will she measure up

 Sunday morning seems like a good time to sit down and force myself to write something. I don’t know what happened to my muse but she’s been absent for quite sometime… Maybe it’s the weird summer we are having or maybe worry but this summer I have been somewhat disconnected… 

I’ve spent days and days futzing around in the kitchen to keep myself busy (and a bit of housework avoidance)... today I’m making Italian Zucchini Scarpaccia: thin rounds of zucchini mixed with a light flour and cornmeal batter which is then baked in the oven to a chewy crisp. We shall see… the first step was to slice the zucchini and onion using a mandolin, and then massage with salt for several minutes. After that, it’s put in a colander with a heavy plate for 2 hours… the resulting liquid is used to make the batter then it’s spread out thinly on parchment and baked for 40 minutes. Fingers crossed!

(update: the scarpaccia wasn’t crispy but I think there was too much liquid from the zucchini which made the batter too thin. Tasty though, will try making it again when the zucchini piles up!

Yesterday Trudie & Leo were guinea pigs for a ‘buttery braised onion sauce’ on fettuccine noodles. I slightly burnt the onions at the very end of the TWO HOUR process of caramelising them… hopefully Grace didn’t pick up on any of the swear words… it was too late to start over but everyone seemed to like it as it was and considered it a ‘make again’. Next time I’ll hover over the onions once the lid comes off.

Monday and Tuesday I wrestled those two giant zucchinis into 3 loaves of lemon zucchini bread, a double recipe of zucchini pancakes, 5 bags grated for the freezer, and I still have 2 cups of grated zucc in the fridge. Wednesday morning, before I went to Kirsten’s I made chocolate chip banana zucchini muffins :-) My freezer is seriously out of control! I found another good sized zucchini in the garden this morning, hence the scarpaccia today.

The zucchini extravaganza didn’t end there… I tossed some cubed zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and whole garlic cloves into a baking dish with a ton of olive oil and some sprigs of thyme. It baked in the oven for a few hours and emerged delicious. I took it to Kirsten’s on Wednesday for a pasta dish for girls night but at the last minute we dashed to see the ‘Barbie’ movie so just ate it with naan.

Jars of flavoured olive oil are cluttering up the fridge. Cherry tomato garlic & basil, zucchini tomato garlic, confit of garlic, chopped garlic in olive oil. I should have labelled them but can tell just by taste which is which. I used the zucchini tomato oil to make swiss chard with onion and sausage for supper last night.

I also made Szechuan Style Roasted Mushrooms… I marinated the mushrooms for a few hours before tossing them into the actifry. Talk about elevating mushrooms to another plane of enjoyment! I keep them in the fridge for a light lunch or healthy snack.

I just stayed at Kirsten’s one night this time, getting home on Thursday around noon - just before the heavens exploded with torrents of rain. I had planned on visiting Mom and Dad, but decided to sit tight and see if the storms passed in time for a late afternoon visit, but alas, the rain kept coming down. The city got the worst of it, leaving streets and buildings flooded.

Friday morning Carm and I zipped into the city - Carm to Costco, me to my parents. We didn’t stay long as we wanted to get the mailbox fixed up before it rained again… funny story… we had to replace the mailbox post a week or so ago and it left the mailbox several inches higher off the ground. We wondered if it was too high so Carm left a note: ‘Is the mailbox too high’ with a YES tab and a NO tab… the NO tab was taken, leaving (in our mind) a clear ‘Yes, the mailbox is too high’. As fate would have it, we passed the mail truck on the way home so pulled over to ask him how much too high it was… it wasn’t too high and was in fact the perfect height! He had taken the wrong tab 🤪

Mom and Graham came out later in the afternoon on Friday to bury Graham’s deceased pet Savannah Monitor, George. It was emotional for all of us as we remembered all the occupants of our little pet cemetery. But it’s done and Graham can have closure. 

Grace got a package in the mail a few days ago! Ruth sent Grace a toy that has metal measuring cups hung on chains with a bunch of other stuff dangling. It took her a day or so but now she loves it. We had to distract her with chips the other night so we could watch the new season of ‘Only Murders in the Building’ without a racket!

We haven’t had the sunshade up for days - it’s been raining almost every other day and we’ve been busy when it hasn’t been raining :-( There’s rain in the forecast this afternoon…

Awesome!

“Mom’s surgery scheduled”

“going to the movie with Kirsten and Nissa”

“so much pink”

“Grace playing with her new toy”

“a plethora of zucchini to play with”

“Lupa greeting Trudie & Leo without barking”