A Little Garden, a Little Kitchen, a Few Good Things

I’m coming to you on a beautiful summer morning, sitting on my porch with a mug of green tea, my favorite Nantes carrots, the local newspaper in my lap, and a large, hairy dog curled up at my feet.

The roses are deep red and peachy pink, with big, fragrant, full blooms. The Russian Sage has shot up dramatically to nearly three feet tall, covered in lavender flowers, and my vegetable garden is overflowing. Even the tiny marigold starters I planted this spring have grown into cheerful little bouquets of bright orange blooms.

Once a month, I set the recipes aside and share a few favorite photos from my camera roll, a little catch-up from the garden and kitchen, and whatever else has caught my attention lately. Here’s what’s been happening around here.

July was mostly a bust for me, thanks to something I never expected to do: serve on a jury.

I was genuinely surprised to be selected, especially with nearly a hundred other perfectly capable people in the room. The whole experience felt a little surreal, surrounded by strangers who somehow looked oddly familiar, as though I’d seen them somewhere before but couldn’t place them.

One morning, a fellow juror arrived looking as though she’d stepped out of another decade, wearing what had to be her grandmother’s powder-blue chiffon dress, complete with a sewn-in neck sash and delicate, flowing pleats, paired with well-worn rust-colored leather boots.

She was carrying a library book called Victorian Psycho.

That’s when I pulled out my Moleskine and started taking notes.

In vegetable garden news, I may be a little too proud of these eggplants, but just look at them.

They make me ridiculously happy. I grew every one of them, and I think they’re gorgeous. Every time I walk though the garden, I can’t resist stopping to admire them for a minute.

I’ll turn them into eggplant Parmesan, and this is the recipe I’ll be using.

Not to brag, but these peppers came from my garden too.

They’ve been finding their way into just about everything lately—veggie stir-fries, sheet pan dinners, my pasta primavera, or just sliced up and dunked in hummus for an afternoon snack.

One of my favorite things to do every August is make big pot of chunky, flavorful salsa with tomatoes straight from the garden.

I’m still tinkering with the recipe I started last summer, adding a little more of this and a little less of that until it tastes exactly the way I want it. I think I’m finally getting close.

Somewhere between the simmering pot and the finished, sealed jars, I managed to eat an embarrassing number of tortilla chips.

Last year I canned about a dozen, and opening one in the middle of February to spoon over a slice of warm frittata is like getting a taste of summer all over again. The smell of fresh tomatoes is intoxicating and hard to beat.

Right alongside the apricot jam I make every June, this is one of the things I look forward to most each summer.

Right about now my kitchen counter is looking like a county fair.

And at the farmers market, there are more varieties of squash, zucchini, and cucumbers than I ever knew existed, and I always seem to come home with way more than I planned.

Since all that zucchini has to go somewhere, I’ll be making this zucchini bread recipe (it’s cake) later in the week. After trying many recipes over the years, it’s the one I always come back to, and it also makes terrific muffins.

And if there’s only one peach dessert you make before the season ends, promise me you’ll make this cobbler.

The peaches stay juicy, the topping bakes up beautifully golden, and it’s exceptionally good while still a little warm with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. Really good.

Remember back in June when I predicted I’d have 100,000 tomatoes? Turns out, it’s closer to 500,000.

I’ve given baskets to just about every neighbor, plus a few friends. The rest are destined to become tomato sauce for winter soups, stews, and chili. None of them will go to waste.

One more thing before you go.

If you’ve ever had to toss perfectly good vegetables because they turned limp or spoiled too soon, you’re not alone. I recently discovered I’d been storing produce the wrong way in my refrigerator … for years.

I found this article explaining what goes where, and it completely changed the way I organize my refrigerator, so it's worth a look.

Thank you for spending part of your Sunday with me. I really appreciate you being here. If you enjoyed today’s post, would you mind hitting the little heart button below? It only takes a second, and it really helps.

Have a wonderful week, and I’ll see you next Sunday with something new.