The Day the Earth Stood Still

No, not this movie

 even though I highly recommend it, cause not only is it great (not at all like the awful Keanu Reeves remake) but it's got to have the cheesiest robot ever, except maybe for the one from Lost in Space

 ...but anyway back to what I was saying. When you are unemployed time seems to linger on and on and on, the days seem quite endless and just kind of blend together, if it weren't for the newspaper I would never know what day it is. This is not necessarily a good thing unless of course you meant to be unemployed, which is not the case with me. We are always rushing time or trying to slow it down depending on what's going on, when you're working it's hoping the week goes fast so we can get to the weekend and then when you're on vacation it's slow down so you don't have to go back to work too soon. Typical humans, never satisfied. When you need to fill your days and can only spend so much time on line looking for a job it feels as if the earth has stood still, in just about everything. Summer seems to have come to a halt at a certain spot. For instance, my tomatoes. It is mid August practically and they are just beginning to ripen

very slowly

normally by now we would have had bushels of them and we'd be racking our brains trying to figure out what to make with them all before they spoil. I miss that, and I miss not having my lovely ripe tomatoes on a daily basis so we have had to resort to buying them

so we can make dishes like this

Stuffed Tomato with Mozzarella adapted from Mark Bittman

to go with this

Lamb skewers a la Grecque...by me

Cut 2 lbs. of lamb into 1 1/2 inch cubes and season with salt and pepper. Marinate for several hours in a mixture of extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic, chopped fresh oregano, chopped fresh thyme and chopped fresh mint. Remove from the marinade, place in skewers and grill until done (don't ask me how long, I don't grill) or broil about 8 minutes on each side. Serve

or we can also make this

Couscous with chopped tomatoes and herbs...by me

Make couscous according to package directions, add chopped tomatoes and herbs of your choice, cover about 5 minutes. Toss and serve with this

Broiled Flank steak...by me

In a small food processor mince several cloves of garlic, add thyme, parsley and chop again. Add extra virgin olive oil, a generous teaspoon of Dijon or whole grain mustard and mix. Season the steak with salt & pepper and brush half the mixture on one side, flip over and repeat on the other side. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to one hour. Broil 8 to 10 minutes per side and serve with this

Spinach Salad...by me

In a bowl combine extra virgin olive oil and white wine vinegar with salt & pepper. Add baby spinach, a sliced red or white onion and a chopped hard boiled egg. Toss

And I have so many more tomato recipes to talk about but I'll leave those for another post because after all, all I have is time.

Here's Max daydreaming because he has a lot of time too.