My Best Friends

I got more deer or horse fly bites yesterday. On my left elbow, behind left knee and back of left shoulder. It took less than 10 seconds. A sharp pinch each time and it was too late to do anything. AND, I was working outside in 90 degree sun. The greenhouse was way hotter. I think it might have been 110 in there. I kept drinking water and dunking my head in the bathroom sink to cool my brain off. And I was unloading watered (wet/heavy) trays of plants off four large truck carts. Miserable.

Dinner was cold. Tomatoes from a local indoor provider, Backyard Tomatoes, a ball of fresh mozzarella cheese, fresh picked garden basil and a French Baguette. Everything dressed or dunked in good olive oil and Balsamic vinegar. Lovely.

Tonight we are meeting friends at our favorite BBQ place for talk, laughter, drinks and good food. In that order.

I bought a bunch of bananas yesterday (my third visit to the grocery) for 55 cents a pound. I have to eat them quickly before they turn gross and brown. I had one yesterday as a late afternoon potassium pick me up. And a second this morning. I like to eat fruit on hot days. I have a big melon waiting to be sliced and chunked for the fridge also. The watermelon looks all battered and mushy in the grocery. I can only buy a quarter or half as it's just me eating it. Slim pickings. Even the packaged chunks look awful. I like finding a decent looking platter of fresh pineapple, melon and watermelon. My lunches have been yogurt, Grape Nuts, canned sugar free peaches and frozen raspberries. I forced myself to eat lunch yesterday.

As a child, I remember walking to the local cold water pool on summer mornings for a day of swimming. Then reading on the front porch glider, eating a fresh picked tomato or a big cool wedge of watermelon. Just before sunset we would look for enough pennies for two popsicles and split and share them between the four of us (after walking to the corner store to buy them).

Remember when there was a small store in every neighborhood? Remember when popsicles cost 6 cents? Remember when a summer day lasted forever?

I was reading the Smitten Kitchen blog and found a recipe for zucchini galette. The pastry has one full stick of butter to one and a quarter cups of flour. Good thing I read the comments, as there is a great deal of smoke created in the oven as the butter melts out of the pastry. I think I'll skip this recipe. I did like the zucchini combination with ricotta, basil and mozzarella in the filling. I will think about an alternative crust. I never use that much butter. Never. When a recipe starts with "one stick of butter" I move on to another. And to use 2 and 3 sticks like Ina Garten does? When are Ina and Paula going to have heart attacks? I did find, in the comments, a pastry recipe with one cup flour and a third cup lard.

Lard is supposed to have less bad stuff than butter has but it's LARD. My grandmother fried everything in lard. I suppose she baked with it too, but with her European background, she never made pie. She made divine apple strudel from scratch and plum cake. And fried donuts.

I have to decide what to do for the remainder of the day. I woke to dog barking at 6am and G helped me open the packaging so I could take a Benadryl. Next thing I knew the dog was barking again because he thought 9 am was late enough for me to be sleeping. He keeps going outside but it's way too hot for a black dog. I haven't turned on the garden sprinkler yet. I plan to go out and check on the depth of moisture in the garden to see if things need a drink. G said it looked "moist" out there when he visited after work last night. I don't want to get it too wet and start having different problems in the garden. But I do need to check on my beans, peas and the squashes. And cover the Brussels sprouts with Remay.

I have another Swedish author to read. Jo Nesbo. I'm hopeful. And G has several pint jars of iced coffee in the fridge for me. He is making an effort to "take care of me" these days.