Eggshells, eggplant, a concert

Great news for all my gardening readers: eggshells again save the day. Not only are they great in compost but also they have saved my Mexican Midget heirloom tomato from blossom-end rot. That Mexican Midget seems an awfully un-PC name is a different story but for now, if you too have watched with dismay many a beautiful heirloom tom blacken from the flower end up, go stick some crushes eggshells in the dirt around the plant stem. I was not scientific or neat about this at all; I literally crumpled eggshells with my fingers, used a dinner spoon to scoop up divets around the base and shoved the shells in. 

Eggplant. I do love eggplant but sometimes tire of baba ghanoush and involtini. Last night, inspired by nothing more than the desire for something different, I heated my trusty Lodge and added some grapeseed oil, minced garlic and ginger, hot chiles, fish sauce, ponzu, Thai chili sauce, brown sugar an the gorgeous melanzane T picked up at the farmers market for me on Sunday. 

The skillet was so hot that the eggplant cooked quickly and were lacquered in the reduced sauce. It looked like ebony caramel. I served it over sushi rice and dressed it with chives. Bellissima!

I desperately needed to do something with the summer squash and fill languishing in the fridge, so tossed them with freshly shelled peas in a hot saute pan and afterwards added feta and mint. Tom loathes dill so loathed this dish, but I found it pretty and pleasing.

I woke up tired this morning, probably because I heard Jack tiptoeing downstairs at 5am. I chose to think it was Nutmeg but knew better. I found my dear son eating a can of room temp black beans ("I made them myself, Mom!") and working on the computer. Uh, no. To bed, sir! 

Busy day, my energy really waned around 4, but I rallied and for good reason: T and I are at Wolf Trap, a lovely outdoor concert venue, waiting to hear John Fogerty play.  

What's nicer than a gourmet picnic al fresco, on a beautiful night in the middle of the week, with the spouse you don't see enough of in grown-up contexts?

Cheers to eggshells, eggplant, trying new things, CCR and making time! 

A day in pictures

Nutmeg in bird pose

summer squash gratin with salsa verde

the best brothers

coriander sugar-poached figs with fresh ricotta

Summer squash

Yesterday, in the midst of throwing out bags of hoarded crap from the boys' rooms, I heard a rap on the front door. I flew down the stairs, flung open the door and was infinitely relieved to NOT see a magazine-selling child-adult standing there. Instead, it was P (of 'Oliver saying 'fuck' during bingo fame) delivering a large bag stuffed with freshly picked yellow squash, zucchini, a cucumber and a spring onion. What an enormous treat. Her mom and I proceeded to talk squash recipes, full of eagerness because at this point in the season, no one is tired of squash. Come late August and we'll all be singing a different tune but for now, the possibilities are endless and the abundance of these beauties is yet another indicator that summer is sprung and tomatoes are on their way. Gorgeous, aren't they?

Later, I chopped one, sauteed it with some radicchio, parsley, basil and chives, threw that in a tart crust, added some chopped tomato and a ricotta-mozzarella-egg-milk mix, slid it in the oven and called it dinner. Outstanding.

Off to pack up for class!