They say that when it rains it pours.
And that is certainly true this summer. More than once I've dashed under some overhang to escape the deluge and it's a fitting metaphor to describe my doings at the moment too. Lots, all at once, leaving me a little bedraggled but grinning ear to ear.
Has your summer been the same? Or is is full of long lazy afternoons of books and iced tea?
There have been few lazy afternoons so far but I have been drinking lots of iced tea...and recently discovered the magic of a Thai iced tea. Which is lovely for fueling hot summer days running to and fro having adventures. You should drink one too.
And of course I've been eating. Duh. The start of the farmer's market season brings me soooo much joy! Fresh bread (that I didn't have to bake and feel guilt free buying), lovely and cheap veg and fruit, and the odd homemade thing like those portobello ravioli above. Smaller trips if any to the grocery store and lots of little trips to bodegas, just picking up a few things like milk and cheese and cereal.
Lots of quesadillas (mozzarella and asparagus), fish tacos, Greek salads, brie on toast, and hummus on pita.
My new favorite summer dish is one I had while visiting my Big Sister Lyndsey up in Milwaukee a few weekends ago. There's a cantina there we love and I craved their tostada salad so made a version of it to eat while working Pitchfork for the lovely Miss Natalie:
Spread a layer of fresh or frozen corn on a baking sheet and roast in a hot oven until golden (you can skip this if the thought of turning on your oven makes you break out into a sweat, just go to Trader Joe's and buy their pre-roasted frozen corn or if you're feeling dangerous roast an ear of corn over your gas stove). Chop up half a red onion and let it sit in lime juice to tone it down a bit. In a big bowl combine the roasted corn, one can of black beans, crumbled queso fresco, chopped avocado and chopped lettuce. Add the onion and more lime juice, S&P and whatever else you feel like adding. Tomatoes? Chile? You can crumble up some tortilla chips if you want more crunch. Wrap it up in a tortilla if you need to go mobile!
Instead of the bus I took the Amtrack to Milwaukee and despite a long delay on my way home it's now the only way I'm going to Milwaukee!
I had forgotten how much I loved traveling by train. It's just...better.
I sped into the sunset on the way there and watched rivers and fields on my way back. I only had two songs on my iPod about trains (I Was Young When I Left Home covered by Antony and Bryce Dessner and Monster of Folk's Sandman, Brakeman, and Me) but they are lovely and I fully intend to make a playlist for my next voyage.
Because there will always be a next time to Milwaukee, it's just too much fun to see my siblings!!
This time there were festivals, beignets, polka,
fries with aioli and pints, tiny things to buy,
beer and brats at 10 AM, and the new Much Ado, and most of all Sister Lyndsey's new house! I can't wait to see it grow!
While I wish I had as much space as she now has to play with I did make a change to my own little place recently! I bought a wee couch! It's all the fault of this kid...
...oh yeah. Twin times AGAIN.
We were hitting up the thrift stores and I had to sit down or fall down. And realized the couch I was reclined on was very nice and small and only $75...so I bought it! It was professionally reupholstered in the 60's (with the hideous fabric to prove it) but I've already taken the skirt off to show it's lovely legs and am happy with the Ikea douvet slipcover for the moment since it came with a granny-tastic slipcover I can pattern off of in the future.
But I had to wait a few days for it to be delivered so we ate pasta salad on the floor. It was very tasty pasta salad too! Two kinds of pasta (occasionally two Aries cannot agree over what type of pasta so get both), peas, snap peas, asparagus, mint, parsley, cilantro, parmigiano-reggiano, and ham. Followed up by French Yogurt Cake to ways:
Anwen had hers with mint on top and I had mine with berries on the side. It was the Fourth of July so it was a big show of national pride through baked goods on my part. A nod to Lafayette with the French yogurt. Add a patriotic themed episodes of Murder She Wrote marathon and I say Yankee Doodle is your uncle.
...I need a nap.
And now I have to go do laundry and more things. Not nap. Sigh. O to relax with a book and glass of wine!
Hopefully the radio silence between posts won't be as long as the last one. Especially since Lizbeth informed me that every day I don't blog a fairy looses it's wings. So apparently I'm a fairy killer. And have horrifyingly hilarious friends.
But it will be a while as I'm trying to savor my last few weeks with this lady, Miss H, before she moves back to Ohio and leaves me a blithering mess of tears and woe.
But I will be back, I always am. I don't want to kill fairies.
