Deb's Lunch … and dinner and breakfast too

Yesterday I got home from work a little early, and decided to do some cooking. Sometimes when you try to do too much …. I tried this Chez Pim pie crust for a cherry pie with the cherries we brought back from our Washington Island trip. And I read “8 oz. butter” as one stick – thinking 8 tablespoons, I guess. And I wondered why the crust seemed so dry ….  I tasted a piece, baked as a pie crust cookie with cimmy sugar, and it was fine – but not significantly better than my standard. Guess now I know why.

I also made a round challah for Rosh Hashanah – or could’ve been shabat, since it was Friday night. On tasting it today, it seems a little dry – I think I overbaked it a bit. Sigh.  But it will be good for grilled cheese sandwiches or French toast – maybe my new favorite grilled cheese – sharp cheddar with American Spoon tomato jam – Hey David – your sister eats cheese sandwiches with jam, too.

I made stir fry beef and separate veggies with tofu, and rice cooked in my own home made veggie broth for supper – that was all good. And I blanched and skinned and bagged and froze 1/3 of my 25-pound CSA box of tomatoes, and right before I went to bed, I put in another 1/3 to slow roast. They came out fine, too – this is an earlier batch, but these looked a lot the same.

So now I guess I’ll just have to try that crust again, I want to make tomato tart with some of that last 1/3 of the tomatoes, and I also have leeks for a leek tart this week. I have brunch tomorrow, but I’m making potato pancakes, not pies, and they’re gonna be potato-carrot, not zucchini. At the farmers’ market this morning, I concluded that zucchini vines must die off from frost sooner than the cucumbers because everyone had cukes, and no one had zucchini. I also just decided, whil riding my bike back from the library, that grated carrot in the cakes would be better than grated butternut squash – because raw grated carrot is a lot tastier than underdone squash.

I guess it’s really fall, but somehow I’m not adjusted yet. I still feel like it should be summer. Today it’s dreary and raining – I guess that should convince me. I biked to an 8:00 a.m. meeting on the east side, and then left my bike in a friend’s garage and took the bus back downtown. Which meant I got to see a pretty serious 2 car collision on E. Washington, while I was waiting in front of the high school for my bus, only about half a block from School Woods. I was facing east – watching for the bus – and I heard a squeal of brakes and turned around to see a big white van broadside a grey sedan. I think maybe the car ran the red light; the van was in the right – but I really didn’t see. I called 911, but while it was ringing the cops pulled up, so I hung up. Just as my bus appeared, the 911 operator called my phone back, and I gave my name and the location of the accident, and thankfully, got to leave it at that because I really didn’t see. I got to hang up and get on the bus.

Anyways, last night I made what’s usually the first dish of fall for me – a winter squash gratin with a herb-y, wine-y, tomato sauce and cheese – Gruyere, or last night I used aged Gouda and some Parmesan.  And gosh-a-rooni, looks like I felt the same last year in September. Cooked the same dish – this year, I roasted the delicata squash rings in the oven instead of frying; used a couple of sprigs of rosemary I’d been keeping in a glass on the counter and a bay leaf and red wine in the sauce; used that last lonely onion from the downstairs fridge instead of leeks; 3 little squashes and 5 tomatoes – but, really, the same. Creature of habit – or old and set in my ways.

One of last year's shots, suitably faded & bordered - tho I didn't go as far as sepia-toning

So far there’s no at&t cell service whatsoever on washington island – thank you AT&T – so we’re at a bar w/ free wifi & a giant black lab sticking his nose in our laps & old guys in the corner playing jazz. I’m still feeling not quite right – I can’t live like Mark does, on a mocha and a banana all day till 8:00 p.m. I get too hungry. I usually eat about half my caloric allotment during the day – 900 calories or so – in small meals like a yogurt & granola and later a bagel with peanut butter or fruit or cheese and crackers and cherry tomatoes. Then I have a smaller dinner – soup, salad, whatever. So I’m kinda miserable – but, hey, it’s vacation.

We’ve always differentiated between being busy – which isn’t neccesarily bad – your days are full, you have lots to do, you’re not bored – and stupid busy – which IS bad. Too much to do, you forget stuff, you miss stuff, you get cranky. And stupid.

I have been stupid busy for the last few weeks. I expect the beginning of the school year to be hectic – but this has been nuts. Last night my brother even emailed me to make sure I was OK since I had not posted to my blog for 10 days. Awwww. The power of blogging – and brotherly love.

And this is just the stuff that gets left out on the counter – tomatoes & fruit. We also got two watermelons, potatoes, broccoli, red peppers that are already roasted, two kinds of cheese (tho the cheese is the least seasonal of all), argula and salad greens.

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