WIAW 34
I’ve been quiet – but I didn’t forget the blog, exactly – just my priorities.
I had this great idea for a peach based dessert. And it’s been almost working… One version was much too fussy for the result I got. (Pleasant, but was I out of my mind to add those extra five steps??) Another simply didn’t work at all – I managed to curdle the sauce. Another… And I kept plugging away at it, because I won’t write it until I have it right, and peach season is ending, and I needed to write this up before…
Wait. Peach season is ending. I don’t need to perfect this now – by the time I get it out there, some of you won’t have any more peaches anyway. I need to put it aside, and look at it next summer with fresh eyes, and… write a post.
It is September. Around here, that means the peak of harvest. I’m bringing home arms full of corn and tomatoes and peppers… I have adorable little mini eggplants, and green, red, yellow and orange peppers – both hot and sweet. Last week we had probably the last hurrah for heat this summer – this week I wore a long sleeved shirt for the first time. We have the gorgeous mid-September New York days – the heat has broken, the sky is deep blue, the air sparkles… September and October are, hands down, the most beautiful time of year in this city.
The piles of vegetables mean that I am slicing and dicing and sauteing and freezing… I only have the freezer in an apartment sized refrigerator, but I can still fill it with sauteed onion and celery, and chopped peppers (both hot and sweet,) and herbs blended in oil… so we’ll have fresh flavor in midwinter.
And – well – more than a month ago, I was overwhelmed with cucumbers. So I pureed a couple, and froze the puree in cubes. Last week, when it was hot again, I pulled some of the cubes out, and made cold cucumber soup with them – and it was wonderful! Freezing preserves flavor, but destroys texture – so the trick is to use it for things where the texture doesn’t much matter – and a puree is just right for that. So that was part of lunch (and we ate salad with some kind of protein, but I don’t seem to have taken a picture of that.)
For breakfast (Yes, I’m taking the day out of order, because the post makes more sense that way…) I have started back to the beans, eggs, and muffins. It’s pretty easy, and gets me off to a good start in the morning.
For dinner – well, there was corn! and tomatoes and peppers, and zucchini, and I just find that they go beautifully together. I sauteed them very lightly, with a little onion, and the last of a few mushrooms. The chicken I’d planned hadn’t thawed, so I tossed some cooked ground meat with leftover rice and some broth, and served that on the side, with the vegetables being, really, the main dish. (And we ate Peach Stuff Version 2… Here’s a picture just so you see what elegant props and stands I use… LOL)
It’s September. It’s All About Vegetables…
Joining Jenn as always…