Summertime Food

Being urged by my doctor to eat more greens and other vegetables, I was curious to read The book of Greens - A Cook's Compendium by Jenn Louis.  I do cook still for DH and myself, and I like to cook simple, easy and quick to assemble, staple recipes.  Something in the order of meat loaf, mash potatoes, stew, baked chicken, etc.  And for vegetables, I'm afraid for so long I just boiled or steamed them.  So I thought this title would lend itself to my kitchen in putting more greens and veggies variety in our meals.

And it does.  Ms Louis provided me with new ways to cook Bok Choy, Cabbage, Chard, Collard Greens, Kale, and Spinach.  I even found recipes for two common weeds here in our neck of the woods:  Purslane and Mallow.  The purslane gets added to a lentil and rice dish - tasty good.  The mallow is treated like okra for "when cooked down,.... is perfect to thicken stew--rabbit, chicken, beef, or fish."(p.176). I had been served this by a Syrian acquaintance and liked it, so I was glad to find a way for me to introduce it to my kitchen.

However, the rest of the greens in this book, while many, are not commonly found in my university town of 400k.  They are probably more common in large metropolitan areas of a million plus residents that have more ethnic markets than ours.  It was interesting reading about these greens (Agretti, Celtuce, Gai Lan, Malabar Spinach, Minutina and others. Louis gives one a paragraph or two about the history of the green and where it is from and how used.  An example:  Agretti was a staple Roman peasant food that became popular in the 19th century.  It is native to Italy.  The description is followed by a recipe or two - not all side dishes; some desserts and drinks. She has provided and excellent seasonal chart of when you'll find these in markets.  There's also great info on how to buy, in what quantities and how to store these greens.  The book is an attractive hardcover edition with signatures sewn into the spine for long lasting use.

I won't be keeping this on my cookbook cabinet in my kitchen.  I think I will give it to one of my vegan friends after I finish making a copy of those recipes I want to try again.  One in particular would be thrilled to get this book.  She is a more adventurous cook than I.

I received this book (published by Ten Speed Press, a part of  by Crown Publishing Group)  from Blogging for Books for this review. 

Barely Some of This and That

First, what with all the heat, I barely sewed last weekend, so not much to report.  I did use a tad for extending that backing (was too narrow), made two more diasappearing pinwheels and generated some bias stems for an applique border for 0.9 yds from the stash.  So YTD total out is now 58.27 yds.  Last December my total for the year was 55 yards used - I'm on my way to reaching my goal of 100 yards out at this rate.  

So what did I do?  Here's the roll of top, batting, and back of my Carolina Christmas.

I'm waiting for when I have 2-3 hours of a free dining room table so I can sandwich it.

On my design wall, I've added those DP blocks.

I've learned a few things.  1) the background has to be the same on each block or the design doesn't stand out.  2) a large print doesn't work here (the flower fabric) - better to save and use it where it can be a focus unit.  3) the stripe looks too busy.  Alas - these will go in the orphan block pile or a center for a St Anne's quilt - still to decide.

And outside - lots of fried plants.  I watered them in the AM - they just couldn't withstand the 110+ temps.  But out my kitchen door, I got a surprise. These amaryllis sent out a stalk of flowers!  It may be because I forgot and left the hose on near them for quite a while one evening.  I hope your staying cool - those of you in the Northern Hemisphere.  I have been humbled after reading about Phoenix, AZ - they had some 122 degree days and eight people died!  I'll stop complaining.  It could be worse.  

Last week's winner of that book is Moira.  I've sent her an email.  Thank you for participating in the giveaway, faithful readers.  There might be another one this coming Friday.  Blessings.

WIPs Be Gone Fireworks

Quilted:

 Bound and ready for the NICU at the hospital. This was around long enough to become a WIP.

As promised, here's why we don't go somewhere for the 4th:


The city does this every year. Sometimes the mountain catches on fire; sometimes it doesn't. Thankfully, it was one of those years when there wasn't a fire.