No one can cook at this speed...or heat

There's been a lack of cooking this week, including today. For one thing, it's hot! (Although we did break down and buy a Papa Murphy's to cook at home last night, while watching pay per view.  But pizza oven temp? Did not really help...)

Also, the Juj had swimming lessons at the Y Monday through Thursday evenings. Going from work to school to the Y meant for four nights of *gasp* fast food dinners. (One day I did bring a peanut butter sandwich for the snack between school and the Y, but that night, we hit Wendy's afterward anyway.)

And, of course, it was the first week back at work after two weeks off, so we're trying to get back into the routine. (We'll probably get it together just in time for our next week off.)

So, while I'm not sure where we are going for dinner shortly (surprise Uncle Ron!), I do know it won't be coming out of our kitchen.

Does this mean that the dog days of summer have begun? Dogs don't cook, right...?

Internet dinner

It's been an online cooking weekend. Well, not cooking online, but cooking recipes found online. Dinner tonight was as good as lunch yesterday, perhaps better because it included a cocktail (actually, two apiece; the Porch Swing is sweet and addictive, especially in this heat!)

• Porch Swing (forgot to buy a cuke on Friday, too lazy to go get one at the last minute, but did make the homemade lemonade base)
• Smoky Pork Burgers with Fennel & Red Cabbage Slaw (open-faced, on ciabatta rolls)
• Sliced Avocados
• Wild Berry Basil Panna Cotta (made with blackberries, and we ate the lavender lovelies direct from the ramekins, no unmolding required: thumbs down from the Juj - no accounting for taste, enthusiastic thumbs up from Unca Ron although he wasn't totally enamored of the whole basil thing, G-man thought it was a bit salty, and I liked it but it was more mousse-y than panna cotta-y IMHO)

And now, back to the regular routine tomorrow, at least for the next few weeks.  (One more break planned before J's school restarts late in August.) Should be interesting, after two weeks off.

Delicious lunch

Thanks to Smitten Kitchen, we had a super-yummy Saturday lunch at home:

• Thai-Style Chicken Legs (which I roasted on a rack above a foil-lined baking sheet for easier clean-up)
• Mango Slaw with Cashews and Mint (except I was too lazy to add the cashews and mint, and added a bit of sweet chili sauce to the dressing)

Wanted to make this Thai Basil, Coconut & Lime Sorbet from food52, but although I bought the ingredients yesterday, I did not get it together to make this for lunch today... Will try to check it out soon, though!

Summer lists

I'm home but still on vacation through the end of the week. Struggling with the time change (Pacific back to Central), my mornings are lazy at best, so I've been perusing a lot of blogs. I found summer lists, here, and here, and here, so in that meme way, I figured I'd do one. At first, it had only one item:

• Clean out the guest room

The 'guest room' (our spare bedroom) has become kind of a dumping ground, unfortunately. Fortunately, one of G-man's buddies is coming to stay with us in August, so now I have motivation to clean the joint up. And maybe get some new curtains, because the ones that are in there are very sheer and afford little privacy or ability to block the morning sun. Which I know now is very important in a guest room, after staying at my parents' place in Oregon - 2nd story guest room has a great view over the Rogue Valley but is east-facing and gets light early in the summer!

But that seems like a pathetic list of things to do / be inspired by for the summer, so then I started on a list of the things I've already done that were pretty good in a summer kind of way:

• Revisit the Oregon Country Fair (see yesterday's post)
• Live without air conditioning (accomplished in Oregon, sometimes quite well and sometimes with less than stellar results)
• See the stars (nice and dark at my folks' place)
• Go to the pool (we've been more times already this summer than all of last summer)
• Visit our favorite shaved ice stand (been going here since before Julian was born; the woman who owns it is a teacher, super-friendly, and this is how she spends her summers -- and she has the finest textured ice around!)
• Fireworks
• Wade in a creek
• Visit with family, and with friends
• Make ice cream (well, sorbets at least)
• Spend lots of time with the Juj (already spent over 3 weeks off during May, June and July, with another planned in August)
• Hey, and I have a tan & a tattoo, although both are temporary

So what else is there?

• Beach (although I fear this may not actually be accomplished this particular summer)
• Make (and eat!) more salads
• Drive-in movie (although maybe that's not such a great choice, given the heat here)
• How about just more movies in the theatre?!
• Exercise
• Relax

Well, I'd better go get started on that guest room; Juj is engaged in a movie at home, so no time like the present!

Vacation glimpses

The Juj and I just spent over a week with my family in Oregon. My parents, grandmother, aunt, two cousins & two children of one cousin all live in in or near Ashland, home of the famed Shakespeare Festival. And as soon as I figure out how to suck the photos out of my phone in bulk, I'll post more pictures of the small-town Independence Day parade, playing in the creek, and a blast from the past (for me) visit to the Oregon Country Fair.

But for now, here a few that I emailed to G-man, as he was only able to join us for a few days at the beginning of the trip.

Henna "tattoo" I acquired at the OCF. The fun thing was that after the artist painted it on, she blew glitter all over it, so it would be pretty while the stain was sinking in...

The Juj playing with this cool toroflux from FlowToys that my brother (who does poi & buugeng) brought along -- although now that I see them, I think they could use a little editing to make the toy (which looks kind of like a slinky) more visible...

I first visited the Fair in 1977 or '78 when I performed with some friends (we thought we were the coolest kids EVER!) and the Flying Karamozov Brothers, visited off and over the years, including seeing the Grateful Dead on the site for the The Second Decadenal Field Trip in 1982 - but haven't been since we took toddler Juj when he was less than two years old.

We also had dinner at Amuse for G-man's birthday before he returned to his construction project.

• Arugula, Shaved Fennel and Israeli Feta with Pine nuts and Creamy Lemon Dressing
• Crispy Veal Sweetbreads with Corn Puree, Cherries, Pearl Onions and Bacon Jus
• Wood Grilled Painted Hills Ranch Ribeye with Pommes Frites, Spinach, and Shallot Butter
• Rogue Creamery Crater Lake Blue with Dried Apricots and Thyme Honey
• Mt. Townsend Creamery Cirrus with Candied Fennel and Marcona Almonds
• Peach Polenta Cake with White Corn Ice Cream

We had local (Rogue Valley) Roxy Ann 2008 Syrah with dinner, along with some Grahams Tawny Port with the cheese (oh, the cheese - and the 'dried apricots' - not like any I'd every had, thin slices deliciously reconstituted in honey or juice, yum, yum, yum!), and a bit of Castelnau de Suduiraut Sauternes to close out the meal.

Hope to get more pictures going soon...