liamsaunt

I frequently grill clams and oysters in the summer. I have a special grilling grate (it's actually called a Great Grate), that has triangular openings that are perfect for nestling the shells in to and holding them. I don't have the patience to shuck before grilling, so I put them on the grill whole, and as soon as they start to open I carefully shuck them while wearing a heavy glove. Then I return them to the grill and pour over some garlic butter and cook just until the butter starts to bubble. I tried to find a picture of them on the grate so you could see the design, but the only ones I could find with the shellfish on the grate had me in them, so here is a photo of them on the platter for serving. I put rock salt on the platter to keep the shells from spilling their liquor.

Chopped salad

Grilled chicken salad with apples and gorgonzola. I picked my nephew up from a week-long service trip yesterday and he requested vegetables for dinner as he had not eaten any all week. This suited him just fine.

I visit two farmer's markets. I am in the Boston area. On Tuesday and Fridays, I go to the market in Copley Square on my way to the commuter train. This is a very nice market with a good variety, but it is definitely pricy. It is all food vendors this year. In previous years there were some crafters but not this year. This market has meat, fish, cheese, and produce. On Saturdays, I go to a farmer's market at a dairy farm near my home. It is a pretty large market and less expensive than Boston's. There are a good amount of crafters at this one, and more bakers of sweet treats than is probably necessary, but there are also a decent amount of vegetable vendors, sometimes a wood fired pizza maker, and a knife sharpener. Here is what I bought today: kale, cherry and slicing tomatoes, bell peppers, summer squash, walla walla onions, scapes, scallions, blueberries, beets, a loaf of multigrain bread, three soft pretzels, 2 types of cheese, maple syrup, and you cannot see it because it is under the cheese, but a container of pretty amazing guacamole. This cost $100, half of which was the maple syrup and cheese.

Corn and crab cakes with lime cream and iceberg-cilantro slaw. Recipe was from the current issue of Fine Cooking magazine. I enjoyed this and it was fast to put together on a work night

I also lived in Philadelphia for a time and have no memory of this sandwich from then. My Philadelphia memories are of hoagies, cheesesteaks, giant pickles, and soft pretzels. Of course I was a child then and probably would not have even considered eating broccoli rabe. But, this sandwich is a Philadelphia thing. Google brings up many recipes and shops where you can get it.

I made a riff on the famous Philadelphia pork and broccoli rabe sandwich with provolone and cherry peppers. I will admit that I used leftover pork blade chops instead of slow roasted pork shoulder.

Caprese sandwich on foccacia. Purchased from the food truck outside my office. It was actually pretty tasty.

I have tons of deer in my yard also. The winter this past year was incredibly bad for the Boston area and the deer were starving. They ate everything they could get access to. I had to replace all of my landscaping in the front and back of my house because of deer damage. They even ate my holly, which I understand they typically hate. My landscaper says that the replacements he put in are things that deer really hate. We shall see. I had one in my front yard the day after the front was re-landscaped and she came over to check out the new plantings but opted to eat the stuff growing in the woods that surround my home instead, which is fine with me. The local wildlife uses my very long driveway to come out of the woods and then down into the neighborhood and back again. It makes for interesting patterns in the winter snow and an occasional exciting sighting during dinner.

Fish in "crazy water." This was the last fish from my current fish share cycle, and a new to me fish, king whiting. I liked it very much. I am taking the next 8-week fish share cycle off because of some summer travel plans, so you might actually see some non-fish photos from me over the next few weeks :-)

Okay, here is my garden. For context I live just outside Boston. Don't laugh. This is my first ever in the ground vegetable garden. I lived in the city and then a small home for a long time and only had container gardens. We moved to my current home in December 2013 and a selling point for me was the established garden plots in the yard. The prior owners were a multi-generation Greek family and the grandfather was a big gardener. When we moved, I had cancer and so was not well enough to plant last year. Here is the main garden Yeah, I need to weed badly! It is hard to keep up because I work in the city during the week. The garden has squash, cucumbers, 21 tomato plants, green beans, eggplant (being eaten by something) there kinds of peppers, nastursiums, and sunflowers. The only thing I have actually growing fruit so far are the peppers The plum tomato vine has really taken off. All of the heirlooms are kind of lagging. I have a secondary garden with squash and watermelon but it is getting eaten because it is not securely fenced. My house is surrounded by woods and we have a lot of wildlife. I am looking out my window and see a hedgehog (eating poison ivy so good for him) and a bunny (eating grass so hmmm) I also have a separate in-ground herb garden which is doing well except for the dill which was eaten by someone. Here is what I am better at. Container gardening. Thai basil because it is impossible to find in the store regular basil and other herbs container tomatoes and the prior owner's mint patch. I can make mojitos for 100!

We had a pretty traditional cookout for the Fourth of July yesterday. I made red white and blue sangria for the imbibers and a standard pasta salad There were regular cheeseburgers and hot dogs, but for the non-red meat eaters I made black bean burgers with guacamole and then there was strawberry shortcake for dessert I bought corn also but decided not to cook it as I thought there would be too much food. We will have it today.

Clams bulhao pato. This recipe was in the Sunday magazine of my local newspaper. Sometimes their recipes are hit and miss, but this one was really tasty, and only took a couple of minutes to make.

The bowl is handmade by a ceramicist on an island that I visit frequently for vacations. I usually pick up a piece or two every visit. I have a collection of his serving pieces, as well as some tableware and lighting fixtures. You can see some of his work here: http://donaldschnell.com/studio/

Thai-style fish cakes in lettuce wraps with sweet chili sauce. Very satisfying. I made chicken lettuce wraps for the niece and nephew, and pineapple fried rice for them also

Sauteed yellowtail flounder on a cucumber gazpacho. The recipe is from the Babbo cookbook (the recipe called for tilefish but flounder was what came in the fish share this week). I thought it was really tasty and can see myself making a lot this summer.

A much more typical lunch than the restaurant meals I posted recently. Hummus, carrot, arugula, and leftover grilled chicken wrap with some cherries. Eaten at the credenza behind my desk with a book. Work meals are not as interesting as vacation ones.

It is just a Fiber One 80-calorie wheat wrap. I would not say it is wonderful, but it was acceptable. I toasted it in the skillet to give it some crunch.

Egg and cheese wrap. Would have been better with bacon I also made belgian waffles for the niece and nephew but they were scarfed before any photo could be taken

JoNorvelleWalker, how was that eggplant dish? I was just looking at the recipe yesterday, and picked up pomegranate seeds, but there was no eggplant at the store. Maybe next week... blackened shrimp with quinoa salad

Blackstrap rum glazed grilled shrimp with couscous and salad. The tomatoes in the salad are the first I have gotten from my patio plant this year. I have a real vegetable garden too but should talk about that in the gardening thread.

Our final Wellfleet lunch for this trip was at Winslow's Tavern. Cocktails Butternut squash flatbread smoked mussel flatbread scallop roll crabcake apricot clafouti chocolate mousse My husband and I are now in Chatham for a couple of days. Not sure what will be happening on the lunch front.

Yesterday we went to Provincetown, It is our tradition to walk through town and browse all the shops, then go to lunch and debate what we should buy. Provincetown has provided a lot of my home decor. We had lunch at Mac's Provincetown. I am having a little trouble connecting so might not be able to get all the photos in this post. Sweet heat margaritas (drinks help with the shopping debate!) Salmon tartar (niece's hands hovering in background waiting to dig in) Stoplight roll Tuna poke Zen roll tuna tataki rangoon roll Not pictured, my nephew's boring cheeseburger :-) I ended up buying a triptych painting of an octopus for over my family room TV. It is pretty cool.

It was just ground up chicken stir fried with a couple of shallots, a few cloves of garlic, chopped chiles, a cube of palm sugar, a glug each of rice wine, soy sauce, and oyster sauce, and a big fistful of thai basil leaves. I did not measure anything. I think pork is more typical but I don't eat pork.

Back at Wellfleet. I made a veggie scramble with tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach for everyone. Much tastier than my usual workday breakfast of greek yogurt and fruit or a green smoothie. There was bacon too but my doctor says no bacon for me for the moment. My niece ate my share and hers also.