"hotter to me are / delights of the Lord than this dead life / loaned on the land." The Seafarer

So the first few days of my new plan: working well enough that I find it hard to get back here. Ironic? Yes. 


I think at this point of two weeks collaboratively I have spent twelve hours picking beans. That is the need at the farm right now and I'm just fillin' it. But the "Green Bean blind" starts to set in at around the hour mark so it's good that the shifts are short. Pumpkin picking is coming up if only to feed the gluttonous  and compulsive need I have to put pumpkin in everything come September 1. I hope to volunteer as long as they'll take me which sounds like late-October. Volunteering there has been awesome because it has actually shown me that I do in fact like farming as much as my obsessive self would think :) Imma get a hobby farm. With goats!


In the kitchen, this week has been an excellent exercise in managing disappointment. A good exercise because baking is kinda like that for me. I remember sharing my disappointment with the JoC because of two recipes in particular. It got better but this week in baking has been less than stellar. That zucchini I was telling you about, I decided that I would turn to the recipes that I received from people when there in a 'state' about the amount of zucchini they either had in their garden or had the misfortune of being gifted by a friend with a proliferation of zucchini invaded their yard. Don't get me wrong, I love me some zukes. I only wish I had a garden full of it, especially given the outcome of the recipes I did try, which is to say they didn't work. I made zucchini bread which I have made before, but this outing felt a bit labor intensive. I don't know if I just didn't love enough water out of that zucchini because I had to bake the sweet bread (think Banana Bread) for two hours! You bake pot roasts for two hours. You bake…pottery for two hours. Once I was reasonably satisfied with the level of 'doneness' I let it cool, wrapped it, and chucked it (and I mean chucked) into our freezer. After that, I thought I'd had enough of sweet things not turning out. Even after a dense sweet bread I still had a zucchini that was a foot long. Exaggeration is so not my thing. So with the next chunk of zucchini I grated it for zucchini fritters. I saw the recipe on Smitten Kitchen and I have a great deal of respect for her and her recipes. And now having made them I have less respect for my ability to follow a recipe. The pan was obviously too hot and didn't cool down as fast as I thought. The batter tasted just great but they came out of said pan burnt on the outside and still raw in the middle. (I'm beginning to see a pattern here) This excursion reminded me of some of my first opportunities cooking for Moozh when I essentially cooked to crud all the meat articles for him. I think part of my issue here is I learned to cook on a gas stove where the heat is much more responsive than electric elements that have to cool down and SOMETIMES THEY JUST DON'T DO IT FAST ENOUGH. We're fine. 


But then, but then! We were having friends over for dinner and I was on dessert (as I had been with the pie -gulp). I turned to the JoC. Why you ask? I really don't know. But it worked for me, for once. We had some cherries in the crisper that needed to be used and I had seen many recipes for clafoutis which is a French dessert made with cherries and almond liquor. Also known as a flognarde, which just is fun to say. It's essentially a crepe batter poured over fruit into a deep cake dish and then baked. I don't know why I do this to myself, try something new when we have company over. Not smart, but this time it didn't sting me. It was delicious. I have no pictures because 1) there were people watching me and geeking out didn't seem kosher but 2) I really didn't expect it to turn out so I didn't even get amped for it. Goo'job JoC. I will consult you again. I have picked a grapefruit curd from a jamming book I have out and it needs to turn out or else I will lose all faith in myself. But I think I have shown remarkable resilience…so far. We're gonna keep going. 


Once I have given it to her, I will likely post pictures of the scrapbook I've made for my bestie. It's been fun in a way that could become very distracting. 


Then the weekend rolled around and Sunday was a fun day. We wandered around Gastown and then chilled on the beach. But we had the camera. There was this little girl that was adorable in her little polka dot bathing suit but something in me can't post a picture of someone else's child without their permission. Here's some of what we got. 

This dude is Courtney. He's a ballet teacher. He plied for us. 

We HAD to take a picture of the steamclock. Everyone else does.

Happy Tuesday! If you have blackberry bushes near you, stalk them because their berries are getting delicious. Unless, they're near a bus stop because then they taste like exhaust more than berries. 


P.S ~ Got Ellie Goulding's album, Lights, and her voice literally stays in my mind even when I'm sleeping. I wake up tapping my feet. Moozh is not as amused as I am. 


P.P.S ~ Does anyone else find OS Lion is autocorrecting their slang and upon re-reading something you sound like a stoner? No, just me?