Last weekend visiting our friends P & K, who live north of the city, we came home with a bunch of zucchini from their garden. Yes, it's zucchini give-away season - but thankfully these were not huge seedy giants. But still, how much can you do with zucchini? Drake got the ball rolling by making some zucchini bread. OK - so that takes care of one zucchini. What about the other six zukes? Well, last night I made a nice grated zucchini side-dish. Easy, tasty and it uses A LOT of zucchini.
5-6 medium zucchini
salt
1 clove garlic , minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- Shred zucchini on large holes of box grater.
- Toss zucchini with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and place in colander; let drain 5 to 10 minutes.
- In batches, squeeze excess moisture from zucchini.
- Place zucchini in medium bowl. Combine garlic with 2 teaspoons oil in small bowl; add mixture to zucchini and toss to combine thoroughly.
- Heat remaining oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat. Add zucchini and spread evenly in pan.
- Reduce heat to medium, cook without stirring until bottom layer browns, about 2 minutes.
- Stir and continue to cook/brown zucchini another 2 minutes.
- Finish by stirring in lemon juice.
I have always had very vivid and memorable dreams. Drake is amazed at the level of detail I can recount about my dreams.
I have one very strong recurring dream - and interestingly my Dad has this recurring dream too. I call it my "fear of failure" dream - I'm not sure that's really the root of it - but it involves school and some awful oversight on my part. These can include:
- Forgetting, until mid-semester, that I had signed up for a certain class
- Showing up at a class that I had been attending, only to find I had forgotten that the midterm was that day
- Losing my class schedule, being unable to get a replacement, and I can't remember what any of my classes are
- I am trying to get to class to take a test, but I suddenly can't remember how to get there
- I am in the class, taking the test, but there is something physically wrong with my exam - I am unable to decipher it - meanwhile everyone else is working away
Last night was kind of a combination of #4 and #5.
This cartoon sums up my recurring school dream:
At Seattle Opera, a typical opera runs Saturday-to-Saturday for two
weeks. We prefer to go on Saturdays, so we have three to choose from:
first, second or third.
- First Saturday is opening night, so you get in on the excitement of the first performance. But, the production is still fresh from dress rehearsal - the production and vocal performances aren't as matured as with later performances.
- Second Saturday is kind of a middle ground. For this performance Seattle Opera broadcasts live on our local classical radio station, so one advantage of not going on Second Saturday is you get to hear the broadcast.
- Third
Saturday is the very last performance. The main disadvantage is that if you
get sick, there is no chance to switch your (subscriber) tickets to a
different night. But, at the last performance, the singers may feel
free to really "let loose" with their performance, since it's the last
night of the run.
For years, we went on second Saturday, but when the new opera house opened, we switched the third Saturday. This was in part to get slightly better seats, but allows us to catch (and record) the broadcast.
For the recent production of Rosenkavalier, we went to both opening night and our regular third Saturday performance (this past Saturday). We were curious - would there be a noticable difference in the performance? How would the two performances compare? (We were seated in exactly the same location for both performances.)
Actually, the difference was pretty striking. First, the opening night crowd is much more reserved - it tends to be an older crowd and also draws people who go more for the event of an opera's opening. The first performance was beautiful, but the third Saturday performance was absolutely riviting. Both Drake and I felt this difference. It's hard to put into words, other than everyone on stage seemed to complely embody the roles. I was much more drawn into the drama, but I can't really point to why.
I think this cast may have been the best all-around that Speight has put together - at least in recent history.
We've lived in the same city neighborhood for over 20 years and the center of at least our life in the neighborhood is our locally-owned grocery store. We of course, go there a lot, so we know the people who work there, we often run into other folks we know from the neighborhood (because of course they go there a lot, too), and it's just a darn good grocery store. To top things off, the owners have a long history of positive involvement in the neighborhood, including starting a neighborhood-based charity (which Drake and I support).
We were crushed to learn that the site they occupy was going to be redeveloped, and our grocery was going to be replaced by a HUGE two-story version of big-chain grocery. There is more to the story than that, but that's it in a nutshell.
Meanwhile, another small local chain in the neighborhood went bankrupt and was auctioning off its assets. Of course, speculation ran wild that our grocery would bid on the location and simply set up shop there. Those hopes, however, were dashed when a California company was announced as the successful bidder.
But, this week, there was another twist: the California company was out -- at the last minute our grocery came in with a better bid, which was accepted by the bankruptcy court.
There is more - today I was talking to one of the checkers and the landlord on their current location wanted to extend their lease, so they are actually going to be running both locations for a year. The deal on their current location came in right at the same time as the successful auction bid.
So, it's been quite a little neighborhood drama, ending happily with two locations of our favorite store (for a year anyway). Peach-O-Rama is saved! (The annual peach festival at the market during the month of August.)
One of my greatest joys is gift-giving. And, yes, I am already working away on Christmas gifts. Actually, my radar is out year-round for gifts. I always try to have a reserve of ideas for each person on my master list.
I love this post from Whirled Events - The Art of Giving: A 10 Step Program - it sums up all the skills I aspire to have as a gift-giver.
This is a tasty and healthy salad perfect during corn season.
1 c. barley
1 c. cooked fresh corn kernels
1/4 c. thinly sliced green onions
1 red bell pepper, diced
Dressing:
1 jalapeno chili, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
3 T. white wine vinegar
3 T. olive oil
1/4 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
Cook barley according to package directions. Transfer cooked barley to a large mixing bowl; add corn, green onions, and red pepper.
Combine all ingredients for dressing and pour over salad. Serve either at room temperature or chilled.
This summer our local grocery has been selling Dulcinea seedless mini watermelons, which are about the size of a cantaloupe. I love watermelon, but previously I almost never purchased one because they were HUGE and just too much for two people. These mini watermelons are perfect though - easy to carry and store in the fridge. I've been making quite a bit of Watermelon-Limeade with them, but also just enjoying them sliced.
Mini watermelons seems like one of those ideas that somebody might have thought of sooner, but I don't remember seeing them before.
We have also been enjoying Dulcinea's Extra Sweet Tuscan Style Cantaloupe - great with some smoky ham or prosciutto.
I received the fall Terry Bicycles catalog today, and along with the usual very nice cycling attire, there was this - a bronze bike planter. I think it's adorable and I have the perfect place for it on our deck. The dimensions are 27"x13"x18" so it's not too big. Drake will probably think it is dorky, but hey, I am a bike dork.
Yesterday, my niece (a HS sophomore) and my nephew (a 7th grader) went back to school. Though both complain about how boring school is, both are also excellent students. In fact, my niece was #1 in her class last year.
One thing I do for them every year before the start of school is buy them both student planners. I first did this as a lark when Jess was in the third grade. It turned out she loved the planner! And so I've been doing it ever since, starting my nephew in when got to the third grade.
Their Dad was amazed at how they've taken to the planners. It turns out that the school requires kids to have planners, but those standard-issue planners are "boring" (this seems to be an all-purpose word to describe anything connected with school). The planners I bought were "much cooler" - with a neat cover, graphics, tips on studying, planning, relationships, etc. And so they look forward to receiving their planners every year.
It's a nice tradition and a nice way for me to have a bit of influence in their life. I am very big into organization and planning because I think life is just that much easier when you are. (Their Dad, an state trooper, is uber-organized so they have a good example to follow. He runs that household with military precision!)
I am just sorry these weren't available when I was a kid. I think I would have loved having my very own planner.
When people find out I do triathlon, the next question is invariably "Oh, are you doing the Danskin ?" At least in Seattle, Danskin is almost synonymous with women's triathlon.
No, I don't do Danskin. I think it's a great event that has brought a lot of women to the sport in a safe, supportive environment. I am fully supportive of anything that inspires anyone (man, women, child) to a more healthful lifestyle. But the race the race is huge (5,000 women) and the style of the race, with lots of rah-rah at the start (Are you going to have fun?? Yes!!! Are you going to take care of the each other??? Yes!!!), just isn't my style.
I made an interesting connection yesterday, though. A couple of months ago I was in my local tri shop and there was a woman (probably in her mid-50s) who looked oddly familiar, but I just could not place her in my mind. She was buying her first wet suit. After I left the shop, I remembered who she was. She was a member of a church I attended for a while, but she had lost a lot of weight. And I thought wow, that is inspiring!
Today's paper had a story about the Danskin, and mentioned a group of 45(!) women from the church who were participating in the race. And so I put 2 and 2 together. I am sure that woman was on the church team.
I hope that she (and the other women) had a great race yesterday.
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