Full Tilt

My walks home from work have changed from a time for quiet contemplation to thoughts racing through my brain at high speed. Typically accompanied by the appropriate high-octane-righteous-noise-more-guitar-is-good music I have a fondness for.

It feels like I just chugged a bottle of Pepsi and some Pixi Sticks.

There have been changes on the work front of my life, all for the best. I'm now at DEFY HQ full time  adding the new hat of production manager to my craftsman work. Which means for the first time since graduating college ages ago I use a computer for my job! And oh man have I missed making lists and putting things in piles and filing. It's sick really. I really shouldn't be paid for being borderline anal retentive. But I am. I will bring order to the chaos and it will be beautiful.

But it is a change and sometimes all I do is pick up a steak burrito and a Radler for dinner and lie on the floor for a while. A delicious reward for actually using my brain for 8 hrs. But I rally on the weekends and tend to cook up a storm. And create a massive amount of dishes I have the luxury of ignoring for as long as I please.

I've discovered a delightfully easy fancy dinner menu of Roast Root Veg with Balsamic Glaze on a bed of Arugula to start and Chicken Roasted with Lemon for the main. Throw some veggies in a hot oven to roast, make the glaze, then clean your house while the veg is roasting. And please don't be an dunce like me and be wary of the fumes coming off the vinegar while you're stirring the glaze! It could singe the hair out of your nostrils.

For the chicken preheat the oven, and in a dutch oven brown the thighs for about 10 minutes in oil on the stove. Then toss the lemon slices and red onion slivers over top, pop in the oven, and take a nap before your guest arrives. You can follow the recipe and reduce the leftover juice etc but I've found it to be just fine as is.

This banana bread was the dessert, and whoa man is it a dense loaf! It's really chocolate cake/bread masquerading as banana bread. Very tasty but I will tweak it a bit next time...and you need a glass of milk to wash it down. Or tea if you were watching Foyle's War like Miss Ashley and I were.

It's lovely to be able to entertain guests with a couch to sit on! I'm on the hunt for a small side table that can double as a dining table but no luck yet...and my friends are obliging with balancing their meals on their knees.

Plus it makes a great shelf for books and tea and charging phones.

I'm taking advantage of the farmer's market as much as possible before it goes. Roasted zucchini with sweet tomatoes over egg noodles. A pinch of lemon zest and cheese finishes it off nicely.

Beets,  greens, kale and quinoa salad with toasted pine nuts, basically this but lazier. And a leftover pumpkin pie slice for dessert. 'Tis the season! I already have two kinds of apple cider in my larder. Soon there will be applesauce and other spicy goodies. And socks! And scarves and crisp leaves and oh gosh I love it.

But really the most important thing you need to know about my life, my thoughts, and what I've been eating...it's these beauties. Banana pancakes. Two ingredients. One spatula and one fork. It's sheer genius and have revolutionized my weekend mornings.

Cut off a bit of butter and put it in a frying pan to melt over medium/low heat. Put a banana in a bowl, smash it and crack in two eggs. Whisk the eggs and banana together and pour half into the hot pan. They need to be well browned to turn since they are  prone to crumbling...but who cares really? While waiting for the other side to brown pull out your maple syrup and slice up some strawberries or whatever else you want to dump on them. Ooh Nutella would be divine! Totally doing that for tomorrow's bananacakes.

They're just the ticket for a special breakfast after a week of hard work. Add a cup of tea, good book or something British on Netflix and it's really all one can ask for before being back to full tilt on Monday!

Shadow and Light

I've taken to dozing on the couch these summer evenings. Things have finally slowed down and sprawling with limbs in all directions on a horizontal surface is glorious. The cicadas and birds (and construction workers) telling me things I can't comprehend though the window. Watching a drop of perspiration slowly build then dive headlong down the side of a glass. I'll leave the lamps off until I can't read anymore and maybe then only turn one on.

It's a different dark than in the winter, when you need a warm flicker in the blackness to feel cozy. Summer dark feels shady, catching the glints of water or sheen of metal (or if you're very lucky the pile of silky prosciutto you're about to drape over slices of melon so juicy I had to lick down my arm).

But the summer days are bright. When I eat lunch on the rooftop it's so bright I can barely see. Reflecting off the tin and trains and clouds so I have to cover my eyes with my hand and peer at my phone or at my friend's face.

Sometimes if the clouds are too few or the sun too hot and I retreat inside to sit in a sunbeam.

The weather has been cool enough that I can roast my bounty from the farmer's markets. Onion with bright yellow tomatoes in couscous.  Roast corn and tomatoes with queso fresco and avocado. Marinated eggplant with halloumi. Toasted quinoa with roast tomatoes and onion with parsley. That last one teetered on the edge of disaster due to my lack of supervision but my luck held and it was delicious. Though my apartment still smells like burning. Well it did until I made trout tonight so now it smells like fish. And burning. Bother.

It's still late summer and I'm mentally cataloguing all the things I would like to do before fall truly arrives. Will I make it to the lake once more? Boat down to Chinatown? Sit in the grass and listen to music? Eat gelato on an evening stroll? Stand over the sink barefoot trying not to drip while eating a peach or melon? Ride my bicyclette to a park and read? We'll see...there's always next year.

One adventure that has been finally crossed of my list is an architecture boat tour. Miss H and I spent a delightful day on the river before she left and we had fun playing tourist. The shift of perspective makes the buildings I've seen a hundred times look completely new. The clouds were being dramatic which made the shots I got even better.

But that was a while ago, and it's not time for any adventures at the moment. Just reading next to the light with a cup of tea thinking about what to do tomorrow.