In from the garden:

. . . and onto the plate:

If only I had onions and garlic ready to go in the garden! Everything else in today's ratatouille came from ten feet outside my back door and went from plant to plate in a matter of hours. Bliss.

And, no, I haven't seen that movie; I actually had some fantastic ratatouille from the French Meadow Bakery a couple of weeks ago, and have been itching to make my own ever since. I would have rather used a red pepper, but those're still in the process of turning red outside, so I grabbed a yellow-y green one instead. I thought I might as well chuck in the beans, which wound up being for the best. The firmer bite went really well with the softer zucchini and eggplant.

Can you believe tomorrow's August already? Who allowed that to happen?

Oh dear, do you see how long I've been away? I've been living out in the real world, with actual people (not that you're not an actual person, of course -- it's the rest of them that I mean), doing things in the here and now. Very unusual, all that. I think last weekend hosted more meals out than I've had in a long while. And only some of them were composed purely of ice cream.

The vegetable garden has been hard at work, producing several zucchini as big as my forearm (you forget to check just one day...); there are also three fine looking eggplants in the works, another serving of broccoli florets to cut, peppers reddening, and tomatoes ripening the entire time. I had the first of my larger (heirloom) variety tomatoes yesterday, and it was delicious. I'm still not sold on the little guys above, though. No matter how red they get, they're still a bit too sour. 'Supersweet' my eye.

I paired them with fresh herbs from Sara's planters (which I'm caring for while she (undoubtedly) astounds one and all with her excellent performance on the bar exams), olive paste, and orzo, for a cooling pasta salad:

I'm not too picky when it comes to pasta salad, generally speaking. I hardly ever have pasta, so it's a treat in whatever form it takes. But salads made with floppy, cold bowties are a bit depressing, no? Orzo is perfect for cold salads, if you ask me.

So I'm back to running around, doing summer things without you, the Internets. But I'll try to check back in soon.

Look at my pleasant little grey cat:

I wonder how big she'll get? Her paws look huge in this photo, but she's already ten months old and went through heat once before she was spayed. She's certainly... plumper than when I got her. Booty, on the other hand, is looking a bit too svelte these days. I bought him a can of premium tuna today (no added salt), what with four-foot-long tuna fishes being the house cat's natural prey and all. Well, eating tinned tuna certainly seems to come naturally, anyway.

But enough about dumb old cats! This post is actually about my scary basement! The house, as you may recall, was built in two phases. The front half is from 1917, and the back was added in '52 or so. The basement underneath the newer half is pleasant enough. Unfinished, and like an old basement in every way, but not particularly menacing. The older half isn't even so bad, just a bit darker and gloomier (that's where I have to do my laundry).

But then there's the extra bit of basement underneath the front porch. It's separated by a sliding plastic curtain (printed with wood grain, because that's going to fool everybody!), and I'm sure there are colonies of various creatures nesting in there. I never even look in there -- or rather, I would never look in there, except that I desperately want this to be brought out and cleaned up and painted, so I can use it upstairs.

Clearly, I cannot do this for a number of reasons. Mainly, the fact that I refuse to put my body in that room. I used a hand saw to pull back the curtain (and kept it at the ready in case I needed to saw anything to death), sent Minnie in to draw the attention of any attack spiders, and then stuck one arm in (with camera) to snap this shot.

Never mind that I didn't see a single creepy crawly while I was down there. Never mind that the room actually seemed a lot cleaner than I remembered, despite its being heavily cobwebbed. Even daring to look in there is to take a huge risk, because if I were to see, say, a giant centipede (shudder), I'd have to set light to the basement. And that would make living upstairs rather uncomfortable.

But if anybody wants to come over and fetch up this dresser for me, I'll pay you in zucchini. I'll be the one standing on a chair at the end of the driveway. With a book of matches. Just in case.

Let's see what's on the camera, shall we?

The first two cherry tomatoes from the garden! I've been waiting and waiting for my tomatoes to ripen (I've got two different varieties of standard-size heirlooms and four plants of these cherries), and these little guys were the first to go. I feel a bit silly wanting so badly for the tomatoes to ripen RIGHT NOW, because I know they'll all turn at once and I won't know what to do with them. Tomato, zucchini, and feta muffins? That sounds pretty good, actually. And there will be a lot of homegrown, homemade tomato sauce going in the freezer for the winter.

Speaking of winter, how about this summer, eh? I'm as miserable as anybody when the temperatures soar, but I really do love this season. I love the mornings when it's cool, and you can rush around to get things done before the sun starts warming everything. And I love that things grow. I'm already planning next year's garden -- did I already say this? The vegetable patch is 6' x 10' this year, and next year I'm going to break it up and make it bigger: two 6' x 6' (at least) raised beds. I don't even care about planting flowers; it's all about nurturing the edibles for me. I'd like to eventually have berry bushes and an apple tree or two... I wish poly-tunnels could survive Minnesota winters; I'd be out there every day, growing crops year round, if I could.

Here's a product of combined efforts:

Saturday's dinner -- pizza on a pita again. I covered it with a tablespoon of the olive spread Tania sent, layered it with slices of tomato and eggplant (a little one from the garden), sprinkled it with feta, and topped it with basil and oregano that Sara grew. It was just like Captain Planet, except instead of rings, there were ingredients, and instead of saving the world, I ate a pizza. But similar in other ways.

In other big summer-time news, I've got a bike now! I've been meaning to buy a bike for ages, and I finally did it. It's a real, proper bike, as well -- in the past I've always spent $100 at Target and ridden until the thing falls apart, but not this time. I haven't done much (any) biking since leaving college, and I'm thinking my 15-mile round trip this afternoon wasn't exactly the right way to ease back into it. There is not a single square inch of my legs that doesn't hurt.

I was actually finally sold on the idea of buying a bike by all the walking I did this weekend (er, and a generous offer from unnamed employer). I reckon I must have walked about twelve miles over Saturday and Sunday, which isn't bad on its own, but I'm not known for wearing the most sensible of shoes. Although I like getting out and being active for the health benefits, I don't think of walking as 'exercise' -- so I don't want to have to 'dress up' for it. It's easier to just hop on a bike without completely mauling your precious feets. Well, precious in the winter. In the summer, it's a different story.

Say, Anna, I can hear you asking, what else can you make with zucchini? Well, I will tell you! You can make zucchini potato hashbrowns, to start:

I grated one small zucchini (about 85 grams) and sprinkled it with salt to bring out the water. Meanwhile, I grated a few red potatoes (about 185 grams) with the skin on (because I'm lazy). Using my hands, I squeezed out as much moisture as I could from the combined zucchini and potato -- and when I couldn't squeeze out any more, I put the shredded veg between layers of paper towel and pressed to really try to dry it all out. I heated my cast iron skillet with a bit of oil, dumped in the hashbrowns, sprinkled with salt, pepper, and paprika, and turned as needed until they were cooked through and crispy in places.

I had them with a Boca burger topped with wholegrain mustard, Gouda, tomato slices, and lettuce. The frizzy bit of lettuce at the top was for extra fance (a word which I've just back-formationed from 'fancy', obviously. Feel free to spread it around.).

I also made another curry dish:

I've got into the habit of making things like this for lunch when it isn't too hot out. I really enjoy the process, which is fairly atypical for me -- crafting is all about the results, for example. But I like to chop everything up and arrange it on a plate before I start cooking, and then each ingredient goes in at just the right time. I also tried making naan, which came out good, but not great, which I blame on my tendency to cook with very little oil. The littler dish has yogurt and cherries.

And lastly, the second package from Tania arrived today. Talk about feeling spoiled!

I'm going to have to open up a tea shop soon -- I've got such a selection now! She also sent seaweed pasta, fig jam and apricot jam (which I am resisting the urge to eat straight from the jar), the biscuits I mentioned yesterday, lemon thyme, honey, and olive spread. I might just spend the rest of the weekend sampling everything.

Lastly lastly, I forced them to be cute. Booty looks like he's totally relaxed there, but he was actually the one more uncomfortable with the situation. Whenever Beany gets close to him, she's happy to lick him all over, but Booty just isn't used to other cats being friendly.

Don't you love it when you've made a cup of tea and can't decide what to have with it? And then the doorbell goes? And it's a package from Portugal with biscuits inside? Yeah, I'm pretty fond of that too.

Tania Ho and I decided to have a tea-and-jam swap a little while back, and the first of two (!) parcels from her arrived today. Inside were various local foodstuffs, including a selection of organic biscuits. I'll take a picture of everything when the second package arrives -- how exciting!

And here's Minnie, trying her 'if I don't look at it, I won't be tempted' tactic:

She's turned into such a good dog (compared to other dogs I know/have known). I left my plate of biscuits on the coffee table while I was searching for something else, and I didn't even think that Minnie might go after them. I mean, I did tell her to leave it, and that's about enough instruction for her.

She's a fairly anxious dog, especially in loud, over-stimulating environments. I've been trying to take her for walks in slightly more commercial areas (the nearest of which is two miles away, so we've been taking some decent walks!). A few days ago, we went to an old-fashioned Dairy Queen (with the walk-up window outside), and I was amazed at how well behaved Minnie was. She sat when I told her to sit and stood patiently while I paid for and collected my ice cream cone. And I think it goes without saying that she was VERY attentive once I had the ice cream.

Today we walked down to the little neighbourhood grocery store. I had to spend about a minute giving Minnie pats and telling her she was a good dog, and then I tied her to a pillar and popped inside for a bottle of water. She can get quite tail-between-the-legs in these situations, so I was only gone for about thirty seconds. She was still waiting patiently when I came back out, and I was so pleased with her, and SHE was obviously so pleased with herself as well. How nice.

Speaking of nice, a good cat lies next to a person (preferably belly-up, for bonus cute points) rather than insisting he occupy a person's entire lap. Funny how two little cats can make a person feel surrounded.

We had rain the other day -- did you know? The UK has been under an almost constant storm cloud, but here in Minneapolis, we've been thirsty for a single drop of rain. But, as I said, it finally rained on Sunday, and the zucchini plants had turned it into several whomping zucchinis by Monday. How to use them all?

Yesterday, I made chips/crisps. Zucchini and eggplant crisps! I sliced them as thin as I could while still keeping them even (yes, I do need a mandoline), laid them out, and sprinkled them with salt to bring out the moisture. I made a mixture of 1 Tbsp all purpose flour, 1 Tbsp rice flour, and a pinch each of garlic salt, chili powder, and paprika.

Dipped each side of each slice in the flour mixture (was time consuming and boring, but I didn't want all the slices to stick to each other), put them on a cookie sheet lined with foil and sprayed with oil, then popped them in the oven. Five minutes at 350F, flip 'em, then five minutes more. Keep an eye on them, because the littler pieces will crisp up quickly, while thicker ones will take longer.

I thought they were rather tasty, and they made for an excellent fake-American meal, with a soya burger and vegan jell dessert.

Today I made aloo ghobi, based on Indira's recipe, of course. I left out the carrot and beans and instead added -- what? what do you think I added? -- yes, zucchini! Zucchini in everything!

I'm generally not a fan of cauliflower (unless it's paired with broccoli and baked with a large amount of cream and cheese), but I 'had' to buy some from the farmers' market on Saturday -- it was bundled together with the broccoli I wanted. And I have to say that I've been really pleasantly surprised. I've got no idea where it came from, but it was really tasty (I used it in a few different dishes).

I think my favourite thing about making Indian dishes is the tomatoes. I love chopping them up, scooping the pieces and their juice into the pan, watching them cook, and smashing them down with my spatula. I could do that all day long. I spent, oh. . . about twenty-four years hating raw tomatoes (and not liking them much even in sauces), but a switch was flipped a while back, and now I can't get enough.

I don't think my enjoyment of curries is all down to the tomato smashing, though. Just to make sure -- in the name of science, you understand -- Sara and I are going to The Vegetarian (local Indian restaurant which is in my top five favourite Indian restaurants ever) tonight, to gorge on tomatoes that somebody else has smashed. Drool.

So many things to post about! So many things to do! I need to start a list just to keep track of the lists I need to make. I shall tell you about some of the many things I want to do, but first -- a photo of my living room:

There are more pictures on my flickr page. The living room has been an on-going style headache, but I moved the furniture around a couple of days ago, so I can cross that off my (hypothetical) list. Of course there are still pictures to hang, chairs to look for, etc, etc. Still, it's looking so much better these days, now that I've ditched the browns and reds that somehow had crept into the room.

So what sorts of things do I want to do? There are crafty things -- endless crafty things. Placemats, coasters, gifts for people, a totebag to be made from a swatch of fabric I found at an antique shop, quilt tops to be pieced, blankets to be made (to keep cat hair off various pieces of furniture). Things I haven't thought of yet or can't remember -- but they're somewhere out there!

There are also things to do around the house. I took measurements and jotted down dimensions of the bathroom; I want to make a series of scale drawings for my renovation plans. It's a small bathroom, which should come in handy when it's time to buy materials, but it's hard to find a place for everything. And I'd really like to start buying things -- wall tiles, floor tiles, bead board, etc, etc -- bit by bit, so I don't chicken out when I think about laying down a large wodge of cash in one go.

I've long wanted to build a large work station/shelving unit for the craft room, and I've now got it in my head to knock apart my old wooden desk and repurpose the drawer units (and legs) for the bottom. It sort of seems like a shame, but it's falling apart as it is, so I might as well turn it into something sturdy and useful. I'm resisting the urge to run right out and buy supplies, what with there being nine more days of no-shopping.

And then there are various side projects to work on -- books to plan/write, places to explore, things to eat. And other posts to write. So enough with this one!

Well, Rob's going to be moving house soon (from a dee-lux apartment in the sky to an amazing barn conversion in the Cotswolds), so the website has been shifted over to a third party server. I'm hoping the transition has gone as smoothly as it seems and that nothing will pop up and cause problems. There are a few missing comments (the most recent ones), but I think I should be able to retrieve those. In the meantime, pizza!

I made my own tomato sauce (some tomato, onion, garlic, oregano, basil) and spread it on a whole wheat pita. Topped with cooked broccoli and asparagus, black olives, and a bit more red onion. Sprinkled a very modest amount of shredded double Gloucester (the last of that nice onion-chive stuff) and baked for ten minutes at 350F. That's about as healthy as pizza gets, I reckon, and it was tasty as you like. Yum.

Hello, everybody! I'm in a very good mood today. It's hot as you like, but I headed out early this morning to walk to my local-ish drugstore (about two miles away), to get batteries for my Lomo. I haven't shot on film in ages; I was surprised I even remembered how to load it! Before heading out, I had a fortifying helping of oatmeal in my new (to me) wooden bowl:

That photo is obviously pre-cooking! I got the bowl from the thrift store yesterday -- it was the first time I've been shopping for something other than food since I started my month of nothing new. Thrifting was allowed in the rules of my no-shopping month, but I haven't been that tempted; I just happened to be in the right neighbourhood yesterday. I'm glad I stopped in, though, because I found this great little bowl, plus a yard of the most fantastic vintage (possibly reproduction?) cotton fabric -- and I never find good fabric at the thrift store. I also got a stuffed teddy for Minnie to destroy, but she's afraid of it. Beany wrestles with it instead.

I came across this post while I was perusing food blogs yesterday, and suddenly an egg salad sandwich sounded like the just the thing. I picked up fresh dill and chives at the farmer's market this morning and made the best sandwich I've had in ages:

The entire meal was fabulous, actually -- one of those meals where each things seems tastier than the last. The beans were from my own garden, cooked to perfection, and the corn was just right. I swear every time my dad eats an ear of corn, he claims it's the best corn he's ever had (that's just how corn on the cob is!), but this really was the best.

My egg salad (which I'd never made before, as I find mayo to be fairly gross) was inspired by the recipe I linked to above, but I veered off course at some point. I added one tablespoon of mayo to three eggs, about a teaspoon each of finely minced dill and chives, a tablespoon of finely chopped onion (I can't be bothered with celery -- what a waste of water and string), salt, pepper, and a pinch of paprika. Perfection. That's about enough for three reasonable sandwiches or two large sandwiches.

Later today, I'm going to head over to Lake Harriet for the Minneapolis Pops Orchestra (I went to both their concerts last weekend as well -- I really ought to donate), but first: a rare bit of sitting in front of the A/C, washcloth knitting, and perhaps a few episodes of Spaced.

The temperatures are climbing again, and my desire to stand in front of the stove is fading. I feel as though meals like this make up my 'natural' diet:

Fruit, almonds, a bit of bread and cheese -- you can't go wrong. I love to experiment with new dishes, but I'll happily take fresh, simple, and well-rounded any day of the week. Do you have meals like this? Things which just seem as though you're 'meant' to eat them?

I had a good harvest today, including the last crown of broccoli, which I'm planning to have for lunch. I've left all four plants in the ground, with their tops chopped off, and they've started growing individual florets down the stems. Bonus!

I also forgot to mention that I made that zucchini cake I hinted at the other day:

In place of butter and oil, I used the equivalent weight in mashed avocado. And the results? Great! I wound up giving away most of the cake, because I was afraid that it wouldn't stay good for more than a few days. Even though the avocado is baked, of course, it just seems more likely to go off than regular sources of fat. The flavour doesn't come through at all, what with the cocoa in the cake, and the finished product wound up being dense and moist. I will try to slap together a proper recipe for it soon.

Also, I need more (savoury) zucchini recipes. Any favourites?

Okay, internets, I think I'm getting an idea of what you like. Tea? Yes. Cheese? Yes. Indian food? Not so much. Or perhaps you just don't have an opinion on it. I'd never had anything remotely curry-flavoured before I studied in Scotland; it's just not a cuisine in high demand in the Midwestern suburbs, much less something people prepare at home. But the flavours are second to none, and it's very fun trying to recreate them in my own kitchen.

So, what about pet animals? Do you like them?

Beany spends most of her time in window jambs (if that's what that part is called; it's not the sill) -- preferably belly-up. It's quite quaint -- she sits in the kitchen window when I'm in the backyard and talks to me or naps; I've always liked seeing nice little cats in windows, and it's even better when it's one's own.

And here's my new pet hawk, Jeff:

Okay, so he's not actually my pet hawk. Although I don't think Minnie's ever managed to look at me that lovingly (nor has she ever fetched me a stick). I'm pretty sure this is one of the youngsters belonging to the pair of red-tailed hawks that nested in my neighbourhood this spring. They're called Phillip and Meredith, if you were wondering. Yes, I do think it's funny to give people names to animals.

If you've ever wondered how I came to be the person I am, here are some clues. I sent the hawk pictures to my parents today, along with my plan (fake! fake plan!) to put out Beany on a string in order to lure the hawk in.

Said my dad: "I like the Beany on a string idea, but you should have a grocery bag ready to capture the hawk in. It sure would make a swell pet to sit out on your front porch. Let me know if you catch him."

And my mom: "I think you should try it. Put Beany out on a long string and then s-l-o-w-l-y pull her back to the door so the hawk follows and then SNATCH him quickly. You should put on gloves though so his talons don't scratch you. Make sure to pull all the curtains once you have him inside or he will break his neck flying against the windows."

She's a practical one, my mom. Always thinking ahead.

My garden is a ticking bomb. Any day now it's going to explode, and I'm going to be faced with a glut of zucchini, eggplants, and tomatoes. Actually, the tomatoes are still a little way off, but I'll be surprised if I don't have a dozen zucchini on my hands by the end of the week. Here is today's harvest:

The first zucchini and a slender Japanese eggplant. I mentioned before how picking the broccoli was not as exciting as I had expected; well, the eggplant is a different story completely. They're such gorgeous vegetables; it's amazing to think you can grow them in your own backyard. The plant itself is rather small, but it looks like it could produce ten of these slim vegetables.

You know that old saying, 'Never say you don't like cooking Indian dishes at home, because then that's all you'll wind up making for the next five days'? Er, no? Well, it's true. I don't know what the difference is from the last time I tried my hand at these sorts of things, but it's been really enjoyable.

I had today's harvest earmarked for Baingan Chole (Eggplant and Chickpeas) and Coconut Zucchini (made by modifying this recipe). Both zucchini and eggplant can be a bit of a let down on their own, but these dishes really brought out the best in them. And I don't suppose it hurt that there was only about half and hour between the plant and the plate!

I had them with an avocado chapati. These are delicious, and I've found I can make two by combining 40g of mashed avocado with 30g (1/4 cup) of flour, plus spices. I don't need to add any water, though sometimes a bit of extra flour is needed if the dough is too sticky. They're incredibly easy to roll out thinly, which I've always had a problem with when making chapatis or tortillas. And Indira's method of rolling, folding, and rolling out again produces deliciously flaky layers!

In fact, I've been so inspired by the power of the avocado-as-fat-replacement that I'm thinking of trying it out in baking. Chocolate zucchini cake, perhaps?