Mmmmmmmm.

I just had the yummiest lunch. Stale-ish artisan baguette (kept in plastic bag for the last few days so it's not completely dry and hard), thinly sliced on the diagonal and toasted. Spread with homemade hummus, then topped with thinly sliced cucumber (from my parents' garden) and thickly sliced Brandywine tomato (from my own garden), and a little salt. Number Two even had a couple of bites. He liked it well enough to ask for another bite after the first one, but not enough to clamor for the whole thing (as he is sometimes wont to do, when he likes what I'm eating better than what he's been served).

No big secrets to making homemade hummus. I just get this stuff and follow the recipe on the side of the package (using homemade chicken stock, of course).

Happy tummy.

Zucchini-Corn Pancakes

No more magazine invoices in the mail today, though I did get my second issue of CosmoGirl! (which helpfully had a 1-800 customer service number at the end of the masthead). Yesterday's invoice for Cuisine at Home brought the total thus far to seven.

Made the zucchini-corn pancakes for dinner last night with sauteed chicken breasts, and I ended up craving some kind of sauce or relish to go on them. If dinner hadn't already been so late, I might have thrown together something fresh with tomato and basil, but as it was I just cracked a jar of my mom's chili sauce out of the fridge.





I had some proportioning difficulty with the recipe as I got it, because no approximate measurements were given for the zucchini and corn. So I've added those. My pancakes weren't as great as they might have been because of this--I started out with one recipe, then ended up doubling the liquid and the flour, but not the baking powder (I didn't think of it until I'd added the flour, and then didn't want to mix it in on its own), scallions (didn't have any more) or cheese (in too much of a rush to get a late dinner on the table to grate more).

Zucchini-Corn Pancakes

2 ears corn kernels (about 1 C--fresh is MUCH preferable to frozen)
2 medium zucchini, grated on large holes, salted and squeezed (about 1 C after you're done)
1/2 C milk
1 egg, lightly beaten and mixed with milk
1/2 C chopped onion or 1/4 C chopped scallions

1 C flour
1/2 t salt (I skipped this because of the zucchini salt, and didn't miss it)
1 t baking powder
1 C grated sharp cheddar (I used medium which would have been fine if there'd been enough of it)

Grate zucchini on large holes or box grater or in Cuisinart (much faster!). Stir in 1 t kosher salt, then put in a small-holed colander or strainer over bowl and let sit for 30 minutes. Wrap in a double layer of paper towels and squeeze out as much water as you can (it's an amazingly large amount!).

Whisk dry ingredients together, then quickly stir in wet ingredients, and fold in zucchini, corn, onion/scallion and cheese. Fry in a nonstick skillet with a little butter over medium heat, keeping them in a warm oven until ready to serve.

Interestingly, today's Cook's Illustrated e-newsletter had a recipe for Zucchini Fritters. If you try them, let me know how they turn out.

And here we go: Number Two in full-on "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" mode:

. . . And We're Back

I came home to find this in my garden:



I had hoped my gardener would pick stuff when she came by to water, but I guess she was being polite. So I have a couple of zeppelins to get rid of. Think I'll have to follow Adriana's lead and go for the zucchini-corn pancakes. I'll let you know how they turn out (and post my version of the recipe Adriana borrowed). The smaller zuke, and I suppose whatever I don't use in the pancakes, will work great in the below pasta recipe.

I also came home to a big stack of mail, including invoices for four magazine subscriptions I don't recall signing up for: W, Home, CosmoGirl! and Teen Vogue. Dead giveaway that someone is pulling a prank on me: they don't know how to spell my first name correctly. That and one of the subscriptions was addressed to our two last names, with nary a first name in sight. I strongly suspect that this is at least technically illegal, as well as completely juvenile (true confession: in my younger and much more foolish days, I and some friends did this to someone who really bugged us, but I felt bad about it even at the time). I've even already received my first issue of CosmoGirl!

Our vacation was nice, though because I came down with a cold on the way there I didn't get to spend as much time with family (~new babies) as I would have liked. Mavis and I had our first getaway without kids since having them, and attended the Sunstone Symposium (hello to new readers from there--welcome and feel free to comment!). We also went to see my sister in the Utah Opera production of Gilbert & Sullivan's Gondoliers! at Deer Valley, which was thoroughly enjoyable.

We took way too few pictures, but here are a couple of nephew shots. The first one is of my ginormous 3-month-old nephew, born in May and already about 20 lbs. The second is of my little brother's middle boy's rad cowlick.

Off to Utah!

But before we go, a perfect-for-midsummer recipe I made the other night and neglected to post about. Adriana's lament reminded me of it, so I thought I'd post it here for her and your benefit. It's from Cook's Illustrated, of course, July-August 2003. The recipe calls for serving it hot, but I think it works at least as well at room temperature as a salad (and I've taken it to potlucks thus). Anyway, it's a good one for using three things I usually manage to grow in the garden: zucchini, cherry tomatoes and basil.

Pasta and Squash with Tomatoes, Basil and Pine Nuts 

4 medium zucchini and/or summer squash (2 lbs), halved lengthwise and then cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces (I prefer 1/4-3/8 here) 

Kosher salt 

1 lb farfalle 

5 T extra-virgin olive oil (you can cut this back a little in the sauté part) 

3 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 T) 

1/2 t red pepper flakes (I always leave this out because of kids) 

1 pint grape tomatoes, each tomato halved (my favorite cherry tomato variety is Gold Nugget)  

1/2 C packed chopped fresh basil leaves 

2 T balsamic vinegar 

1/4 C lightly-toasted pine nuts 

Parmesan cheese for serving 

1. Toss zucchini/squash with 1 T kosher salt in medium bowl; transfer to large colander, set colander over bowl, and let stand 30 minutes (this helps makes the squash less watery, which was one of Adriana's specific complaints). Spread squash evenly over double layer of paper towels; pat dry with additional paper towels and wipe off residual salt. 

2. Cook pasta until it's al dente, drain, and return to pot. 

3. While pasta is cooking, heat 1 T oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just beginning to smoke; swirl to coat pan. Add half of squash and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and slightly charred, 5 to 7 minutes; transfer to baking sheet or large plate. Repeat with remaining squash, adding garlic (and red pepper flakes, if using) at end of cooking, then stirring in first half of squash to heat through (30 seconds or so). Add squash, 2 T oil, tomatoes, basil, balsamic vinegar, and pine nuts to pasta in stockpot; toss to combine. Adjust seasonings and serve with Parmesan on the side.

They also have a variation with olives and feta with lemon juice and mint, which I suppose would be nice if I liked olives. Substitute red wine vinegar for the balsamic and 1/4 C chopped fresh mint for the basil, and add a finely-chopped sautéed red onion, 1 t lemon zest and 1 T lemon juice, 1/2 C pitted and quartered kalamata olives, and 4 oz crumbled feta. Enjoy!

Haircut Bonanza

Both boys had haircuts on Saturday--Number Two for the first time ever, and Number One for the first time in 14 months or so. We took a before picture of both of them from the back on Thursday, then several in process and immediately after on Saturday. We cut Number One's hair first so Number Two could see that it wasn't scary and didn't hurt, but he was still rather traumatized by the whole event (not helped by the fact that it was naptime). He didn't like the cape, he didn't like being sprayed with water, he didn't like the snippy scissors. You can see the tracks of his tears in his "after" shots. His haircut is a lot less even than would have been ideal, but I couldn't bear to put him through any more misery. Number One wanted to keep his bangs long (they actually stay out of his eyes better that way, going to the side instead of straight down--he has some weird cowlicks). Now both boys have hair shorter than mine! In the last shot, they are wearing their Costa Rican soccer uniforms, a gift from Grandpa and Grandpa.

Number Two Is Two

Family birthday dinner is set for Sunday evening, and first haircut (!) for tomorrow afternoon, but last night we spent some time hanging out on the bed and taking pictures of the newly-two-year-old boy.

What to Do in the Summer When It Rains

And I forgot to blog about a conversation I had in the waiting room at the lab when I went to do my one-hour glucose tolerance test last week.

Chatty Cathy: "So, how far along are you?"

Me: "26 weeks."

CC: "Wow, you're really big for only being that far along."

Me: "Well, it is my third." (What else could I say? Yeah, I'm a fat cow??!!)

CC: "Let me just tell you, if you get the tubal ligation, it really kills."

Me (trying to get back to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; I think that's where I was in my pre-release re-read): "I think I'll be avoiding that."

Mr. CC, chiming in: "So he's going to get the old snip-snip?"

Oh. My. Gosh.