salad: watermelon, cantaloupe, honey dew, pineapple, and grapes
• Brownies (came out oddly dark around the edges, but I’m sure they were still good) and vegan chewy oatmeal cookies

This time, I didn’t stick around and eat – my loss. After leaving all the good food at Ann’s, I went home and reheated the last brat from Saturday and ate it wrapped in a tortilla – not so good. I finished about half of it, and had graham crackers and Nutella for my real main course.