Saturday, August 13, 2005

Random harvest

I just finished W. Dale Cramer’s Bad Ground, a nice, tight, well characterized and plotted novel set on the gritty side of Atlanta. It seems it is his second novel, so now I will go and find the first, Sutter’s Cross. Something to look forward to.

Otherwise, I am braced against the harvest. I just put six containers of vegetable broth in the freezer, and I have two new zucchini recipes to try: one a new Cabot Cheese promotional and one for chocolate zucchini cupcakes.

It’s kind of a random harvest—beans coming in faster than I can freeze them, chard, beets, broccoli almost over, tomatoes and cucumbers just starting. Oh! Surprise! I have okra coming in, too, and maybe black-eyed peas. It has been that kind of hot summer. But so far, the peppers and eggplants and melons show no more than green leafy promise.
Pumpkins abound, and squash of all varieties, some I don’t even remember planting.

But mostly, I am avoiding cutting grass. It is just way too hot.

I am holding firm to these accomplishments: trips to the dump, the grocery, the garden and the compost pile. I am luxuriating in the world of the nap, with occasional foray to novel. The dogs approve and so do I. I am supposed to be doing all manner of other things, but the work-a-day world can wait.

1 comment:

Karen said...

Okra. Nice stewed with tomatoes and onion, but most homelike and evocative to me fried like my Mama usedta. Cut in half inch slices, shake in a little cornmeal and cook in a big skillet, cast iron if you have it. Stir often. Put a lid on it and let the okra cook until it seems tender, then take the lid off and let it brown. I can't recall a single time it wasn't slightly burned, and that's the way we like it.

Imagine my surprise when I labored to prepare a fancy Indian recipe for bhindi...and it turned out to be fried okra with curry. Also yummy.

Thanks for asking!