Jacksoup

I love following along on these trips!!

This is kind of dinner. Freekah with sautéed kale from a friend. Actually he's my son's former girlfriend's husband and he's a bartender at my local. Interesting worlds colliding. Anyway, he's really into gardening so we've bartered greens for eggs and cucumbers that my gardener BF has. Also made some arugula pesto to freeze because he gave me a lot and I'm out of town before I can use it all. Now I have to decide how to preserve the rainbow chard he gave me.

@Shelby last year I made Spiced Plum Chutney from a recipe on Epicurious. Sorry can't figure out how to link. I made about 30 pint jars which I thought might be too much. But this year the rain knocked the blossoms off the trees and we have very few plums. We use it on pork and Greek yogurt and with cheese and crackers.

I've made this with all yellow cherry tomatoes and my boyfriend gardener loved it so much he planted 25 yellow cherry tomato plants this year. Just served it over pasta with Parmesan. It was incredibly delicious. Over polenta is a great idea.

@flippant Those prices are US Amazon Prime. I ordered Lucky Peach.

@kayb happy birthday! Enjoy that prosecco!

@kayb those are just the pickles I need too make, bread and butter, sweet pickle relish. Then I need to make some dills. Not enough cucumbers out of the garden yet to make a batch of pickles worthwhile. Soon though. @Shelbyo you're getting comfortable with the pressure canner? I'll probably have more tomatos than freezer space this year, am worried about regular canning and the pH. But it seems like you've canned tomatos for years, I want to can sauce, just no garlic. Have you canned that

@rarerollingobject sorry for your loss and struggle. Hope you soon get back ro the point where you are enjoying life and traveling for pleasure as documented in your fantastic thread about your trip to Japan.

@chefmd hope your travels are without problems and your father regains health

@liuzhou hope you're better soon and back to eating your normal fare. Thanks for posting this story, it's interesting to see some aspects of health care in another part of the world.

It's just my adult son and myself but I find my Costco membership worthwhile. I get gasoline, paper towels, toilet paper, chicken, salmon(both get frozen into smaller portions), wine and other booze. Their Kirkland vodka is $16.99 for the large bottle and since I'm not overly picky, it's fine. Also, bacon and Greek yogurt. Lately they've had a 2.25 lb bag of asparagus for $6.99.

This morning's pickage. Had to get out there before the high of 107F today. Some of the squash got very large but they're really growing fast in this warm weather. Also a lot of things don't get picked until I get here for the weekend.

@Shelby @ElainaA and @Okanagancook I absolutely agree about the sauce. I made it with yellow cherry tomatoes, froze some, served it to the boyfriend farmer in March. He loved it so much he planted 25 yellow cherry tomatoes this year. We'll probably never run out of it now!

A row of squash, zucchini, yellow crookneck and butternut. Then more basil. Various tomatos, mostly Roma and beefsteak. The yellow cherry tomatos have had a lot of growth. It's finally getting warm here.

Some basil about two weeks ago. I thought these looked weak, seemed like bugs were eating them, so the Italian boyfriend farmer graciously planted about 10 more. All are thriving now and we'll have plenty. Just some of the tomatoes too. The IB farmer planted 25 yellow cherry tomato plants because of a love for a roasted tomato sauce we had last summer. Perhaps he'll tire of it this year...

I enjoy walking into a clean kitchen in the morning and clean up as I go when cooking - as much as I can. But I'm easily distracted by the cooking process, so sometimes I'm just messy. I'm lucky in that the people I cook for are appreciative enough to do all the after meal cleanup.

@mm84321tell me how you cooked those abalone. I have six abs in my freezer and have only cooked them by pounding, breading in Ritz frackers and frying/sauteeing

I actually lived in Tucumcari when my dad worked for the old Southern Pacific railroad. At that time the town of approx 3000 had one stoplight on Route 66 which cut through the middle of town. As teenagers we 'dragged the strip', which means we had nothing to do so we drove back and forth on Route 66 every Friday and Saturday night. Now I believe the freeway bypasses the town. There's a railroad siding named after my dad somewhere south of Tucumcari.

I remember the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum from way too many years ago as a teen. I was very impressed with the outdoor animal displays and I believe some kind of otter display. My fading memory may not be accurate.

@Thanks for the CrepesThat's really interesting. In the middle of California, I can find pretty much any kind of lettuce. Haven't paid much attention to the price, but I did buy a big plastic tub of spring mix for $5.00 a couple of weeks ago. Actually couldn't eat it all before it wilted.

@suzilightning I have never heard of butter bean honey, Will you tell us about it?

One addition to the kitchen. Finally found a utility cart at IKEA to house the CSO and Instant Pot. Now they're off the countertop and everything looks cleaner. I collect aprons as souvenirs and decided to hang them up behind the CSO. I know fire hazard. Will roll the cart out to use the CSO. Just got a new apron from Silver Oak winery in Napa this weekend. Some others are from Paris, London, Cinque Terre, Culinary Institute in Napa, Florence, Telluride and Salty's Restaurant in Seattle.

Biba has a restaurant in my city. She's had it for 31 years. http://biba-restaurant.com/about-biba She's usually in there every day. She had breast cancer a while go and I believe her public persona did lessen after that. I did see her in the restaurant a few months ago.

@andiesenji thank you! Then this must be my grandmother's skillet. My son ruined one of the two I had and I was never sure which was which. I also have two small 6.5 inch cast iron skillets but they are 'Wagner Ware'. Now I'm ambitious to clean up the aged beauty. Thanks again!

This photo may be better