Bits And Pieces

There's something surreal and not quite right about the fact that I'm sitting here in a sundress with the windows open, nursing both a sunburn and a Slurpee headache, while the trees outside are still bare twigs, with the faintest halo of green around them. I'm not complaining, though; summer is a goodness. I'm just not used to it arriving in April here in New England.....

I have to say, though, summer weather is one of the few things that can make me appreciate my body type. Whatever else I can say for or against being petite, it is damned nice to be able to wear halters, or strappy sundresses, or handkerchief tops, without having to worry about what to wear underneath. Next week it'll probably be back to sweater weather, but for now, at least, I can revel in minimal layers of fabric.

The weather is also contributing to my current severe craving, which is for the motorcycle my neighbor is selling. It's shiny, and little, and lipstick-red, and I have no idea of how to drive the darn thing and it's a frivolous waste of money that we can't afford right now and I want it so badly it hurts. And it's sitting out in front of his house, calling my name as I walk past it every day. Not fair.

On the other hand, at least I managed to get some of the urge-to-garden taken care of today. Our tulips have started to open up, we've replaced the herbs in our container garden (and gotten a handful of varieties of mint for another little container, just because they're pretty and they smell nice), and have started plans for the veggie garden. As much as we love our square-foot beds, it looks like this year the zucchini and yellow squash are going to go into the yard itself - they take up way too much space; about half a bed per plant.

This means, though, that suddenly we have a lot more space in our beds to plant new stuff. We've already got plans for tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, eggplant, and leeks, and we're thinking about adding some onions - any suggestions for what other vegetables we should grow? We've never had much luck with peppers - the growing season here is too short and not hot enough, I think - and I'd probably like to avoid anything too viny, since the tomatoes and cucumbers need the trellis for themselves, but I'm open to suggestions....

Cookbook Project, Books #43 and 44

"The Great American Cookie Cookbook," Publications International

This was another Christmas present from flakra, and one that has seen at least moderate use. It's huge, and it has an alarming variety of recipes - if anything, its biggest flaw is that there are so many different things packed into it, and it's *so* big (over 550 pages) that I don't know if I've ever actually managed to look through the whole thing. I'll sit down with it, start flipping through looking for a cookie recipe that catches my eye, and by the time I'm halfway through I've already made up my mind.

That's what happened this time, too - next time I promise I'll start at the back and look forward. But last week I wound up making Peanut Butter Jumbos, which is a rather ridiculous name for a rather nice oatmeal-peanut-butter cookie with chocolate chips and M&M's. Oddly enough, there's no flour in these, but the texture is still good (if a little dry for my taste), and they're huge enough that one cookie is an impressive dessert by itself. They're not the best cookies I've ever made (I'm more a fan of chewy cookies), but my husband's coworkers loved them....

"Simple Stir Fry Recipes," Betty Crocker

Yet another glossy checkout line pamphlet. Get used to it; I have a whole bunch of these. This one was a hand-me-down from umbran's parents; when they moved we inherited a lot of their books. This cookbook is rather odd - in theory, a lot of the recipes in it look good, but when I actually sat down to pick one out, none of them truly caught my eye and seemed like a good idea for dinner.

But I finally decided to go ahead and make Southwest Tuna with Black Beans, mostly because the ingredients all sounded good enough (tuna, black beans, tomatoes, green chilies, lime, and garlic) and because it looked like a nice, quick dinner that would go pretty well with the other half of a loaf of Roasted Garlic, Potato, and Dill bread (When Pigs Fly is a dangerous, dangerous place, and the fact that I'll be spending at least a few days working right near the bakery is likely to spell, if not quite my doom, at least the doom of the five pounds I lost in the last two weeks). And it was pretty good. There was a little too much lime, and I think it'd be better over rice or in a burrito than just plain, the way the recipe suggested.

So. Two not-bad recipes. No serious winners, but they weren't too bad, either. And while this coming week is going to be crazy-busy, with any luck we'll manage a nice, fancy, sit-down dinner at the end of it, which'll be a nice change....