The Longest Day

So Summer arrived with guns blazing, or just blazing actually. The temperatures soared by a good, or not so good, 20 degrees with humidity to match and on the official first day of Summer we were sweltering as if we were in the dog days of August. The dog himself was none too happy

and had second thoughts about lying about outside

which is something he campaigns for every chance he gets. The flowers and veggies were all drooping and sad and had me mighty worried because not only was the heat unbearable, the rains have stopped big time. What to do?
Console ourselves with the the foods of Summer, of course!

Grilled Cumin Shrimp on Black Bean Salad- adapted from The New American Kitchen

serves 6 to 8

Grilled Cumin Shrimp

1/4 cup olive oil
3 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tbsp ground cumin
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 fresh jalapeno, stemmed
3/4 tsp salt
2 lbs. (about 36) large shrimp, shelled and deveined

In a blender or small food processor combine the olive oil, lime juice, cumin, garlic, jalapeno and salt. Process until smooth. In a large bowl combine the puree with the shrimp and marinate at least 4 hours.

Thread the shrimp on sewers, fitting them closely together. Smear any remaining marinade over the shrimp

Grill until they are slightly brown or just done, about 4 to 5 minutes. Or broil like I did since it was too damn hot to get the grill going.

Black Bean Salad

2 cans of black beans, drained and rinsed.
(he uses dried black beans and cooks them for a few hours, I can't be bothered with this in the heat of Summer, so I take editorial/cooking license)
Salt
3/4 cup of olive oil
1/3 cup sherry vinegar
1 tbsp Dion mustard
2 sweet peppers, stemmed, seeded and cut in 1/2 inch dice1 bunch green onions, trimmed and sliced
1/2 cup finely chopped basil
Freshly ground black pepper

In a large bowl whisk together the olive oil sherry vinegar, mustard and 1 tsp of salt. Add the beans and stir until incorporated. Stir in the peppers, onions and basil. Add a generous grind of pepper.

Serve with the shrimp and some avocado drizzled with olive oil

and then have some ice cream...

Cheesecake Ice Cream-adapted from Cuisinart

Makes about 5 cups

12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature cut into 2 inch pieces
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup mascarpone, room temperature
1 cup whole milk, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup sour cream, room temperature

1. Out the cream cheese in a bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the mixing paddle. Mix the cream on medium speed until very smooth. With the mixer running gradually add the sugar and salt; mix until homogeneous. Add the mascarpone and mix until well combined. Slowly add the milk and vanilla; mix until smooth. Use the fold function to mix in the sour cream. Cover and refrigerate 1 to 2 hours or overnight.

2. Turn on your ice cream maker; pour the mixture into the frozen freezer bowl and let mix until thickened, about 15 to 20 minutes.

The ice cream will have a soft, creamy texture

Eat by itself or drizzle with raspberry or cherry topping.

Happy Summer!

Life with Father

was too short...

Who'll Stop the Rain

So I asked for rain, who knew I had that kind of power, maybe I should hire myself out during droughts in the West. It won't stop, just rain rain rain rain rain. The garden is soaked, and a standstill in the growth department since there's no Sun, except for the weeds of course, they grow no matter what. We had a respite on Monday which meant I spent the day out there weeding away and hacking back the wisteria which was threatening to pull a Stephen King on the patio furniture

luckily there was no one sitting there. My tomatoes have grown but no fruit yet and the poblano and portuguese peppers are the exact same size as the day I planted them, except that the portuguese has a tiny little pepper growing. I filled three bags with giant things that were growing in the ivy by the back fence, unwanted things. My new plantings in the refurbished flower bed look fine but small. Luckily the Stella D'oros are blooming away which brightens up these dreary days

and the hydrangeas have grown quite large

and filling up nicely

however they are massive; over 6 feet tall and spilling into the driveway. I will have to trim them, which is something I've never done and am a bit nervous about but it has to be done. Any tips on this will be greatly appreciated! In the meantime we NEED SOME SUN, and the warm Summer temperatures of April because it's cold too. So we'll cook something warm and homey.

Arroz Relleno (Stuffed Rice)-my mother-in-law's favorite dish.
serves-a whole bunch of people, or about 6

1 chicken
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
Dried oregano to taste
1 to 2 tbsp of tomato paste
2 cups of rice
1/2 cup of mayonnaise or more as needed.

Take one whole chicken and boil it until cooked, about one hour.

Remove the chicken from the pot and let it cool. DO NOT discard the broth.
When the chicken is cool, remove it from the bone shredding the meat.

Place the rice in a sauce pan and cover with 3 1/2 cups of the chicken cooking liquid, bring to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes. Remove from heat. (do NOT salt the rice.)

In a large skillet heat 1 to 2 tbsp of olive oil. Add the onion, pepper and garlic; sautee about 5 to 10 minutes.

Add the shredded chicken, season with salt, pepper and oregano, be generous. Mix the chicken with the vegetables and cook for about five minutes, add the tomato paste and stir it into the mixture, add a little of the chicken cooking broth and mix well. Cover and cook over medium heat about 20 minutes.

In the meantime, preheat the oven to 350F and grease a 5 cup baking pan, (a bundt pan is specially nice).

Spoon 1/3 of the rice into the baking pan smoothing it out evenly. Spread 1 to 2 tbsp of mayonnaise over the rice, evenly. Spread half the chicken mixture evenly over this layer

cover that with another third of the rice, spread the rice with mayonnaise again, add the remaining chicken, finally covering with the last third of the rice and finish with a spread of mayonnaise over the last layer of rice. Cover with aluminum foil and bake in the oven about 25-30 minutes, until mayonnaise melts into the dish. Remove from the oven, pass a sharp knife around the edge to loosen the rice & chicken from the baking dish; place a serving dish on top of the dish and flip it. Gingerly remove the baking dish

Slice, as in cake

My mother-in-law garnishes this with sliced hard-boiled eggs and asparagus spears, which looks lovely but I was too lazy. It doubles nicely.

And we've had enough of homey warmy food, we need some SUN, and no bugs, cause they're out in armies already so we Frank can grill.

Right Max?

We really need some sun.

30

June 11, 1982

My first, my last, my everything and the answer to all my dreams. You're my sun, my moon, my guiding star my kind of wonderful, that's what you are.

I know there's only, only one like you. There's no way they could have made two. You're all I'm living for, your love I'll keep for evermore, you're the first, my last, my everything.

In you I've found so many things, a love so new, only you could bring. Can't you see it's you, you make me feel this way. You're like a first morning dew on a brand new day

I see so many ways that I can love you 'til the day I die. You're my reality, yet I'm lost in a dream You're my first, my last, my everything.

words by the great Barry White...because I'm speechless.

...it's only the beginning.

Labors of Love

First labor: Our second Summer in our house we noticed something very interesting growing underneath the very unruly forsythia and after close investigation we confirmed that there were two peonies there. I'm sure they had been planted there way before the forsythia went completely insane or was completely ignored because they were entirely covered by that out of control bush. So I dug them up and transplanted them to the corner by the garage where we had pulled out a complete covering of English Ivy and I had purchased several Stella D'oro daylillies at the local plant sale. I imagined that they would form a nice backdrop for the daylillies and they would just start to fade once the daylillies went into bloom. I was very excited at the prospect of having vases full of those beautiful flowers every Spring without having to pay their hefty price. The first year I didn't expect much since the plants were kind of small from being in their hiding place but at least it was a beginning. I also had no clue what color they were. The following year I found two more plants and added them to the bunch, and we did get one or two blooms from the ones that were already there, they were white with a little red in the center. A couple of years went by and the plants grew, the blooms increased on the white ones but the others even though they were growing wouldn't get past a couple of buds that never opened; those looked to be pink. The blooms were so few that they never made it inside; I wanted flowers in as well as out. But then this year something happened,

and everybody made an appearance. So maybe I don't have vases full

but I was happily able to bring them in

and enjoy them both inside and out

I guess they needed settling.

Second Labor: Ever since we bought our ice cream maker Frank has been campaigning for pistachio ice cream, which is not necessarily my favorite. I'm pretty much a chocolate, salty caramel, vanilla kind of gal; but then I decided he deserved his little treat so off I went looking for a recipe. First visit was to David Lebovitz since that's where I usually go for ice cream. His gelato recipe called for Pistachio cream; not something I'd ever seen before so off I went looking for it only to find that nobody carries this little delicacy, then I looked on line where of course one can find anything...for a price and hefty isn't the word. Hmmm, how was I to make this? Duh, let's try the Cuisinart booklet --- and there it was and not with pistachio cream but with good old regular pistachios. So I bought me a bag

which wasn't exactly cheap, and proceeded to shell and shell and shell and shell....and shell. Then I realized that it also requires a vanilla bean, we better LOVE this. Then there's the time involved

Pistachio Ice Cream adapted from Cuisinart
makes 5 cups

Ingredients

2½ cups whole milk
1 whole vanilla bean, halved and seeds scraped
²∕³ cup granulated sugar, divided
2¼ cups chopped roasted, unsalted pistachios; shelled, divided
2 cups heavy cream
pinch salt
6 large egg yolks
¼ teaspoon pure almond extract

In a medium saucepan set over medium-low heat, stir together the milk, vanilla bean (including the pod), half of the sugar and 1½ cups pistachios. Bring the mixture just to a boil. Remove from heat; let mixture steep for 1 to 2 hours. After steeping, add the cream and salt and gradually return the mixture just to a boil over medium-low heat. When the milk/pistachio/cream mixture is reheating, combine the yolks and remaining sugar in a medium bowl. Using a hand mixer on low speed or a whisk, beat until mixture is pale and thick. Once the milk/pistachio/cream mixture has come to a slight boil, whisk about ¹∕³ of the hot mixture into the yolk/sugar mixture. Add another ¹∕³ of the mixture, then return the combined mixture to the saucepan. Using a wooden spoon, stir the mixture constantly over the low heat until it thickens slightly and coats the back of the spoon. This mixture must NOT boil or the yolks will overcook – the process should only take a few minutes. Stir in the almond extract and pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer (discard the vanilla pods and pistachios); bring to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate 1 to 2 hours, or overnight. Turn on the Cuisinart® ice cream maker; pour the mixture into the frozen freezer bowl and let mix until thickened, about 20 minutes.

When the ice cream is almost done churning, add the remaining toasted pistachios through the opening at the top of the ice cream maker. The ice cream will have a soft, creamy texture. If a firmer consistency is desired, transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and place in freezer for about 2 hours. Remove from freezer about 15 minutes before serving.

Is it good? Yes. Will we do this again? Doubtful.
Third:

just love

no labor involved.

Sunday

What a glorious morning! The light of day is incredible, the temperature is perfect, the humidity is non-existent, the garden is growing

although fading, there are still a couple of peonies left

the ferns are multiplying and multiplying

the ligularia bulbs I planted in the new flower bed are showing up

and speaking of the new flower bed...looking good

hostas and hydrangeas making a statement

light streaming through the trees

Frank making breakfast

Max

Max

...perfect! Oops, is that thunder I hear? Oh well. Happy Sunday!