tonight: gnocchi with grilled corn and tomatoes

Happy summer! Did you realize that next week is the Fourth of July? Exactly. How did that glorious, star-spangled-banner event sneak up so quickly? Maybe, it’s because I have my birthday in mind, and it’s a big one. I won’t say just how big, but trust me on this one.

tonight: fried egg tostadas

Come the end of the week, I’m out of food ideas and often out of ingredients. As a matter of fact, a blog I read has a section called “rent week” meals. It’s all about good, cheap eats and stretching what’s in the cupboard. I get that it’s geared toward young people who are stretching dollars when bills come due, but don’t we all have times when there’s simply not much left?

tonight: farmer’s market nicoise salad

a loose rendition of Salad Nicoise

What happens when your work is moving to a new location, the condo you’re living in is put on the market, you buy a house and need to pack and move? Simple answer to the chaotic state? No writing and scrounge-type eating.

foray into the world of turned vegetables

My foray into the world of vegetables turned into noodles has been slow. There’s the whole textural thing happening that has given me pause. They may be shaped like a noodle, but clearly are not pasta, just like riced cauliflower and broccoli are not rice. Don’t get me wrong, I love them both, and I do adore vegetables. I guess I’m being contrary in the naming process.

tonight: spicy prawn, corn and kiwi salad

kiwi, corn and spicy prawns, that’s what’s for dinner

Bubba Blue had it right when he explained in his charming southern drawl, “Shrimp is the fruit of the sea.” (Forrest Gump)  I kinda agree, and then he goes on to explain 21 ways to cook these deep-sea morsels: baked, broiled or fried and adorned with lemon or coconut. I could be on a bit of a seafood kick!

tonight: griddle cakes with ham, corn and chives

 

griddle cakes with black forest ham, sweet corn and chives, plus sweet maple syrup

The darling man that I live with loves to have breakfast for dinner – pancakes, eggs, even the occasional bowl of granola or grape-nuts. I love the fact that he’s easy about his eating habits.

corn stalks: a land of giants with silky tassels

the risotto even has a jaunty sprig of thyme!

I can’t even begin to tell you how much sweet corn I’ve eaten this summer. I’m positive it’s more than a gunnysack full; at least in my mind.

Ears of golden yellow and honeyed white corn have been roasted on the grill until kernels pop, sliced off the cob and eaten raw, and boiled in pots of salted water.

Growing up, my paternal grandparents grew what I determined was a colossal garden. I was little so the perspective might be skewed, but when I see that same plot as an adult, it’s still enormous. I remember rows of corn towering overhead; it made a small girl feel like she was walking in a land of giants that wore silky tassels. One couldn’t ask for fresher picking than that.