Per usual, to help with the transition of not having the husband/father around, we have been going to therapy. 

SHOPPING THERAPY. 

For me:  Boston Store and Sephora and Whole Foods and iTunes and Best Buy and thrift stores.  For X: Thrift stores and iTunes and Sephora and Best Buy and Boston Store and converse.com. 

Actually, she doesn't know about the last one.  I finally ordered THESE for her.

Dear Sephora: 

I love you.  I have enjoyed buying products from your online shop for years. 

That said, now that you've opened a store in my part of the city, my life has been cut short.  I am certain to die. 

One hundred twenty-seven dollars and sixty-six cents at a time.

xoxo.
: j

P.S.  Your JONATHAN 1B Anti-Aging Restorative Hair Conditioner may save me.  LOVE!

And, so begins a stretch with the husband working in Oregon. 

I expect September to be a great month, if the first week is any indicator.  Plus, it holds so many things that I love ... the end of summer, the equinox, the beginning of autumn, and ... oh, wait.  THOSE ARE ALL THE SAME THING.  Ha ha. 

Since I seem to have had a theme the past several months (July, the cleanse; August, home comforts), and since they've had a positive effect on my life that has lasted beyond the exercise, I've decided to continue with having a focus each month. 

I am going to go with deep house cleaning for September, especially since I, *ahem*, never finished my spring cleaning earlier this year. 

I will try to keep you posted. 

(photo by theother23)

This has been, like, THE WEEK OF ROASTED HEIRLOOM TOMATOES.  None of us have been able to get enough ... with salmon, with pasta, or just with our fingers.  Yum. 

I'd like to share my recipe, not that there really is one, and I'd also like to remind everyone that I am not a chef, an innovative recipe developer, nor do I have any qualifications that suggest you should listen to what I have to say on the topic of cooking. 

Note:  I find that this recipe works best with heirloom tomatoes, mostly because of their low acidity and superior quality.  Also, their skins seem less tough.  If not using heirlooms, you might want to quickly blanch the tomatoes in boiling water to aid in removing the skin.  That said, I never do; I just pick the skin out, push it to the side of my plate, or go ahead and eat it. 

Two to three pounds of heirloom tomatoes
Several cloves of garlic
Fresh (or dried) basil
Fresh (or dried) thyme
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly-ground pepper

Preheat broiler and set rack about six inches below it. 

Line an edged baking sheet with aluminum foil (if you want to, for easy clean-up, but it's not necessary).  Either spray sheet with canola oil, or put down a little olive oil to keep the tomatoes from sticking. 

Peel garlic and slice thinly.  Toss onto baking sheet.  (I put the garlic under the tomatoes so that it doesn't blacken, but I usually toss a few pieces on top too.)  Slice tomatoes to a thickness of about 1/2 inch and place on pan.  I like to overlap the clices.  Generously season with kosher salt and freshly-ground pepper.  Finely cut basil and pull thyme leaves from stems.  Sprinkle over tomatoes.  Drizzle everything with olive oil. 

Place in oven and cook for 10 to 20 minutes. 

I usually have pasta in boiling water while the tomatoes broil/roast, and then I toss everything together when both have finished cooking. 

If you make this, I'd love to hear how it turns out and with what you serve it.  Although I don't eat meat, I think that this would be really good with steak, or maybe used to make a roasted-tomato salsa.  Like the supply of tomatoes in summer, the possibilities are endless. 

I'm ashamed to say that TODAY was my first visit to the Dane County Farmer's Market this year.  (To get there, I have to travel into the city on a Saturday morning, find a parking spot, and then navigate the crowds, including all the red shirts converging onto the downtown area for a Badger football game.  Theother23 did the parking part today, which made it easy schmeasy.) 

The weather was perfect -- mid 60's and sunny.  We found everything that we were looking for to make meals this weekend.  I also ran into the daughter of an old friend, Harold Kruse, an organic farmer, enviromentalist, bird-watcher, and all-around ground-breaking VIP.  (Some of you may recall that I helped Harold work on his most recent book, which should be ready soon.  A few of my photos will be in it, his third publication.) 

ANYHOW, all this rambling to say this: 1) Yes, the photo sucks.  2) The farmer's market was fun.  3)  Here's what what we brought home ...

• Half dozen ears of sweet corn
• Oak House Bakery's Spicy Cheese Bread (which is 2-for-1 starting at noon)
• Cress Spring Bakery's Naturally Leavened Expedition Bread
• Little Creek Maple Syrup
• Gentle Breeze Honey Sticks
• Brunkow's Brun-Uusto Baked Cheese (Also known as juustalepia, which in Finnish/Swedish translates to "bread cheese".)
• Heirloom tomatoes (My husband almost choked when I paid $12.95 for five tomatoes.)
• Dill
• Purple bell peppers
• Jalapenos
• Garlic

On the menu?  Pasta with fresh, roasted tomato sauce and grilled corn with dill butter. 

To all of you kind people who leave comments about how clean and organized my house always appears, I present ... my kitchen YESTERDAY MORNING. 

It looks like this more often than I care to admit, thankyouverymuch.  Continue reading →

So far, September has brought the hottest day of the year, quickly followed by fall-like weather.  It is presently 59 and rainy. 

I know that a lot of people consider Labor Day weekend the end of summer, but that's never been the case for me.  Unbearable heat and humidity can continue into October.  And, if it's going to happen this year, don't tell me now. 

I'd rather be ignorant about the whole thing. 

ALL THAT ASIDE, hello long pants.  Hello, bootie socks.  Hello, heavy blanket.  Hello, hoodie.  Hello, hiking.  Hello, new projects and plans and schedules and cozying up with the husband. 

Hello, hello, hello. 

Simple photos like this are the reason that I like the time capsules that I receive from Photojojo. 

Last year, the grass was so green and being its normal grass self.  This year, it is being its normal August-September self.  You know, crunchy and yellow. 

Conversely, last August was HOT and HUMID and its usual MISERABLE self.  This year, we've had a really mild summer.  (NOT THAT I ENJOYED IT ONE BIT.) 

But, crunchy grass. 

I'm not going anywhere with this.  Just so you know.  

Theother23 sent me some photos today that were taken by one of his coworkers.  I'm alternately happy and sad about seeing these --- happy because they are of him and sad because I am reminded of how much he is AWAY. 

He will be heading out of town later this week ... for approximately four weeks.  AGAIN. 

My friend, Laura, recently posted an autobiographical poem me-me, and I decided to play along ... ONLY, I am posting (or linking to) poems previously written because to write a poem I have to go to THAT CRAZY PLACE where I mope around, cry that it's still summer, contemplate drowning in a river, cry that summer will return next year, think about pets that have died, cry that summer is cyclical and evil and if the devil existed summer would be THE WORK OF THE DEVIL, mull over a possibly bleak future, cry that the CICADIDAE ARE SO DRONINGLY LOUD IN SUMMER, and wonder if I could drown in my tears about how much summer SUCKS.  After that, I cry about the beauty of winter and write a poem.

*ahem*

Um, so, I have been taking photos instead of writing poetry. 

(If so inclined, here is a special selection of twenty more poems, where special means the first twenty that I could find:  One.  Two.  Three.  Four.  Five.  Six.  Seven.  Eight.  Nine.  Ten.  Eleven.   Twelve.  Thirteen.  Fourteen.  Fifteen.  Sixteen.  Seventeen.  Eighteen.  Nineteen.  Twenty.)

Note:  While going through my poetry (blog) archives, I came across this photo from exactly five years ago.  Wow.  A lot happens in five years. 

this winter:  

it snows here,
lakes freeze,
i drive on ice.

i sit in the hot
bath tub,
drink beer,
read about glaciers
in alaska.

the only snowshoe
that fits
isn't my size

i write in six different
notebooks,
crude scribblilng
about a catch in breath,
that trapped sign.

murmured
colors that suite
glazed looks,
braided,
intertwining ideas
passes time.

the world is blue;
underfoot crunches.
i chew on
the long day,
muse on movement,
observe tides. 

this is
the universe-accordion.
this is
the color book of life.
this is
where i slumber,
trudging snow,
restlessly, by moon
in the night.

Okay, the photo kind of sucks, BUT ... this is the best salmon dish that I've ever eaten.  Also, probably the easiest salmon recipe EVER.  It is from the September issue of Real Simple magazine.  We had this for dinner last night, and after I took the photo, theother23 ate these leftovers and then asked when we'd have it again. 

Now sounds good to me. 

The tomatoes and thyme are fresh from the garden.  The recipe asks for medium tomatoes sliced in half, but I used a variety of sizes, more than actually called for, and just sliced them thick.  I also added extra garlic.  Divine.