Cod, cantaloupe, quinoa, coconut

Somewhere between saying goodbye to my mom and getting the kids to bed, I lost my sense of humor. I opened a bottle of Chablis in hopes of finding some bit of it, but so far, no dice. Nonetheless, I did turn out a good dinner, and the alliterative aspect of it, per the post title above, is charming. Quinoa with lemon zest, fennel and sultanas, cod roasted with shaved fennel, olives, more lemon, garlic, salt and fennel fronds, and the best cantaloupe we've enjoyed this summer.

I love quinoa, love that each grain looks like a tiny Saturn, love that it's so good for you and is so versatile. And while I don't often buy cod because the poor fish is being fished to death, literally, I saw some rated yellow at Whole Foods today and decided to splurge a bit. I love cod, and this did it justice, although it's unfortunate that the one time I over-salt anything happened to such a delicate meal.

The cantaloupe was ridiculous, and T and I ate a whole half. We're now trying to finagle some room for the magnificent coconut cream pie that's waiting for us in the fridge.

Did y'all hear about the John Sununu-Soledad O'Brien confrontation over Medicaire? She won, and when did he become such a wing-nut? Is NH considering disowning him? When did facts become opinions?

Bill and Real Time return on Friday! Two days hence! Yay!!

Kale-coconut juice round 1, 10½ pounds of cherries

This morning, the boys and I watched a YouTube video on how to break into a fresh coconut -that husk is HARD!- and when we realized we would need a hammer, they were thrilled. T hammered a screwdriver into the bowling ball-like holes so that we could first drain the coconut milk. Then, we put the coconut into a freezer Ziploc, sealed it shut and went to town with the hammer. It worked extremely well though did take more bangs than you might imagine. With that (and now I really appreciate the cost of coconut milk, meat, and drinks), I made this breakfast/juice; it also included kale, orange and lemon. Not quite as smooth and flavorful as its counterpart at the juice bar, it was nonetheless, really good and I'll keep working on the ratio and such. Doesn't it just scream, "I am good for you!"?

After dropping Jack off at camp, I went to get some cherries and came away with 10½ pounds. Y'all think I better get busy a'pitting over here? Wow! If I've not showed you my new cherry pitter before, here it is, in the flesh. Thank you, OXO.

The cake was a hit

This cake is one I'll make again! The rosemary was extremely muted; in fact, where was it? I think I'll put some more next time just to see if you get a back-end flavor boost as I think it'd be nice with the lemon in the cake and glaze. The recipe called for an 11" springform pan. I only had a 9" and smaller ones; naturally I forgot to pour less of the batter into the 9" and thusly had to scoop out the undercooked bit in the middle. Once again, flow with the need for improv, folks. The divot made a great bowl for fresh strawberries!