Tonight

I'm officially instituting "one dollar dinner" night. Seeing what I can make for 1.99 or less. People who would like this: Sarah T., Pat, Jim Howard, and my brother. Although Bob is the one who would require receipts, and would also challenge me on how much the propane cost (true). Which I already figured, and is, at best, a nickel.

On tonight's menu:

Linguini, one box
1 squash (garden grown)
1 zucchini (garden grown)
1 onion (garden grown)
2 ears of corn (Fedex-ed from Kansas)

Veggies roasted on the grill in olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, served over pasta with a sprinkling of parmesan. Tina would call it parm. Because she's an aficionado.
Corn also roasted on the grill, served hot, on the ear.

Total: $1.32

And yes. I know. It's not exactly a dollar, but if it's less than 2, it's still sort of a dollar. So go on, and get up outta my math grill.

Besides beets.

Pork chops. That's all. PORK CHOPS! Sometimes I'll sizzle one up for breakfast. Things are getting pretty crazy around here. My friend Sarah (probably the only one who will read this post) doesn't like pork. Or maybe it's just not her favorite. She either grew up on a pork farm, or lived next to one, or had to slaughter swine as a child (I can never remember), thus developing this crazy aversion to pork. 

Joren asked me the other night, "What made you think of cooking pork chops?". Are you kidding? I'm almost always thinking of cooking pork chops. Maybe I'm cooking one right now.

Where have beets been all my life?

My mom will smile when she reads this, which she won't. But if she did read it, she would smile an ironic smile. She was always trying to push beets on us. "Get off your beet pedestal", I would think. Jeez, lady. Ease up on the beets.

But, alas. Beets are now at the center of my very small and predictable universe. Have you had a beet lately? Roasted it in your oven in a foil pouch with a little olive oil? Holy shit. They are consistently (3 nights in a row) blowing my g.d. mind.

I'll be sitting there next to Joren. We'll be eating our salads, loaded with beets, silently. Except for the sound of me... "Aren't these beets delicious?" "Seriously, I could make myself sick eating so many." "Aren't these beets delicious?" "And look at the color."

It's a fascinating one way (except for Joren nodding) conversation. You should come for dinner sometime and join in on either the praising of beets or just the nodding. I'll make beets.

2013 recap

I learned how to make a PERFECT hard boiled egg, so I'm not sweatin' it. It's harder than you think. Try it. Cracking? Hard to peel? Grey-ish around the hard yellow-ish? I know! Or I used to. I hardly remember all those bullshit egg problems anymore.

That's it. The highlight of the entire calendar year.

HEAT WAVE

i woke up to a lovely 58 degrees. don't ask me if it's f or c, because i can never remember. it's the american 58. after having read it was going to be 88 today (sizzly, i know) i flew directly into "try not to panic: keep the house cool" mode.

doors were opened. fans were switched on. sweaters were donned. we (aero and i) waited. we also washed diapers and cleaned the cat box, but we waited in tandem. the moment the outside temperature equalled the inside temperature, doors were slid shut, windows closed, fingers were crossed. aero's terrible at this part. those darling fat little year old digits don't cross so well. unless they're sticky. that helps.

do we turn on lights? no. dryer? nuh uh. oven? for god's sake no. to support this "no oven if it's hotter than 82 degrees" policy, i've been creating, crafting and honing meals i can cook in a large foil pouch and put on the grill. it's in a tenuous attempt to keep the house cool during these tremendously oppressive heat waves we get in the pacific northwest. so back to foil pouches. kind of like camp, but with no chiggers and frosty cold beers. i still pee outside some, but we have the option of using the fancy inside toilets.

today's foil pouch creation started with, "hey. i've got some cauliflower in the fridge". about 6 pounds of refrigerator treasures and 2 yards of foil later, i think i'm done.

pouch ingredients for those of you who are waiting anxiously on the edge of your seat...

cauliflower. broccoli. chick peas. yellow onion. yams (i think they're yams, at least. maybe parsnips). golden beets. olive oil. curry powder. garlic salt. a kiss of ginger. garam masala. and... drum roll here... THE JUICE OF A  GODDAMNED LIME!

i know this makes some of you want to get here as fast as a southwest direct flight can carry you. others? makes you maybe never want to come. or at the very least, bring a slab of ribs with you the next time you do. (which i encourage, by the way).

i'm not ashamed so shut up

i just polished off a can of easy cheese and i wanted to report back on the most interesting things the can told me.

• made with real cheese
• no need to refrigerate
• excellent source of calcium!

baby went a walkin'

aero and i went on a nature walk today, mostly to find free flowers to cut. not out of people's yards. but little neighborhood nooks maybe where a daffodil or two are blooming, and lonely, and in need of a good home. no such luck. nature can be such a stinge.

oh, portland.

i saw a sign today at my neighborhood library for a lovely little event called "Read to the Dogs". no shit. i mean, i can't find time or room in my heart to read to, i don't know, blind people. or old people. one person can be indifferent to only so many neglected souls.

you're not hungry, you're thirsty

someone tried to tell me this recently. and "maybe" i was "thirsty", mostly because i drink like 6 ounces of water every other day, but god dammit if i didn't also feel like some delicious spare ribs.

where the F is my rolling pin?

don't panic. i found it, but not before borrowing my neighbor's tupperware version. SUCK. it totally sucked. it was a plastic tube, not at all useful for a. rolling chilled dough (or) b. beating your children. in the end i used a bottle of tequila. for rolling, beating AND drinking.