Myriad topics to cover today:

-- I was feeling so proud of myself for clearing off the window sill (of tomatoes) to make sauce today. It's a lot of pressure, knowing there are tomatoes that will go bad if I don't do something with them in a limited amount of time. So, well done, me. Dusted the old hands off and thought I'd take a stroll around the garden, thumbs hooked in my imaginary suspenders/braces. Then I started picking tomatoes and came inside with over ten pounds of 'em. Whoops.

-- I made Susan's Seitan and Eggplant Stew yesterday, and I can heartily recommend it. I halved the recipe and soaked my split peas for quite a few hours before I even began cooking. I think my only changes were to omit the chili peppers (used red pepper flakes instead, just a dash) and the pomegranate molasses (no substitution) because I had neither. I also cut way back on the cloves, because I find that that flavour often overpowers everything else. It's a delicious dish, and I LOVE the seitan cooked in with everything. I'm thinking I'll have to try a 'beef' stew using that method!

-- My mom gifted a Cat-A-Wheel to my pet cats. Beany loves it. She's just this second gone over to curl up in it again, actually. Booty doesn't trust it at all, however; he prefers to sleep in the cat carrier, of all things. Sadly, neither the cat carrier nor the Cat-A-Wheel blend seamlessly with the rest of my decor. Imagine.

-- My friend Mo did a desktop meme, which began its life as a 'show your computer desktop' thing, but which she expanded to include her literal desktop as well. So this is my MacBook desktop (the photo was taken a couple of years ago in Minneapolis, right after an impressive summer storm had passed). Not very interesting, eh? And this is my actual desk, with the iMac. My screen saver just cycles through a folder of my photos, so that's what's on the screen. The book on my desk is Thomas Emson's Maneater (go buy it now!), which I needed on hand the week before last, when I was typesetting its sequel.

-- I spent ages picking grapes off their stems yesterday (grapes taken from my parents' yard) and turned them into juice. Today, I made jelly, except I did it all wrong. There were too many words in the instructions, words that I couldn't be bothered to process, so I missed the fact that I was supposed to measure the juice into a BOWL and the sugar+pectin+water into the SAUCEPAN, so it all wound up in the saucepan. I think it'll actually set up... mostly... but definitely not as well as last year. Live and yet still fail to learn.

Just another day in Minnesota. Every day is like this, you know. And we all live on apple orchards. We only make up those stories about the winters and the mosquitoes to keep people away.

Well, today was pretty magnificent, anyway. My friend Alex and I went apple-picking (our second 'annual' trip), and the weather was fine, if cool. Having experienced apple-overload last year, we decided to split a single bag this year, and we went with about 70% State Fair variety, and 30% McIntosh. Both should be good for baking (crisp and tart), so I just have to decide what to make.

I wonder when my homegrown apples will be ready. I think they're Haralson, but I really have to find the tag that's somewhere in the garage. I'm sure they'll be the best apples I've ever tasted, regardless of variety.

Yesterday was also a decent one, weather-wise, despite some rain in the morning and alternating spells of sunshine and clouds. My mom and I went to the state fair and faired it up, choosing the breeds of goats and chickens and cows we'll someday have when we both move out to the country. I succeeded in eating everything on my list, and we went to the agriculture building to see the prize-winning vegetables (much scoffing on my part, even though they were very impressive, but I'm honour-bound to consider my own produce to be the finest).

Two days of being out of the house for hours and hours equals a very clingy Beany now. I think we'll have to have a nice, slow Sunday morning tomorrow!

I swear, I've been a day ahead all week -- thinking it was Wednesday when it was Tuesday, thinking it was Thursday on Wednesday, and so on. Of course, now that tomorrow really is Friday, it seems like the week has slipped by. As usual.

I was having a hard time deciding what I wanted for lunch today, so I fell back on something breakfast-y. An Archer Farms multi-grain bagel (my favourite at the moment) with brown sugar cinnamon cream cheese, a veggie sausage patty, and a nectarine. I was trying to figure out what was up with the colour balance, because I don't think the nectarine was really so dark, but I guess it was just a combination of shading and shadow. It was an unusual nectarine, though -- delicious, but the skin was so thick/tough that it was easier to just peel it off in one piece than to try to eat it.

In the afternoon, I went to the big Asian supermarket near me (there are a few, actually), where I got soba and ramen-style noodles for cheapy cheap and the same tofu I usually buy (House brand) for 99 cents a package. I also got some frozen steamed buns that are filled with veggies. I'm very easily influenced by the things I find inspiring ('Let's dress only in early 60s fashions!' 'Let's paint everything white!' 'Let's eat only Indian/Japanese/sandwiches from now on!'), and although I don't follow through on most of it, I was definitely in the mood for miso and noodles today. I wasn't able to find any miso that didn't have bonito in it, though, so I'll have to wait to go to the co-op for a vegetarian version.

Tomorrow, my mom and I are going to brave the 30% chance of rain and will be going to the Great Minnesota Get-Together. People who live elsewhere always say, 'Oh yeah, everybody thinks their state fair is the best,' but Minnesota's really is (the website could be better, though, I'll admit). We take this stuff seriously, folks.

And, of course, it's all about the food. I've been strategizing for a few days already (maybe longer). According to my mom, her plan is to eat cheese curds, a bloomin' onion, mini donuts, a corn dog, 'and then I am going to have to sit down for a bit.' There's a reason this comes around only once a year! As for me, I've got my mind set on a roasted ear of corn, half of that bloomin' onion, and -- I'm most excited about this -- mini cinnamon donuts in vanilla soft serve.

They've thought of everything, now.

-- I've got some odds and ends to mention today (tonight, I suppose -- almost tomorrow!). I snapped this photo right after I watered the plant on my kitchen table; it took a while to soak in. I think it's some sort of rubber plant, although it doesn't look exactly like what an image search for said plant turns up. I've had it since I was in college, and it's managed to hardly grow since then (new leaves grow and old ones fall off, however). Although... I bet I have a picture of it somewhere. I might have to look for that later.

-- I spent another pleasant day at 2nd Moon, and I managed to (re)finish (re)proofing the book I had just finished working on when my MacBook died. I felt I deserved a pain au chocolat for my effort, and it was definitely a delicious reward. I popped it in their microwave for fifteen seconds, so it was all warm and melty. (Fifteen seconds in a microwave seems to be a thing with me.)

-- After work, I went to the dollar store (for plastic bags and a giant car-washing sponge), and I was reminded that I've been meaning to make a stick+string style toy for the pet cats. So I got out the box of dowels (no, really) when I got home and whipped one up with some jute twine and ribbon. The cats approve. I had Beany running around for over a quarter of an hour (I got bored before she did). It's good practice, what with mousing season coming up in a few months. Awful, but true.

-- I'm totally loving Ai's flickr photostream -- and blog here. It's so inspiring to see great photos of food that are similar enough to what I eat to seem tempting, but different enough to be intriguing and novel. I find myself suddenly craving udon.

-- I've bought my plane ticket and booked a little flat for my time in Frankfurt this year (I'll actually be staying just outside the city). I'd spent so much time mulling over the different options that it feels like a huge relief just to have settled on something. And it'll be a very satisfactory something, I think. I can't wait to get myself to a Bio-Supermarkt and nom some German veggie cold cuts (they do exist!).

-- I like to stay up late and then think about my pals in the UK waking up early; maybe we're awake at the same time, but on different 'days'. I think I might have to head to bed now, though. Have to fit in a few games of solitaire, or I'll never get a good night's sleep.

So, here's the deal with me and bars: up until this spring, I'd got into the habit of having yogurt with fruit and granola for my afternoon snack. I loved it, but it meant that I usually had to be at home in the afternoon to eat it, and since I was trying to get more flexible with my routine, I started incorporating bars every so often. I started with Luna bars; I could always keep one or two in my bag for when I was out and about. Eventually, I realized that Clif bars keep me satisfied better than any of the others, so they're what I eat most often these days.

I've tried and enjoyed lots of the other brands -- the Kashi Roll! bars were my favourite for a while -- but if you've done the same, you'll know that the Lunas and similar have a vitamin-y taste. It often seems to be the fault of the 'chocolate' coating or icing they put on those bars, and it's the biggest reason I don't eat them more often.

The regular Clif bars, though, taste more like really hearty granola bars. My top three favourite flavours are Chocolate Almond Fudge, Crunchy Peanut Butter, and Maple Nut. I think the maple and the almond fudge might just edge out the PB flavour, but they're pretty well tied -- I have to choose depending on my mood. Chocolate Brownie is also right up there, being very similar to the almond fudge, but it's not quite as amazing. In the second tier, I'd place Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch (not all that different), White Chocolate Macadamia (amazing, but super sweet!) and Blueberry Crisp.

The only other flavours that I've tried and not been crazy about are Banana Nut Bread and Carrot Cake. They aren't actually bad at all, but Carrot Cake in particular seemed a little clovey to me, and I'm fairly sensitive to cloviness in foods. There are still quite a few varieties to try, and I'm particularly excited for the seasonal flavours to appear in stores again, as I didn't try them last year.

So the taste is a big factor for me, but I also like the protein content and the presence of carbs. The whole-foods bars (like Lara and Pur bars) are great for their short ingredients lists, but I need those grains to keep me satisfied for more than thirty minutes, you know? A Clif and a small piece of fruit (and a cup of tea) is just what I need in the middle of the afternoon.

You already know my biggest (only?) complaint when it comes to Clifs -- they're so chewy! I microwave them for fifteen seconds, which makes them warm and soft and melty and wonderful, but I hardly dare to eat one on the go.

What's your take on Clif bars? (Or protein/energy bars in general? No judgment of those of us who enjoy them, though, please. Different strokes for different folks, and all.) Any flavour recommendations?

Yes! Tonight I had the first ear of corn from my garden. It was itsy bitsy, but it was good, and I grew it myself, and the squirrels didn't get it! I think it helps that it's right by the back steps; even the squirrels aren't quite bold enough to come that close to the house, particularly when Beany is on guard from the kitchen window. She did spot a baby bunny nibbling the phlox (or a weed growing nearby) this morning, though. Poor bunny, eating common weeds, when there was a garden's worth of lettuce about ten inches away. In a raised bed, but still -- bunnies are dumb (I predict that I'll wake up tomorrow morning to find all the lettuce gone).

The rain last week, although welcome, made me feel a bit trapped inside, so I've been taking advantage of the nicer weather and the proof reading I need to do this week and have paid a couple of visits to 2nd Moon, which is probably my favourite coffee shop in Minneapolis. A) Great location B) Nice people C) Amazing pain au chocolat (which I actually haven't had in a while. Hmmmmm...). It's nice to feel a bit more out-in-the-world, even if I still stuck on my laptop for most of the day. I've been taking strolls around the Seward neighbourhood before I head home, and there are some amazing gardens in the area.

Speaking of last week's rain, I find myself getting excited over the prospect of rainy days. A big part of that is just the garden and the lawn -- I've never had to worry about too MUCH rain, so it's always a good thing. But I think it's also due to the fact that I'm actually looking forward to autumn this year. I'm not done enjoying the summer yet, but I'm excited for the change of seasons, too. Last year, I was absolutely panicky over the thought of summer ending, but I feel a bit more balanced about it now. I had to wear a fleece on one of those rainy days last week, and it felt cozy and nice. Not quite as fantastic as the first spring day that you don't need a jacket to go outside, but almost as good.

Happy weekend, one and all! Actually, I've parked myself at a coffee shop to do some proof reading, so there's nothing particularly weekend-y going on for me, yet. I'm wearing my new shirt out for the first time today (I took a better picture, which is here), and it's remarkably comfortable. I just hope nobody thinks it's a pyjama top. And that I don't slide out of this arm chair, due to its silkiness.

This cone was my afternoon snack yesterday -- I need to restock on Clif bars, so a briefly considered having yogurt, before I remembered that I was out. So I went for the 'next best' thing, which was frozen yogurt -- yogurt is yogurt, right? Heh. The sun came out for the first time in a few days yesterday afternoon, so it felt appropriate to eat it in a cone.

I'm starting to think that perhaps nine tomato plants is too many for one person. I used quite a few to make salsa on Wednesday and felt relieved to have depleted the stock. Then I got distracted for a second, and when I glanced back at the window sill, it was full again. I've been tempted to put a sign on my front door that says, 'Heirloom Tomatoes, 50 cents each' -- but then I worry about getting fined for selling produce without a license (or whatever one might be required to have). And I wouldn't even be able to sell tomatoes to raise the money for the fine, then!

So I might have to start putting them on the doorsteps of people I know and running away. Strangely, my zucchinis (which are the usual ding-dong-ditch vegetable) have all but stopped producing.

Well, time to get back to my proof reading. Long live the weekend!

So, I thought I might start doing the occasional review, since I'm so chock full of opinions. (Really good opinions, too!)

Since I was recently introduced to these Trio bars, that's where I'll start. My mom bought the variety pack a few weeks back and brought me a few to sample, and they get a big thumbs-up.

I started eating 'bars' earlier this year, because the Clifs of the world are such tasty sources of protein -- but the problem with them is that they're infinitely better warmed in the microwave (I've only once had one at room temperature, and I was shocked by how chewy it was!). I love them to bits, but sometimes I've got things to do and people to see and want something that's perfect straight out of the package.

The Trio bars (so called because of the combination of fruits, nuts, and seeds) are great because they seem to be pretty unprocessed; I love all the bits and nuts, and the glaze that keeps it all together is sweet without being sugary. And -- thanks to the seeds and nuts, I suppose -- they're decent in terms of protein, which is generally why I choose bars over other options.

If you ask my mom, the Trio bars are too crunchy, but I think they fall into the reasonable range. Once you start chewing, they're not jaw shattering (I had a crunchy Nature Valley granola bar the other day and thought I was going to damage myself) -- and they don't stick to your teeth. She warned about the cranberry flavour being the hardest to eat, which I'll have to see about. So far I've had the tropical (top marks!) and the blueberry (also pretty good, as far as blueberry-flavoured-things-that-aren't-blueberries go).

So I think I'll keep these guys in the stash as a nice alternative to the typical 'energy' bar. Speaking of which, I think my next review might be about Clif bars in general, as that would involve two of my favourite things -- opinions and ranking.

Huh. Turns out the internet is full of people who like talking about Star Trek and computers. I would have never guessed. You geeks.

Just a last word or two about the MacBook debacle, and then I'm done with it. First of all, I DID figure out the two-fingered tap thing. I didn't realize that I hadn't even turned on single-finger tapping (shouldn't that be the default? I thought it was!), and once I did that, I was given the option for secondary clicks. All is right with the world.

Secondly, I have a back-up system in place for my iMac; I was just lazy and hadn't got round to getting the MacBook to back itself up as well. I figured I didn't keep much on my laptop -- and I didn't, really, but it was definitely enough to be painful once it was gone. Anyway, speaking of back ups or the lack thereof fills me with self-loathing, so we shall now draw that line of discussion to a close.

On to happier topics -- Swiss cake rolls! Little Debbie ones, in particular, and ones pilfered from my parents' sweet jar (at the cabin), specifically. Some junk food delights from my youth really haven't held up for me over the years, but I have to admit these were pretty good. Shockingly sweet, but, you know -- good. I have to accuse them of Wagon Wheel syndrome, however. I'm a Swiss roll deconstructionist (more literally than philosophically -- I nibble the chocolate off each end, then eat the rest of the chocolate before unrolling the cake, eating it as I go), and I'm pretty sure it used to be easier to remove the chocolate coating, as it was more substantial.

I spent today alternating between proof reading and sewing (and eating Swiss cake rolls, although that happened just the once), and while the proof reading wouldn't make for interesting viewing, here is the shirt I made. It's a pattern from a Japanese book, made from fabric I thrifted for two bucks. I knew from the start that using this silky, rayon-blend (probably 100% rayon, actually!) would drive me nuts -- if you even glance at it, it slips into a puddle on the floor. And if it's already on the floor, it spills into the next room. I swear I would spend ten minutes carefully pinning a piece, only to pick it up and have all the pins fall straight out. Practically.

But I like it, I've decided. It actually looks its least billow-y (tent-like) in the photo I linked to (which was taken in the overcast, evening light; my apologies); I took it in an inch on both sides before I hemmed the bottom, and it's still just a bit too big (I know it's supposed to be a loose, easy fit, but it's a bit much). I think the next time I make a pattern from this book, I'll go with the smaller size and see how that works. I really like using the patterns and 'instructions', though. It's somehow SO much clearer than English-language patterns!

Okay, one last computer thing (it's not related to the MacBook, so I'm allowed). I was thinking about the uselessness of the voice command feature on OS X 10.5, but when I was turning off my iMac last night, I realized its perfect function. I'm not sure if this is actually a command, but if it were, I could finally say, 'Sleeeep,' a la Dark City, pass my hand in front of the screen, and have it blink off. I mean, that's already what I do every night, but I'd feel more powerful if I didn't have to press any buttons first.

Well, it wasn't meant to be. After a trip to the computer doctor, it turned out my hard drive was dead, dead, dead. I brought it to Northbrain per the Apple store's recommendation, and although I hope to never need their services again (fingers crossed), I would definitely go back to them if I did. Even though they weren't able to salvage any of my files, they did replace the hard drive for me -- and since they didn't have any of the 160GB drives to hand, they put in a 225GB drive for the same price. Never mind that I never managed to fill up my old 80GB drive (I didn't keep music or anything on it) -- I'll have to start downloading movies! Anyway, if your Mac needs sorting out and you're in the Twin Cities, I'd point you in their direction.

Despite the loss of my data (I've decided I'm most annoyed about having to proof read an entire novel again; I'm saddest about losing my own writing), it's a liiiittle bit fun to have, essentially, a new computer. The new drive has OS X 10.5 (versus 10.4 on the old one), which is just different enough to be interesting. I don't know whose idea it was to get rid of two-finger tapping for the secondary click, though. No other added function could possibly be worth not having that. I don't want to have to tap AND click! Melodramatic sigh.

But! I'm a bit goofy over the voice command. (I'll admit that I'm not sure if this was on 10.4, but I never noticed it before.) I mean, not in an I'll-ever-use-it-for-real way, but it's fun/funny. To get it to pay attention to a command, you have to preface it with 'computer', as in, 'Computer, minimize the window!' It doesn't understand some (most) of the time, and I find myself repeating the commands as you would to a stubborn dog. Calm, assertive energy, that's what you need.

I'm working up to, 'Tea, Earl Grey, hot.'

(And with that, she finished her nerdiest twelve22 post ever.)

It's sunflower season in my yard! I planted a bunch in one corner of the garden, and the squirrels appear to have planted a few by one of the raised veggie beds. Thanks, squirrels! Now shoo.

Things aren't looking VERY hopeful on the MacBook front. The guy at the store wasn't ready to say that the data is unrecoverable, but it wasn't as simple as just hooking it up via firewire and moving stuff over, which is what I had my fingers crossed for. Bah. I do all my work-related reading (and all my internet surfing, usually) on the MacBook, but I don't keep much saved on there, so it's not the world's hugest disaster. Losing the data would mean the loss of upwards of a thousand photos (which I usually save on my desktop, but for some reason I had half a dozen folders on the laptop) and several first-halves of novels (I only ever write the first half before I get bored with it). 'Twould be a shame.

I made more breaded eggplant for dinner tonight. I realize that the eggplant is only a very tiny fraction of the reason I like it so much -- it's really all about the breading. I'm trying to think of what else I can bread. Zucchini will be the next thing, I think. Maybe green tomatoes. I'm also going to try making spicy breaded eggplant. And breaded tofu. All I need are some skewers, and I'll be set for the State Fair (minus the deep frying, of course).

Hello, tasty dinner! This was one of those occasions when I really wished there were somebody else to share my dinner with, just as evidence of how delicious it was. The garden really came through for me tonight! I had a steamed/sauteed (sausteamed -- I mostly steamed it, but in a skillet) green beans, kale, and the very first little Brussels sprouts, with a bit of (non-garden) onion. I also made breaded eggplant medallions, pretty much exactly the same way I made eggplant the last time. Definitely a favourite method now!

And then I sliced into my big Striped German tomato. It weighed nearly 1.5 pounds (not record-setting or anything, but pretty big!), and the slices were about as big as my hand (fingers included). I crisped up a high-protein wrap in the oven, then topped it with the tomato slices, which had been salted, peppered, and sprinkled with feta. Oh boy. This was pretty amazing! The tomato was unbelievably mild (which meant the feta went perfectly with it), and it was so meaty that it was almost the texture of cantaloupe. I don't want to make any hasty declarations, but the Striped German may take the place of Brandywines in my heart.

I needed a cheering dinner today, because my laptop pretty much lost it last night. I can't bear to bore myself by going through the details again, but suffice to say, I tried everything available to me to fix it, and it's going to the Apple store tomorrow for a visit to the Genius Bar. I'm fairly confident the data will be recoverable, but it's still a great big pain in the butt. Bah.

Tada! My first slicing tomato for the year. Almost two weeks late(r than last year), but still perfect. This was a Black Prince -- I made a sandwich with hummus, tomato, and feta on Woman's Bread. The tomato was pretty sweet, as were the cranberries in the bread, while the feta was (of course) salty -- it was a flavour combination I would have despised just a few years ago, but it's something I enjoy these days.

I heard about green tomato pie the other day (p'raps on Splendid Table?), and I'm definitely going to try that in the fall, when I always wind up with a bushel of tomatoes that have no chance of ripening. Apparently you make it just like an apple pie; a quick search produces a zillion recipes, so I'll have fun finding the one that sounds best.

And maybe this year, since I have nine tomato plants (and only one of me), I might try making tomato jam. Mayyyybe. I'm not entirely sure I'm on board with that one. Ketchup first, maybe, jam later. For the moment, I'm pretty happy with simple tomato sandwiches!

I don't think of myself as a 'serious' tomato grower (you know the type), but then I think about how much care I give my plants, how I'm a total heirloom snob, the fact that I have seven different varieties (three of my plants are homestarted Brandywines -- there's actually a tenth tomato plant that's a Brandywine volunteer from last year, but I don't think it'll grow fast enough to produce any fruit), the way I keep a mental tally of the varieties I've tried and their best uses... and I think I could at least be on the road to being serious about tomatoes. Plus, some of my plants are almost taller than I am now, so that's got to count for something!

Look at this guy! I've been watching it get bigger and bigger on the vine, and it finally started ripening while I was away, so I brought it in today. I generally prefer to let tomatoes ripen on the vine (not for any actual REASON; just because it seems nicer), but I picked several not-quite-ripe tomatoes because A) I've had problems with rot already and B) the squirrels have been stealing. They usually stay away from tomatoes, but I've found a few strewn about this year. That's what I get for caging in my pepper plants, I guess.

I had a pretty good garden haul today -- you can see it here. I'm really upset that I didn't stop at Tobies for my favourite bread today (I was on my way home, with the cats in the car, and I decided that it wasn't worth the risk of roasting them alive just for a loaf of bread), as I'd really like to have a tomato sandwich tomorrow. Dang. For those who care, I've picked Striped Germans (which is what's in the photo in this post), Black Princes, and Oxhearts. I'm still waiting on the Cherokee Purples and Brandywines. And the Big Boy -- hybrid fail.

My pumpkins are getting pretty big now, as is my one butternut squash (there may be more hidden away), and I discovered a tiny (but set) watermelon along the side of the house. The melon vines haven't been growing well at all, because I've been lazy about watering them, but I'll give them some more TLC now there's a melon to take care of. What else? My sunflowers are tall, the glads are blooming, the grapes are starting to ripen (only a few of those, as the vines just went in this year), etc, etc.

It's nice to be back home after my 'week' at the cabin -- and it's nice just to feel that way about being at home, if you understand what I mean. I feel like I get so much more done when I split my time. I think it's because I work well with self-imposed structure. If I know I only have a week to finish submissions or proofread before I head home, I make sure to get it done. Likewise, if I know I've got a week to work on cover designs and to see friends before I go to the cabin, then I get to it. My parents sure were clever to buy that cabin! I bought and 'installed' a faucet aerator to fix the splashy kitchen tap, so I figure we're about even now (ha).

The only downside to a week of concentrated reading and proofing on the laptop is that it takes a toll on my hands. My right one is worse (since it does the touch pad and the comma and semi-colon keys, which make up 85% of my edits); it's the pressure from the edge of the laptop on the base of my palm. I'd managed to really lessen the effect by wearing a wrist brace, but now I've tweaked my thumb because of it. My wrists are pretty wimpy, so to get the brace tight enough, the thumbhole gets pulled out of place. It's extremely boring, I know, but it's hard not to think about it, since I'm typing and everything.

Anyway! I'm gearing up for a fun, friend-filled weekend. I hope you are too!

Hello, there! It's certainly a summer's day here, but even the hot sun doesn't feel too bad outside the cabin, with the breeze blowing across the yard. Some bits and pieces:

-- I bring a cooler full of food when I visit the cabin, so nothing from home goes to waste while I'm away (and to save money, generally). I found a little tin of Heinz beans in my cupboard at home, so I made myself a fairly traditional veggie fry-up for lunch, mushrooms and tomato included. I guess the eggs were scrambled instead of fried, but it's still pretty good for the middle of America.

-- I went outside last night to try to catch a glimpse of the Perseids meteor shower. I'd heard it would be best between 3:00 and 4:00am, but I settled for 11:30pm and saw a few little fizzly ones and a brighter one streak across the sky. Perhaps even more impressive was just the night sky itself. I'm a bit ashamed to admit that I hadn't gone out at night before (although it HAS been overcast a lot of the times I've been here). It's not like being a million miles away from civilization here, but it's far enough away from the cities to make the stars stand out. It's hard to even pick out any constellations when there are so many stars! I'm no astronomer, but I think I saw the Milky Way directly above -- does that seem right?

-- I suspect the woman who works at the deli in the supermarket here (where I internet from) is not a trained barista, because my Americano was wincingly strong. But, like a potent cocktail, it seemed less and less shocking the more I drank. I'm actually hovering about two inches above my seat, now. In related (supermarket) news, did you know that Chris' Fairway was home to the 'Best Bagger Champion' in 1992, '93, '94, and '96? I assume they've won more since then, but that's all the further the poster goes. Say, did you know there was such a thing as 'Best Bagger Champions'?

-- With my most recent crop of cucumbers, I made Alton Brown's bread-and-butter pickles. They're pretty good, although you shouldn't be tempted to sample them before they've had a chance to sit in the fridge for a good long while. Warmish cider vinegar is exactly as bleaurg as you'd think.

-- What else, what else? That might be all. Check out those black bear salt and pepper shakers in details, though.

I suppose I don't talk about music all that often here, but I'll make an exception for Elvis. I don't think I posted this picture here before (though it was part of my 365 on flickr) -- Rob and I saw Elvis Costello perform at the Taste of Minnesota on the 4th of July, and as you can tell by the photo, we had pretty good seats. (I probably DID mention this before, but I wound up standing right behind the barrier at the stage for almost the entire concert -- not bad!)

Elvis was one of those musicians I knew about peripherally for a long time, and I quite suspected I would like him, but I wasn't sure where to start. I don't hold with 'best of' collections -- it's studio albums all the way, for me. But some artists are best appreciated when one starts at the beginning of their discography, while others definitely take a few albums to find their sound. I didn't want to risk it.

Luckily, S came along and got me hooked on My Aim Is True and Get Happy!!, so that's where I started. From there, I got the other two 'early' albums, This Year's Model and Armed Forces and listened to them ad nauseam. I've always done this with music -- part of a slightly obsessive personality, I guess. Interestingly, though, as I've gotten older, being a fan of a musician has become much more about being a fan of the music, not the maker.

I keep picking up used Elvis Costello CDs when I come across them, and I'm trying to savour the discovery of each new album that really 'clicks' with me -- after all, I can never go back and hear the Beatles' Revolver for the first time, but there's still so much left to discover here. I picked up All This Useless Beauty this past Saturday and have looked forward to getting in the car every day since then, so I can listen to it some more. When I hear songs that are as gorgeous as 'Poor Fractured Atlas', say, it seems criminal that I paid only $4.95 for the disc.

My favourite albums so far are the first four (which seem like a set to me, although I suppose This Year's Model and Armed Forces are my MOST favourite of those), Trust, All This Useless Beauty, and North. The last is much more recent, full of croon-y ballads -- a completely different Elvis from his younger days.

Obviously, I'm not planning to make a living out of writing music reviews -- I think gardening and food are probably areas closer to my expertise (and I'm certainly not making a living writing about those) -- but every time I listen lately, I feel like I can't NOT say something. I have lots of little musical crushes, but something big like this comes along only every so often. So that's all, really -- just a bit of swoony gushing.

I sometimes can't believe how much amazing music has been made; there can't possibly be enough time to listen to it all! Who have you really fallen head over heels for, musically speaking?

Ah, back in Sandstone. (I nearly typed 'sandwich' just then.) I forwent the donut with my yogurt this morning, since I discovered blueberry toaster strudels in the freezer at the cabin. I never buy them for myself -- I don't think I'd eat them quickly enough to spare most of them from freezer burn -- but it was fun to have one this morning. I was trying to remember the last time I ate one, and it must have been almost a decade ago. They haven't changed much!

I've made good progress on the work front, since I dove right in yesterday afternoon, and today I had a worky morning before going to Amy's Corner Cafe for lunch. So I can check that off the list!

I wonder if I really will someday have a little vegetarian cafe -- I'm not sure I'd like it so much in practice, but I like the idea of it. Have I ever explained my strategy? I'll open a veggie cafe/deli, where people will be able to order sandwiches made with Tofurky and the like. Then, once that's made a name for itself, I'll get myself a booth at the Minnesota State Fair and will offer all the usual fair favourites in vegetarian form -- veggie corndogs, soy cheese curds, etc. I can't believe nobody has already done this; you'd be guaranteed to make a killing from all the vegetarian converts who miss the junkfood of their youths. Somebody'll do it someday soon, I feel. Remember that I had the idea first.

Anyway, after lunch, I had a stroll around Sandstone and took a few photos of the abandoned school building. I think it's so sad that they'd even consider tearing it down, but I guess these things happen. Probably a hazard to let it remain derelict, and what's a city to do if nobody will buy it up? If only I were already a vegetarian deli tycoon, I could renovate it and turn it into a luxury hotel for people who want to gamble in Hinckley but want a unique place to stay. People would travel all the way from Duluth and the Twin Cities to indulge in our vegetarian brunch buffet at the weekends.

I seriously need to start playing the lottery.

Look, I come bearing a new design and a cheesecake photo. I realized after I uploaded everything that the font size is rather small, but I can fix that in about thirty seconds. Perhaps I'll have already fixed it by the time you see this.

So this is a piece of the cheesecake (made with this recipe) -- not too bad, eh? I feel as though it didn't rise enough, which made it too dense and slightly underdone at the bottom, but the flavour is good. The crust is particularly tasty -- I probably won't use the cheesecake recipe again, but I could see using the crust for a fruit tart (if I made such things).

I'm heading back up to the cabin to finish reading the rest of my submissions pile and to get through some proof reading. It seems like a good week to get away, since it's supposed to finally get a bit hotter outside. My garden could use the heat, though. It's looking good, but the tomatoes just haven't been ripening. I've only had three turn, and they all had blossom-end rot, which is pretty disappointing. I'm ready for some homegrown tomatoes!

Anyway, my goals for this coming week are 1) finish all the submissions, 2) see Funny People at the Hinckley cinema, 3) have lunch at one of the corner cafes in Sandstone, 4) get an ice cream cone and walk around. All attainable goals, I think. For now, though, I just have to shower and pack, which somehow seems like much more of a challenge!

Oh boy. I don't think I've ever spent as much time in one day working on the same book cover as I did today. I even started to get a bit nauseated at one point (from looking at the screen too long, even after I put on my glasses), and I tried to take a break, but I had a hard time tearing myself away from it. I think it was worth the trouble.

I did stop to eat, though, and I think I might be entering a tofu phase. I always love tofu (yes, me-five-years-ago, it's true!), but sometimes it's just the Best Thing Ever and I can't get enough. All it needs is a little tamari (okay, and some garlic powder and cumin) and a few minutes in a hot skillet. I had the exact same meal as above for lunch yesterday, too, only with broccoli instead of cauliflower+kale. The toast is my favourite rye bread from Tobies in Hinckley -- I'll be back there next week, so I can restock!

Anyway, making book covers is a strange thing. I feel like I either 'get it' on the first try or never will (I usually wind up passing those covers on to Em, whose cover mojo seems to be more on-demand than mine). And I've been not 'feeling it' at all lately, but I knocked out three covers I really like just this week. It's sort of a relief to know I haven't lost the touch.

I suppose I don't usually talk about work here, but I feel like I'm in the groove at the moment. It was great to go to the cabin last week and have so much time to read submissions -- I'm going back for a few days next week to finish those and to get some proof reading done. I like the balance of having a week of reading at the cabin and then a week of getting covers done and being connected at home (I need the big screen for design-y stuff).

I'm getting close-ish to being ready with the new design for this site, but it'll be a few days yet. I was going to work on it this evening, but I couldn't stop working. That's strange.

I'm on a posting roll today! Well, you would be too, if you'd had this dinner. I'm very pleased with myself! About a month ago, my mom was given three bags of couscous for free when she bought us lunch at Holy Land, and I somehow wound up with all of it. I've been meaning to make tabbouleh for myself, and I finally got around to it today. It has all the usual ingredients (tomato, onion, cucumber, parsley, lemon juice, etc), but I kept it more couscous heavy than the recipe on the package suggested, cutting back on everything else -- particularly the parsley (I know it's the essence of tabbouleh, but it sure gets overpowering quickly!).

The cauliflower and beans were from my garden. It's my first year growing cauliflower, and I'll definitely fit it in again next year. I wish it were more like broccoli and would keep producing florets all season long, but it's worth the space, even so. I steamed the cauliflower until it was pretty much falling apart (how I like it best!), and it was delicious.

But the star -- the star! -- was the breaded eggplant. I can't NOT grow eggplants, because they're just so cool, but to be honest, there aren't that many ways I enjoy eating them. They're good in curries or in ratatouille, but there are only so many times I can crave either of those things in one summer.

One of my Dusky eggplants (the traditional shape you usually see in the supermarket) was ready to be picked today, so I sliced it into planks and salted both sides. I let it sit for about ten minutes and then wiped off the moisture than had formed (this is supposed to make them less bitter). Then I resalted and also sprinkled over garlic and onion powders, paprika, dried oregano, and a bit of nutritional yeast. I wrapped them in plastic wrap and stuck them in the fridge for an hour.

To cook them, I just heated a bit of olive oil in a non-stick pan and used the traditional breading technique: dedge in flour, dip in egg, then coat with bread crumbs (I seasoned mine with salt, pepper, and oregano). I'm not entirely sure how long I cooked them over medium heat -- probably about seven minutes each side.

It felt like a real gamble -- if they were bland and slimy, no coating was going to hide that. But they were perfect. Full of flavour, tender on the inside, and crisp on the outside. So good. I topped them with red pepper hummus (thinned out with a bit of milk), and that also really made the 'dish'.

And if that weren't enough excitement for one night, I still have Julie's visit -- and the cheesecake! -- to look forward to. What a day. Since I'm having a couple visitors this week (including one overnight guest for my new guest bedroom), I bought flowers to have in the house. My sunflowers are blooming outside, so I brought one in to keep the store-bought guys company.

Lastly, I added six new photos to my Garden 2009 flickr set. Take a look, if you like plants 'n' things.

My friend Julie is coming over tonight, and it's become something of a tradition that when we get together, we have a special dessert. Well, it's one of those we've-done-it-twice-so-let's-call-it-tradition things. The first two times, we tried different cupcakes from some nice bakeries, but I've been looking for an excuse to make a cheesecake, and this seemed like a good one.

Instead of going the usual New York style route, I wanted to find a recipe for a German Käsekuchen, and this is the one I settled on. It calls for quark, which I didn't have readily available, so I substituted cottage cheese that I pureed in the blender (FYI, in order to get in thin enough to blend properly, I had to add a few Tbsp of the heavy cream that's also in the recipe). Blended cottage cheese is pretty awesome; I think it might be the whitest substance known to man.

I'm being extremely patient and waiting until Julie arrives this evening to cut into the cheesecake, so I don't know how it tastes yet (I'll update you on that once I've tried it, of course!). It's not the most attractive thing, but it seems to have set up pretty well, at least. And I guess I could have trimmed a bit more of the crust off the top, but oh well. What kind of jerk doesn't like a bit of extra crust, anyway?

Yesterday I woke up and opened the kitchen blinds to see that the above had bloomed. I'd assumed the vine that had been climbing up the shepherd's hook in my garden was a weed, at least until the buds started forming. I had a hunch as to what it might be, then, and the flower confirmed it -- a morning glory. My neighbours plant them on their side of the fence, and I guess a seed made its way to my side and about ten feet away. It couldn't have picked a better place to grow, either!

Speaking of garden surprises, I discovered a second large pumpkin hidden under the plant's leaves the other day. My gardening method looks something like this: 1) Spend all spring breaking my back tending, tidying, and planting, 2) Coast along for the rest of the summer, doing as little as possible besides watering and harvesting. That's how things like ripe peppers or giant zucchinis can just 'suddenly' appear in my garden.

But I was looking under the leaves of the squash plants (which are enormous, both the plants and the leaves) for butternut squashes, which have been slower to form, and what did I discover but a nice, big pumpkin. There are several smaller ones, but I thought I had only one that was already fairly big -- so now I have two. I am going to adopt a seasonal style of eating from now on: salads and tomato sandwiches from June - September, and nothing but pumpkin pie from October onwards.

Hello! You thought I'd forgotten about posting my pickle recipe, right? Not so. Fine, I did forget -- but then I remembered. I'm posting it right now, in the 'continue reading' section. I originally got the recipe from one of the big recipe sites, but I've tweaked it a tiny bit and do things differently than the original instructions indicated.

Last summer was all about kitchen DIY, for me. I baked my own bread, made my own yogurt, turned lots of berries into jam, and just generally wasn't satisfied unless I'd made or grown as much of my meal as possible. In an effort to relaaaax, I'm trying to let go of that urge, so lunches like today's seem special rather than mandatory.

Now that all my rocket/arugula has bolted and been torn out, all the other lettuces that were in the seed mixture have grown in pretty well. So I had a salad made from garden lettuce and added to it some of my pickle chips, a bit of purple bell pepper (which lost its purple when I cooked it, as all the purpliest vegetables do), sliced zucchini, and my first yellow pear tomato (!!!). I had a hearty portion of garden green beans on the side, along with a piece of Irish brown bread (baked yesterday from a mix I brought back in April) with homemade raspberry-rhubarb jam. Oh, and a fake sausage patty, but I had no hand in making that, aside from popping it in the microwave.

I guess, to be fair to my garden, I have to admit that it delivered its first tomato on the exact same date this year as last year. But a cherry tomato doesn't seem as impressive as a 'real' one (which are all very much still green). It was delicious, though -- I'm really glad I chose this yellow pear variety. Two years ago, I tried standard cherry tomatoes and hated their flavour, but these are much more mellow. And they're yellow and pear-shaped, so they can't really get any better than that.

Things I like: French Meadow's 'Woman's Bread' (the next best thing to my own homemade bread, which I haven't been bothered to make lately), peanut butter, jam (but not PB&J), coffee, and warm apple sauce with raisins. That's what I had for breakfast yesterday. I mainly stuck to yogurt for breakfast while I was at the cabin (well, yogurt + donut, sometimes), which I like, but it was nice to come home to my usual fixin's.

I normally have one cup of coffee + almond milk with my breakfast and then a cup of tea in the afternoon, but I somehow wound up drinking almost five cups of coffee (plus one cup of tea) yesterday -- three of the five were decaf, though. They didn't seem to affect my ability to be tired right on cue last night.

I can't believe it's August already. I know, I know -- time, flying, etc -- a tired subject. But it's true. According to my photos, my first tomato was ripe on the third of August last year. I'm not even close to that this year (except for a couple of 'yellow pear' cherry tomatoes), but I did find these bell peppers today. I didn't even realize there were any growing on the purple plant yet!

I keep my pepper plants caged in with chicken wire (protection from squirrels), so I really have to make an effort to move the leaves around and check for fruit. I went to the trouble today and was rewarded. They're pretty small, but that's okay -- I can't believe how purple-y they are. Speaking of purple-y things, my eggplants (one Japanese, one regular) are doing really well this year. The plants themselves are much bigger than they have been in past years, and there are lots of eggplants growing.

I also wanted to share this photo of my new terrarium. I've wanted to make one for ages, but it wasn't until I was walking around the woods at my parents' cabin that I realized I finally had a source of moss. I got the jar at the Hinckley flea market, put the terrarium together, and brought it back with me. So now part of the Sandstone forest is in my house. I like getting a good lungful of the damp, clean air inside the terrarium -- it's like the opposite of getting stuck in a cloud of secondhand smoke. So nobody ruin it for me by saying there are millions of spores or something floating around in there.