What's Cookin' ?

Cooking.

Cooking for the family can not be defined in simple words.  It sounds like an activity that might be almost mindless – like dusting or vacuuming.  But it is so much more than that.  I suspect that most people who love to cook, and perhaps even those who only like to cook, recognize that the act of cooking for ones family is akin to giving birth, giving life, giving of ones heart to another.  Like dusting, or vacuuming, it needs to be done again and again.  But unlike those activities, it is never quite the same each time it is done.  Something happens while a cook is at work – inspiration and insight take over….”what if I add this – take away that” and “must remember, son/husband/brother doesn’t like (fill in the blank).”

Isn’t it a good thing I feel this way about cooking?  Especially since summer finds hubby walking in the door at least daily – sometimes twice a day – with arms laden with the garden’s produce.  Yesterday it was 4 huge zucchini, some cucumbers and a mess of kale.  The day before it was 5 huge zucchini and a bowl of sweet peas.  The vitamins and minerals are bouncing off our walls!

So.

What’s cooking at our house?

One evening it was a pizza I made up as I went along.  Began with an awesome frozen whole wheat dough from Wegman’s, I placed fresh tomato slices layered with large and beautiful basil leaves and then Swiss chard sauteed in olive oil and garlic (both greens from our garden, topped with some low fat mozzarella.  It was so good – all the more so because I have become intolerant of real pizza for some reason.  This one gave me no tummy problems.

  Next up, a batch of zucchini bread-and-butter pickles made with a recipe given to me by the sister of a dear next door neighbor about 30 years ago.  Heavy on the tumeric, they are bound to have some real health benefits.

And four zucchini breads from a newspaper recipe I have used for about 30 or 35 years.  Must remember to scan or recopy this one – it is worn and yellowed and I cannot lose it! There are three loaves in the freezer – the other loaf has disappeared!

Followed that up with a batch of zucchini-bread-and butter pickles – this batch from my Grandma Davis’ recipe.  Just smelling them cooking takes me back to her little kitchen in Columbia.

Onward to zucchini and summer squash cutlets – dipped in flour and black pepper, then egg with salt, and finally Italian bread crumbs and additional Parmesan – and baked until crispy – froze two batches, ate the third for dinner with a dab of spaghetti sauce and cheese on each.  See it here

Some shredded zucchini blanched and frozen for meatloaf or other recipes.

A batch of deveined, blanched kale frozen for soup or other uses.  How to video

Some sweet peas – frozen and delectable.

A large batch of pesto – waiting for use in the fridge.

About 8 or 10 bags of herbs – either frozen in cubes of water or oil, or frozen whole in bags.

 Well, that’s about it for now – I must stop here and get to the garden – first to plant some marigolds, and then to see how I’ll be spending my afternoon in the kitchen!

After an hour or so in the garden – got my flowers planted and some weeding done, I came home with maybe 5 more zucchini – some sweet peas, and some frying peppers from a neighboring gardener.  That’ll make up tonight’s menu for dinner.

When Lar got home from his gardening duties (much heavier than my own!) I made us lunch.  If you have never tried watermelon with a dab of fresh mint….do it!  Oh, my, what a flavor-treat! 

Then popped two loaves of Zucchini-Peach-Blueberry Bread in the oven and right now we are “tripping” on the aromas of that baking.

Brain Crumbs

I hear my mother’s words, “well, after all, what are you waiting for?”  She was responding to my announcement that I’d finally coughed up the money for a matching comforter and drapery set for our bedroom.  After about 20 years of marriage.  She was right then.

She’d be right now.

What AM I waiting for?

When I was about 8 or 10 I knew I wanted to be a writer.  I knew there were things inside that needed to be expressed.  I read books hungrily – wanting to see just how others put their thoughts into the written word.  Sometimes I envied the writers I read.  Sometimes I thought I might have done a better job.  Sometimes I was put into an almost comatose envy and awe.  But always, always, I recognized a bonding…a kindred spirit.  I knew what I would one day do.

But that day really has never come.

In high school I was known for only one thing, -  my “writing potential.”

When I met my future husband it was one of the first things he came to know about me.  My writing Need.  Part of our courtship consisted of his vow that when we were married I would have a room, and the time, and the encouragement to vent this need.

We have nearly reached our 50^th wedding anniversary.  I have yet to write thing one.

Well, that’s not entirely so.  I have written a few poems over the years…when passion took over and the voice was not to be denied.  And I have dabbled with my blog – just allowing for the overflow of words that bubble over and have no other place to go.

But I don’t know what I’m waiting for – and I don’t know if I have the time to waste any longer.  I do know that to actually give in to whatever force it is that has lain in wait for so many years would mean a selfishness I don’t feel comfortable with.  I don’t like saying “no, you must not speak to me just now” – “my muse will leave and may not come back.” 

But perhaps time is running out.  Perhaps I never will tell my story. 

And who knows, perhaps my story never needed telling. 

But the voices – the words are still here – they still float about, in various voices, in various songs…I hear them….

I just do not transcribe them.

Yet.

Going to Pieces

While in Arizona, I began to work up an idea by which I could express my vision of Montezuma's Castle.  It certainly isn't an original idea - I have seen it done in various ways.  But I've never actually done it myself.
And then, I took a photograph that demanded to be tried before I attempt that beautiful American Indian site.

So, having cut some of the over 2,000 2 inch squares of over 25 different fabrics, I began.

There will be 51 strips each containing 41 squares.  And I have no idea at all if it will be anything when I'm done!
But I have learned a great deal while doing this project and am fairly obsessed with completing it.

This little graph shows how I am coloring coding it, those tiny numbers are exactly that small!  And they look even smaller by evening.

I've learned a lot about my sewing machine (valuable info) doing this, and the above is one of the most wonderful tools I own.  Money well spent!  Because of the enormous number of tiny seams that require pressing, I cannot say enough about this little number I got for about half price with a JoAnn's coupon one day.
I'll be interested in the end result - and as I told my sister, "worst scenario, it'll make an ugly little quilt that will still keep someone warm.  best scenario - it might just look like it's supposed to!"  
We'll see.