When I was a child, I never understood grown-ups' fascination with the weather. My parents would discuss it seemingly endlessly with their friends. Hasn't it been hot? There's a cold snap coming tomorrow - to my young ears this seemed no more interesting then watching paint dry.
Well, as an adult I'm learning to recognize how interesting it can be when Mother Nature bestows a stretch of gorgeous weather on a region. Or, how interesting it is when the weather is NOT gorgeous for days on end. And in New York's case, it is decidedly NOT gorgeous right now. Barring the past two days (which were lovely), it has been cloudy and rainy for almost ten days.
Trudging home took forever today. The subway I usually take wasn't running because of flooding on the tracks - a nice little perk of suddenly torrential downpours. Especially excellent after ten hours of work. Taking alternate routes home took upward of an hour which is almost double the time it usually takes me. I went to yet another store hoping to find snack bowls for my class, found something okay but not great but bought it anyways because A. it was raining and I wasn't going anywhere else and B. school starts Thursday. I'm still looking for a plastic pitcher though - did they go the way of the dinosaurs or something? Who knew a basic plastic pitcher would be such a trial to find. The CSA vegetables were super heavy, the people weighing their fruits and veggies in front of me were super annoying and it was just that kind of evening.
So, after putting away the fruits and veggies (which will remain incognito this week because I ran out of energy for photographing them all), I picked out a darling little summer squash. I pan-seared it with some light butter, garlic, salt and pepper until the squash slices were a delightfully golden brown. Then I tossed the slices with some basil that was so fresh and pungent that it almost tasted licorice-y, and I threw it on top of a salad dressed with yellow grape tomatoes, yellow bell peppers, organic carrots and cucumbers. This, served with Amy's Organic Cream of Tomato Soup was a warming and soul-satisfying dinner that made the trials of the day disappear.
And the most satisfying part of the meal was the fact that my salad resembled sunshine on a plate. And that, for the first time since leaving school, made me happy.
6 comments:
yum...now I know what to do with the little squash I picked up at the market this weekend...
Did you find your pitcher yet? Rubbermaid makes a simple one with a lid.
Good luck with the start of school! Hope you'll still have time to post occasionally!
Sunshine on a plate it is...a great good day to you.
I don't know what it is about pitchers of plastic but I've found them difficult to find from time to time. Do they have dollar stores in NYC?
Erin - yes, summer squash are surprising versatile.
Stephanie - Well, I certainly didn't find any Rubbermaid pitchers here in NYC. Would you believe even Bed Bath and Beyond let me down? But Rubbermaid probably wasn't in my class budget anywaya. And I do plan to keep posting ... that's my goal. Although we won't be eating anything exciting until the weekend - I'm too exhausted to cook!
Tanna - Thanks, I actually did find pitchers (6 perfect little smaller and therefore appropriate for first graders pitchers) at a dollar store today on my way home from work. But either way your suggestion was a great one!
oooh, a very sunny meal indeed. i'm glad that we're having lots of sunshine but it's certainly nice to put some on your plate just in case.
i've also tagged you for the 5 foods meme thing that's been travelling around. i hope you don't mind!
Beautiful! Your blog and recipes are an inspiration for someone that wants to get more inventive and "natural" in her cooking. Keep it up, because I'm also a lazy bum and need constant reminders! :)
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