No game tonight! Supposedly the temp reading, on the field, late afternoon, was 117 degrees in the sun...that's insane! So the game was cancelled, due to dangerous heat. Indeed. Not to mention the humidity. Man, I could have almost slow-cooked a pork shoulder at that temp, mmm hmmm... But no, instead, we had our baseball Team Party tonight! It was originally scheduled for tonight, but then postponed because we had a game, but wait, the game was postponed because of the heat, so we went ahead with the party! All VERY last minute, nothin' like a little spontaneity to get things rolling... Funny thing, everyone was free tonight because they were planning on being at the game, ha. Kids swam (parents too!), we blew off making dinner and just had snacks, and drinks, and chat, and it worked out beautifully. In the shade, with the breeze, it was more than bearable out there. Ninety degrees at dusk? Piece o'cake, feels refreshing compared to a hundo! Add some tunes, and good company, and we were jamming!

Now, time for bed, my friends. There's a bit of lightning flashing out there, we may get some rain tonight. GOOD. We all NEED it, badly.

The Laukka-Rempfer Floridians prevailed today, thanks to smokin' hot pitching by Nick and sweaty, dusty catching by Owen. We are now guaranteed at least second place, which is the best we've ever fared in AAA or Minors Little League play - very exciting! The fans so lucked out with cloud cover and a nice breeze, which made the 90+ degree heat and humidity seem somewhat bearable. I dare say more than a few of the parents were thinking it would be, well, fine if we lost today and were done. But no! We're back tomorrow, on another heat-advisory-hot day, to play the only still-undefeated team - you know, the one that just happened to stuff us on Thursday night. Ouch. And if we somehow beat them tomorrow, we'll play them again on Monday for the championship. And we'll have to move our team party, to be here at the hacienda, from Monday to Tuesday night. Ouch again. Lots of potential Little League drama, so stay tuned...

We all followed up the game with a trip over to PT - aka Park Tavern - for a healthy lunch of cheesy thin-crust pizza and hot-out-of-the-fat onion rings, fries, chicken strips, and wings. I love good bar food, I do, especiallly when washed down with tap beer (for the parents!) and soda (for the kids!). Aaaaaahhh...now I need a NAP! Time to pad on out to the pool, I think... More sun? Eh, what the hell...

Seven o'clock on a hot summer's Friday night, what are you doing? Hot date? Steaks on the grill? Latest 'vie in a blissfully air-conditioned theater? Cold beer and guacamole on the deck? None, some, or all of those lovely options? Then VOTE online for Kim & Susie to be the next Discovered Divas in FM 107's Undiscovered Divas contest! After 7 p.m. tonight, start voting here - you can vote as many times as you want! So please, vote, vote, and vote again, and tell your friends to vote as well. If they win, my minxes will have a two-month, weekly two-hour radio show with yours truly calling in as a guest to talk about...yes...FOOD! How fun! They're very excited - and deserving! - so here's to Kim & Suz kicking some diva ass! Yeah baby!

When I'm done voting, John and I will be eating fish tacos for dinner, mmm... I got the idea yesterday from Suz, who was making them for her family last night. Crispy white fish (I bought tilapia), garnished with chopped raw cabbage, tomatoes, onions, sliced avocaaaaahdo, and a creamy, spicy sauce, all wrapped up in a warm, soft tortilla - NICE, huh? Washed down the throat of a tanned face, with an ice-cold beer, on a 100-degree day, sheesh, is this SoCal or what? Minnesooooota, you say? But of course! Gnarly, dude...

Fish tacos - simply a must do. Wow - why the hell have I not made them before? (Recipe posted in comments, below.) I've certainly enjoyed the fast-food version at Baja Sol, many times, over several years. Damn they were good - so good that John said, don't talk to me!, while he was wolfing one down. What a nice (NICE!) Friday - sick hot, but made cool by a swim, shower, beer, and fish taco... Come on, top that, I honestly don't know that it can be done. Except by...a trip to bed, into cool, clean, crisp sheets, ohhhhh, yeah, good, good, GOOD.

YUM! Undiscovered Diva Suz and I had lunch at YUM Bakery today, what a treat! I ran into two former Park Nicollet girlfriends as well, Sonya and Laura, having some yum of their own. Suz loved her grilled veggie foccacia sandwich, I had a yummy (!) warm chicken club with a real summer treat - cool, crunchy gazpacho, topped with a bit of crab. Too-licious (as Baby Nathan used to say). Next time I go I'm absolutely having it again, what a perfect light lunch...and light is key so you have room for their decadent and clever desserts. Suz and I split a chocolate cupcake, an actual real-food, good-tasting version of a Hostess cupcake, cute. And oh, one of my favs, coconut cake. Dense, moist, and super-coconutty. Prrrr... Lurved it.

Tonight, more baseball, my friends, more hot, sweaty, dusty baseball! The Floridians won last night, we'll see how it goes tonight. Cooper was his usual sweet baby self at the game, totally chill as we all passed him around and cooed like complete idiots trying to get him to smile (it's not very hard, he is such a happy little guy, so heavenly, sigh). Pa David graciously sweat it out in his lawyerly office clothes - and of course walked away looking crisp and tidy. He always pulls that off and no one knows how. I'm actually showing up at the game in something other than a tank top since John and I are planning a post-game din at the fabulous 20.21 - yay!

Oh my, oh my oh my oh my, dinner was just incredible. Their seared foie gras and lobster with fried spinach are two of the finest dishes in Minnesota, hands down. I was ho-hum on ordering pad thai, thinking pad thai, schmad thai (or something like that), I've had enough pad thai for awhile... But John went ahead anyhow and thank goodness - I was wrong, so very, very wrong. The crispy shrimps and fried tofu that ring the perimeter, OMG, completely caught me off guard. Zowy powy zing! As a result, we're stuffed, with plenty of tasties for tomorrow to boot. It's a wonderful restaurant, it truly is. A gem. (And, they deserve a blue ribbon for booking online reservations through www.opentable.com - uh, 112 Eatery, are you listening???)

PS The baseball game, sigh, none too good. You could cut the tension with a knife - cranky coaches on all sides, a battered ump, stressed kids... Tough, it was a tough one. Yes, the Floridians are down, but not out - it's a double-elimination tourney, so we're back, chewin' gum and spittin' seeds and oh yeah, playing some ball (!) on Saturday morning... (Lord, I'm starting to sweat just thinking about it, it's too damn hot for anything but floating in the pool...)

Undiscovered Divas, Kim and Suz, debuted at 6 p.m. on FM 107 tonight! I'm kicking myself for not posting earlier, before they were on, but this day got completely away from me. I myself only got to catch about the first five minutes - Nathan had a baseball game tonight, and Dad, Stacey, Bowen, Cooper, John, and A all came, so I knew I couldn't hang with all of them (i.e. play with Coop!), watch the game, AND listen to the radio. But what I heard sounded fantastic - very relaxed, very laid back, it was so natural to hear them on the radio! Woo hoo! Undiscovered Divas is a contest - 10 other pairs are competing as well - and voting for the winning pair begins this Friday at 7 p.m. I'll be reminding everyone to vote for them on Friday - if they win, they get a two-month, weekly stint on FM 107. Check out the website to hear a sample of their tryout... Go Grrrlfriends, Go!

Well, turns out I did indeed sand- and slaw-wich myself out yesterday (not a surprise, ha). So, no Zabar's corned beef on rye for lunch today. Just slaw-as-salad, sliced garden tomatoes, and a few last bites of the grilled pork...sniff, sniff...we miss it already. That was a true summer treat, mmm hmmmm. You know, I never did eat it with barbecue sauce (John and Nathan happily did, however), it was so good right off the grill that to me, it didn't need it. I'll look forward to repeating the whole smoky, porky, slow-grill thang next summer...

Tonight I'm thinking I'll make pasta with broccoli (same idea as pasta with broccolini) - I still have some from last week's CSA veggie load. Lots of garlic and parm, of course. NICE.

Well, almost nice, I ended up eating completely alone (nice dorky pout, however, huh? Thank goodness I didn't try to be an actor...) while John was at work and Nathan at baseball practice. I held out 'til 7:45, then dug in... (Actually, not so bad at all, I'm actually quite content eating solo...)

Oh! Nathan's home now, and just brought me an unsolicited scoop of Ben & Jerry's Coffee Heath Crunch ice cream in a little bowl - how sweet! And delicious, wowee - I try to skip the desserts, since I'm so obviously into the dinners (no!), but damn, that is some goooood ice cream. G'night!

Ouch, ouch! It wasn't just the pork shoulder that got smoked over the weekend, someone carelessly got waaaay too much sun yesterday. Not moderate, Stephanie, not at all! It started innocently enough - a soft, gorgeous morning, cerulean blue sky, warm (not hot) sunshine... I thought I'd head out for a quick swim. Well, two hours later, I finally moseyed into the house, changed clothes, and head out for Nathan's baseball game. Despite a very exciting game (first playoff game, which they won, by the skin of their teeth, woo hoo!), I could feel my arms and legs sssssssizzlin' in the afternoon's now-hot, full-on sun, whew, it was powerful. All I needed was a dry spice rub and I too would be cracklin' golden brown (see below photo). Instead I ended up sort of pink, exhausted, with a crushing headache. Duuh...

In fact, I damn near forgot about hijinxing with my minxes last night - NO! Nathan and I came home from the game to find John and A swimming with the Brown family, here for a Sunday visit. A little more time outside, chatting, laughing, watching the kids swim, ahhh, I was so relaxed... The Browns took off and I casually came up to prepare coleslaw to accompany my long-anticipated, pulled-pork sandwich (see last two days' posts!). Quick glance at the clock, 6:35 p.m., hmmm, why do I feel like 6:30 means something, something...? Oh holy shit! I'm supposed to be at Suz's! Quickly called Suz, I'm on my way, girlfriend! Then rushed to the fridge for a bun and some pork, slammed a sandwich together, nuked it, and ate it in the car. Sans barbecue sauce, sans cole slaw. And it was still KILL. Ha. Just smoky, garlicky pork in a soft bun, baby. Sounds kinda naughty and tasted that way too. Now, today, I will make the slaw, and enjoy it for lunch, and finally complete my weekend pork vision. I'll check back in with the moans, and recipes, ha.

Ooooh, the 'wich was fantastic. Crunchy, creamy, tangy slaw, delish on its own but sublime in a bun. Definitely worth the wait, woo hoo! (Recipe posted in comments, below.) Perhaps I'll continue my slaw-wich run with Zabar's corned beef on rye for lunch tomorrow (I have a little stash in the freezer, heh, heh, heh).

Tonight I think I'll use the rest of the pork on one of my (other!) favorite sandwiches, a Cubano: crusty bread (baguette unless you, unlike I, have a line on fresh Cuban bread...) lined with a few thin slices each of roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese, and pickle. Toasted and pressed in a hot pan, under a weight of some sort, until crisp, melty, and salty... OMG. While a salad on the side is fine, no slaw goes on this sandwich, nor tomato, mayo, lettuce - a true Cubano (sandwich) is meant to be enjoyed pure of heart (and condiments; recipe posted in comments, below)...

Oink, oink! I'll be earning my nickname - Smokaaaay - today, oh yes I will. The pork shoulder is on the grill, I repeat, the pork shoulder is on the grill. Butterflied, pricked and stuffed all over with slivered garlic, dry-rubbed with lots o'spicy spices, now slow-smokin' over (a foil packet of) hickory chips. I'll keep the heat very low and cook that baby all day long, until it's just about falling apart. Then I'll wrap in foil to cool, pull it apart, and slather it in barbecue sauce - that part tomorrow, actually, we're having chicken tonight - to eat on buns with slaw. Woo hoo! Although I probably shouldn't celebrate until AFTER it's done, and I'm actually eating it. So stay tuned...

Now, out to the pool before it clouds over. I can swim while a haze of porky hickory smoke drifts over the pool...aaaaaaahhh...

Pool was lovely, quite, and the smoke drifting over the pool was too. I just pulled the pork off the grill - eight hours later! - and wrapped it in foil. At 250 degrees (that's what I kept the grill at), 3.5 lbs of pork took that long to become fork-tender. Wow. Glad I put it on when I did or I'd be up rather late. It'll all be worth it tomorrow, based on my "sample" tastes (cooks prerogative, sample tastes, yep, that's the best part), it's all lookin' goooooood.

Chicken drummies were good too - roasted in oil and salt, this time without parchment paper, in the oven, 'til crispy. I made a pan-sauce with the drippings, which I don't usually bother to do. Wow. Good stuff. I started by sauteeing diced cucumber and zucchini in butter until brown (recipe posted in comments, below). Removed browned veg from pan with a slotted spoon, then added minced shallot, chopped garden tomato, and chopped fresh tarragon to the pan and sauteed until the tomato started to break down. Set that aside until the chicken was done, poured off the fat from the roasting pan, then added broth to the pan to deglaze and simmered a bit. Stirred the defatted broth into the tomato mixture and voila, a lovely sauce. Served alongside the crispy chicken drummies, with rice, and the buttery zucchini/cucumber saute....mmmmm...

Looking forward to dinner at Luci Ancora tonight, with Stacey, Bowen, Cooper, Dad, and Stacey's awesome friend and neighbor Caroline. I'll check back in after a bit with the yummy details...

Picked up my La Finca CSA veggie share - this week's treasure includes Walla Walla onions, basil, garlic, and a few early tomatoes, as well as salad greens, cabbage, beets, pea pods, and kale. I think cabbage this week will become not soup but slaw with buttermilk dressing. Oh, oh, I know, maybe I'll slow-grill a pork shoulder to go with it! Pulled pork sandwiches with a side of buttermilk slaw (or, my true preference, piling the slaw right into the sandwich, so you get the killer combo of hot, tender, spicy pork and cold, creamy, crunchy slaw, on a buttery, toasted roll, all in the same bite)? Come ON, that sounds good. Rarrr... We'll see what the weekend holds, foodwise, I haven't nailed 'er down yet. Heh, heh, heh...

A lovely Luci Ancora dinner for all of us. Dad ordered best, he had Cooper, oh wait, I mean a beautiful, melty short rib served in brodo with herbs, potatoes, and carrots. Simple perfection. (I love how this pic turned out, a little blurry, with the glow of the evening sun, and Dad's Montana-burnished face, Cooper's copper-burnished hair, and the earthy-toned wall all playing off each other. Plus I also love how Dad can't help but laugh at Coop's tummy hanging out above his seer-sucker pants while he seriously works one of his chubby carrot-shaped fingers... Oh Coop, you're so sweet...)

Back to food, of course, I was very happy with my homemade ravioli, filled with chewy cheese and topped with a bit of rich, beefy ragu. Fabulous. Caroline had a pretty cantaloupe soup for a first course, pureed with a hint of hot chilies and cream. Reminded me of a similar cantaloupe salad I've made with vinaigrette and lots of freshly ground black pepper, I'll have to pull that recipe out yet this summer. Soon. Stace had steak, Bowen pasta with salmon and capers (I snuck a few out of his bowl since he was sitting next to me, lurve capers), and they split a fresh raspberry tart for dessert. Aaaah, great company, great food, my very favorite way to end the week... Happy Friday!

BLTA&B. Not to be confused with GLBT (ha), it's a bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado sandwich with an ice-cold beer. Mooooaaaan, it was soooooo good, a lunch my dad would definitely appreciate. I meant to take a pic, but unless I shot it en estomac, it's way too late. I inhaled that baby, couldn't help myself. Ah, not moderate, except in the preparation - smear of ripe avocado instead of mayo, only two slices of bacon, lots of L&T, on toasted whole wheat. I justified the lightning quick consumption by thinking, hey, I want to enjoy this while the bacon and toast are still warm... Damn, it was good. Sometimes - no, often, in fact - the simplest things are the best.

And speaking of the best...I had the best morning at Suz's! Coffee (decaf, she now keeps decaf on hand pour moi, isn't that sweet?) and chat, my favs! I feel like I haven't seen her forever! Boo. Everyone's summer days are so busy - hers with puppeteering for vacation bible school...yes, this Warbride-singing, Scion-driving Metal Mommy does not just sing in the choich choir, she also acts out bible stories with an Elmo puppet. Even when her back hurts. Oh, how I love my friends... I brought her some frozen cabbage soup and fresh tabbouleh salad prepared (mostly) by Nathan - but I forgot to bring her some of my tomatoes! Duuuuh... Next time.

And speaking of tomatoes (subtle segues, eh?)...I'm making a Greek salad loaded with tomatoes (and dill, feta, and onions) for dinner tonight, along with grilled loin lamb chops (smeared with lots of garlic and mint) and warm, soft, grilled pita. Oooh, can't wait. Opa!

Aaaah, a sensualist's dream pre-dinner, summer shower - a long, cool, sudsy affair. Followed by a spritz of Frederic Malle's Lys Mediterranee (aka summer in a bottle). Wet hair in piggies. Bod in clean, light, soft cotton. And dinner I was ready to make, per above description. John and I ate on the deck, poured a nice St. Innocent Pinot Noir, and argued about how long one should linger outside on a night as beautiful as this (he maintains that on a work night, no matter the weather/season, TV at the regular hour is a must-do relaxer; I insist that one should sit outside as long as possible on these rare, gorgeous Minnesota evenings, smelling the soft, perfumey air, admiring my potted herbs and tomatoes, ha, watching birds and bats and bugs flit around...) I eventually lost that argument and instead we drove over to Trader Joe's for his fav chocolate chip cookies. We're home now and, I have to admit, BOTH ready to settle in for a looooong summer's nap.

With my tomato bounty, and a dark, rainy day, I decided to bake up a tomato zucchini tart. I just winged it, based a bit on the zucchini parmigiana I've made a couple of times this summer, and it turned out to be not just pretty but delicious (basic quiche crust filled with a couple of thin layers of tomato, zucchini, garlic, scallions, bread crumbs, olive oil, mozzarella; recipe posted in comments, below). John will be happy to cash in for dinner while Nathan and I are at baseball (if we're not rained out). With a scrap of leftover dough I also made a small fruit tart, again winging it, this time filling the crust with sliced peaches, blueberries, sprinkle of sugar, few dots of butter. Gathered the crust up around the edges and baked it on a baking sheet until browned and bubbly. It's yummy.

My left foot is unfortunately doughy-looking as well... I believe I injured it jumping rope, a few weeks ago, and I've been whining and limping around while it's continued to hurt and be puffy, so I finally went in to urgent care today for an x-ray. No fracture that they could see, I just need to stay off it as much as I can for a few weeks, including not standing. Ouch. That's tough. I stand for a good portion of the day, of course, hello, cooking? Sigh. I guess it's not a good sign for the ol' foot that I got the instructions to stay off it, then immediately came home and started baking tarts. Ha. I've always chafed under must-do commands of any sort, but I particularly enjoy it when I rebel against myself.

Nice day. Nice weather, nice swim with Nathan, nice evening for a baseball game (even though we lost), nice (late) dinner of a quick shrimp pasta thing that I made up as I went along (shrimp, garlic, and red pepper flakes sauteed in olive oil, tossed with pasta). NICE!

After a kinda crazy morning of carpooling for golf, then back home, then back to golf, then to the junior high school, then to the grocery store, liquor store, and home to prep a few tasties, I was ready for a nice, long chat and a cool glass of wine with my aunt Marge and her daughters, my beautiful, cool-chick cousins Kim and Kelly. Marge and Kim live in (and near) Willmar (Kim actually lives in Spicer, on lovely Green Lake) and had driven in to the Twin Cities to pick up Kelly, who lives in DC, at the airport. She's in Minnesota for a relaxing, week-long vaca from her job in marketing at XM Satellite Radio. Despite the heat, we were relatively comfortable on the screen porch (with the fan on), gabbing and snacking on tomato toast with ham and Manchego, zucchini parmigiana, cukes in sour cream, Marcona almonds, and olives. They just hit the road, back to west-central Minnesota, hopefully not hitting loads of rush-hour traffic, although it's highly likely. Damn. AND I forgot to take their picture for the blog, which I'm sure they're glad of, but I'm bummed!

And I have to confess, as I write this, I'm sipping one of my new favorite summer beers, Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse. I'm definitely into wheat beer, I love the cloudy body of it, and hint of spicy-sweetness, yet it's still light and thirst-quenching. The Hacker-Pschorr Weisse I mentioned yesterday is delish too. But the Franziskaner might be better, a touch less sweet, a bit more zing. Oooh, a beer contest... (I hated beer when I first got to Madison, WI, for college. Um, that didn't last very long. No true Badger hates beer. Or bratwurst/brats. Or cheese. Or football players, woops I mean football, football. Ha. And, by the way, that is not me in the above pic - I've done oh so many dumbass things in lovely, hedonistic Madtown, but drinking beer straight out of a keg while being held upside down is not one of them. Maybe someday...just kidding. This pic is just an example of how, uh, passionate Badgers are about their beer. If you're a parental unit for one these crazy kids, my apologies to you for revealing that students do not, after all, study before football games...)

Outside it's thick-y, sticky, and hot, hot, hot, so I'm cookin' up a batch of...hot cabbage soup. What the? Yeah, I know, rib-stickin', winter-all-the-way soup, but I got this head of cabbage in my veggie share, and it gave me a hankering for cabbage soup, it did. So, much to John's horror, I simmered up a batch late this morning and had it for lunch. Deeeeelicious. Bacon, lots of garlic, potatoes, onions, and of course cabbage, mmmmm... (Recipe posted in comments, below; you can stash it away for winter-time if you like, I'd totally understand...) Oh, an ice cold Hacker-Pschorr Weisse (wheat) beer does compliment it gorgeously and cool one's brow while slurping down a steaming hot bowl o' soup on a steaming summer's day.

Stacey and The Coopster are on their way over, hopefully for a swim, although John just yelled from downstairs that it's raining again. Hmmm... We'll see how that goes. And hopefully our neighbors Kasey, Dan, and Ethan Hatzung are coming for a swim later too, after Ethan's nap. I'm not going to complain about the rain, because we've needed it sooooo badly. (But I will say it would be nice if the sun could come out for a bit this afternoon. That's all.)

Well, with a rainy, crummy afternoon, no one came to swim, neither Stace nor Coop nor the Hatzungs. Bummer. Nathan, John, and I decided to go to a movie instead, so we set out for Superman Returns. Nathan's third viewing. (Whoever cast the scrawny, boring Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane should be fired; she was awful. Superman himself, however, was appropriately hunky. Up, up, and away!) Of course the sun was shining by the time we exited the theater, but that's OK. It was fun to see a movie together, and we made it even better by following it up with a lovely (and filling) dinner at Bacio. Man, I am so ready for bed, whew. Full + tired + hot + sticky = zonksville.

Happy Birthday Susanna!

I hope it's not as hot in Montana (where she is) as it is here - hoooooeeeeey, it's smokin' out there! Not a cloud in the shimmering blue sky. My car thermometer read a withering 101 degrees and that's exactly what it felt like, for two hours of Nathan's baseball game. Ouch! And they lost, from pure wilted tiredness, right at the end of the game. Awww... Too hot for all of us out there, kids and grownups alike. I had a nice, quick - and fabulously cool - trip in to Byerly's to grab some beef tenderloin and wheat beer. Must-have, post-swim sustenance for the evening, this girl has her head screwed on straight! For now, I'm outta here, and into the pool, pronto!

Aaaaah, the pool felt better than good, even without doing the Nestea Iced Tea Plunge (I was obsessed with doing that when I was a kid, uh, think I was little influenced by advertising? I didn't even like iced tea back then...) John and I basically floated in the pool, without getting out, for a couple of hours. Just the two of us. Nice.

Then I came in for one of those summer evening showers that just cannot be topped, they're the best. I am definitely a shower-in-the-eve girl during the summer. Making dinner with my wet hair pulled back, a cold beer or glass of white or a vodka tonic, fuckin' forget about it! Kill, kill, KILL. Tonight we had beef tenderloin on the grill - John's request. You know, I'm not complaining, I mean, it's tenderloin. But, I'm not a tenderloin lover. Too soft and not beefy enough. Give me a strip or ribeye anytime, charred and crispy on the outside, pink and insanely juicy on the in, with a little chew, a little body to it. Now that is beefy, meaty decadence. Prrrrrr... To me. But, hey, tenderloin tonight. And it was delicious, it was. I smothered it in garlic and fresh herbs so that it had a little somethin' going for it. Worked nicely. With a tomato, onion, and herb salad (recipe posted in comments, below), and some rice, it was John's almost-dream dinner (chicken-n-rice still rules his heart). He and Nate are now out running errands, which is one of their favorite things to do together, while I tidy up and perhaps sneak in a bit of reading. I'm thisclose to completing Anna Karenina - I'll be sad when it's done. I will. That's a good book, the one you're blue to finish, the characters that hang with you. Have a good evening yourself...

Chill day, me, myself, and I, no driving, cooking, groceries, laundry, dishes...nothin'. Friday is turning out to be my Saturday. Thank god. I'm a little taxi-drivered/dutiful-wifed/cooked/entertained out lately. Just a little. As much as I love all of those things. I'll be back on track tomorrow, I will. But for today, sweet, sweet privacy, ahhh... You gotta do it, girlfriend, you gotta take a moment to yourself, however brief, and remember that if it were just you in this world, that would be OK, it would. It would. Yeaaaahhhh...

Oh, wait, I did have to run one errand, just now. Picked up my weekly CSA veggie share, here it all is - cabbage, summer squash, cucumber, broccoli, sugar snap peas, raspberries, beets, scallions. NICE! And you know what? I don't think I'll make myself a salad tonight - no! - turns out I'm not even hungry for dinner. Funny how that happens when you're not cooking...

Oh believe me, I am very aware of how lucky I am (in general) and to be dining (this evening) at La Belle Vie. I've been wanting to eat there ever since they made the hop from Stillwater to Minneapolis. But it's reputedly a rather involved meal, which is not Johnny's style, at all, so he's not jumped at the opportunity. My style, all the way, ha. He's more of a place your order, bring all the courses at the same time, inhale them, and get the hell out there kind of guy. He always says, as we are served our last course, "And we'll take a check." I'm not kidding. I don't quite understand why you'd be willing to pay for the dinner, and ambiance, without taking a moment to enjoy it. But hey, just one of the differences between men and women. Perhaps I'll have to come up with some sort of reward, per this hilarious article in the New York Times, to encourage him to linger a bit...

So, back to La Belle Vie. We're going tonight with Aaron and Carol Mack. I. Can't. Wait. In fact, I'm ready to go, early, which gave me time to post a little somethin' before I take off. I'll check back in with the specifics of the anticipated fabulousness. Stay tuned...

Home now, we had a beautiful dinner, beautiful and great fun and delicious. Extraordinary. Terrific to see Carol and Aaron, as always, they made 2.5 hours fly by, even for John and Aaron (who has the same desire to move things along as John does). We opened with unbelievable gougere, OMG, made with some incredible gruyere cheese, mmm hmmm, I'd like to get my hands on THAT baby, because gougere itself is quite simple to make. Mine's just not transcendent like this was. Which is why one pays for such as La La Lovely Belle Vie, of course...to make the ordinary extraordinary... And that they do. As in the amuse of a one-bite, creamy Italian cheese croquette, crispy on the outside, melty on the inside, basically a high-end fried cheese curd, created with tongue elegantly planted in cheek, which brought a smile to my well-fed lips. Smack went said lips. Then (!) began our official five courses of the five-course tasting menu (if you go, most definitely choose one of the two tasting menus, five- or eight-courses, to truly sink your teeth into the incredible variety, beauty, and quality of dishes this kitchen can crank out). John and I went with the complimentary wine flight, which I also highly suggest, they did a perfect job of pairing interesting, lovely wines with the flavors and textures of our courses. As in, rose with trout wrapped in thin, crispy ham with romesco. Riesling with boar, apricots, and balsamic (sweet/sour). Light burgundy with rosy veal garnished with crispy sweetbreads and porcini mushrooms. There were other fabulous tasties, of course, but for me, those were the highlights, and I don't want to go on and on (because as you know, I could...). Suffice it to say, the food was perfect, the service was spot-on - smooth, friendly, and knowledgeable - and I can't wait to go back. Now that's a nice way to head into the weekend, yes indeed. Wow.

Again, the hawk! It is very impressive, I must say. Just landed on the deck a few minutes ago.

I ended up sweating my brains out - and my makeup off, according to Nathan, who pointed out it was dripping down my face, neato - sitting out in the sizzling hot sun at a baseball game this evening. I was wearing jeans and a cardigan sweater, as I'd been indoors all day, freezing in AC. I ended up with an unplanned drive up to Crystal to drop off Nathan and his friend Nick to watch our local all-star team's game, and stayed to watch a bit... Well, several buckets of sweat later, plus many inquiries as to why the hell I had on a sweater and jeans while it's, you know, 95 degrees outside, I decided I'd better beat it home to make dinner for John and A. (And the reason I left the sweater on, which I eventually had to confess because so many people asked, was I'm wearing a sheer shirt without, uh, an undergarment beneath it. Yeeeaaaahhhh, real classy at a little league baseball game, ack. So now, I'm back home, me and my streaky face, comfortably cool in my jeans and sweater, thank you very much. And yes, lesson learned, I will don appropriate undergarments for the rest of the summer, just in case I end up somewhere where I need to lose the sweater...)

Steaks on the grill this evening, with a great big salad of tomatoes from my pots and greens from my CSA share. Crumble of blue cheese. NICE. Hope you're staying cool and enjoying your evening. We're going up to 100 degrees this weekend, my friends, that's the forecast anyhow, and by the way it felt out there tonight, it's not hard to imagine. Whew. Get this girl an ice cold beer!

A day of cutie cute cuteness! Cooper Doo, and Addison and Nikko too, all here to swim with Nathan. Addison and Nikko were girlie little fishies, splashing, swimming, wiggling, and giggling. When we were sunned out, and starving, we dried off and head over to El Meson for an early dinner. Immediately opened with several delicious beef empanadas, tender, crusty, and smokin' hot, along with a basket of their naughty, buttery garlic toast - that stuff is kill, get it away from me! Nathan was in white bread heaven, he must have eaten a whole loaf on his own. We completed our feast with arroz con pollo, red beans, and flan. Argh. Fullness was (is still...) felt by all...

John came home and ate alone, with me just watching, broccoli soup from two nights ago, shrimp gazpacho from last night, and tuna pasta salad, which I made today. He put together a pretty nice little feast for himself. So now we're all officially full, and damn wiped out, and must go immediately to sleep. G'night.

Cheer up my friend! Suz has a terrible case of puppy fever, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy fever to be exact, and there's no solution... Viv has a known allergy to dogs, although has experienced no symptoms with regular exposure to various of her friends' dogs (like Siggy-Roo!). But after a trip to visit a Cavalier breeder yesterday, and a good long play with dogs of various ages, Vivian broke out in hives, so there's no messing around. No puppy/dog can live in their household (nor cats, nor guinea pigs; in fact, no fur at all). Of course Vivian and Sullivan love animals of all sorts, so they're bummed too. (I don't think Cory's quite as bummed, other than in kind empathy with his moping family...) Sigh. Suz needs someone to have a baby she can babysit, like the Coopster, to cheer her up. (That cured me of my brief puppy fever!) Anyone volunteering? Perhaps the Maven of Mischief should have a baby, yeah, that would do it! Get busy, Brian!

My lips are kinda smarting from a spicy shrimp gazpacho I made for dinner tonight (recipe posted in comments, below). I was in the mood for something cold, veggie, and spicy and this fit the bill quite nicely (since I made salad for lunch and dinner yesterday, I was ready for a different twist, you know?). I ate dinner alone since John is only just on his way home from work, at 8:30 p.m., after a monster day at work - some proxy fight that ate up alot of thought and time over the past couple of weeks. I'm sure he didn't eat a thing all day and is starved - we'll see if I need to enhance the quite light gazpacho with a toasted cheese sandwich or something with a bit of substance...easy enough to do. After I make him eat something healthy, he can go wild on chocolate, ice cream, and/or mini-Chiclets, his favorite sugary way to end an evening...

Another new veggie in my La Finca CSA veggie share, to me, were these beautiful, curly garlic scapes. I figured out what they were by looking at and tasting them - the new tops of garlic, mild, crunchy, but still garlicky. Basically, in flavor, what the chive or scallion top is to an onion. I immediately chopped a couple and threw them into a salad, a perfect addition. I also sauteed a few in a bit of olive oil before breaking an egg into the pan. As with the salad, the mild garlic taste was a delicious enhancement for the over-easy egg. Mmmm... If you see them at the farmer's market, snag a big bunch, I read a suggestion for making them into a pesto that sounds delish.

BIG salad for lunch, just John and me while Nathan's at church. I have to say, I am in fruit and veggie heaven in the summer, it's pretty damn easy to be a moderate epicurean with all of this plant-based bounty. No problem eating plants for breakfast, lunch, dinner, AND snacks. Damn. Wish it were so easy in the winter...but nothing is easy in the winter, sigh. Except eating stewed meat with buttery polenta, baking cookies, drinking lusty red wines, and sitting in front of a fireplace, ha. Baaaaaad for the ass (but good for the cleavage, hmmm...), cozy but overall baaaaaad, I would say. Anyhow, back to summer...used above garlic scapes and tomatoes from my pots, greens, scallions, avocado, crumble of Spanish Cabrales blue cheese. John added leftover salmon to his, I added my beets/beet greens to mine and we were both quite happy. Amen.

I know I sound like a broken record here, but again, it is sunny and gorgeous outside, I shit you not, so I'm makin' like a baby and heading out...to the pool (after a KBs workout to get really sweaty and earn my dip in the pool...). With my book. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you've heard it before, shut it, Stephanie. So I will. (Other than to say, my skin is bumming hugely at the amount of sun I'm getting - yes, I'm getting tan, me, the queen of sunblock and self-tanner. I've managed to keep my face tan-free, except for Clarins Instant Bronze, but my arms, hands, legs - all brown. Not moderate, not healthy...in fact, quite decadent, because it feels sooo good out there. Sigh. At least I'm not as tan/bleached as in this '88 shot of me in Aspen with my uncle Del - what on earth was I thinking???)

Opened this day with lovely, (almost) freshly-picked berries and a good, strong cup of (decaf, ha) coffee. Nice! I'd make myself a salad of beets with sauteed beet greens for lunch, but instead I'll be happily lunching with Marge, Stacey, and Coop at the Good Earth at the Galleria. If it's sunny, I'm back here for some pool-age. If not, well, I'll probably cook beets and beet greens for dinner... (Uh, that would be my dinner - neither John nor Nathan will touch beet anything, sigh...)

Great, as always, to see Marge and Stacey, both looking gorgeous. And Cooper! As cute as can be. (How fabulous is that accidental smirk on his face? I LOVE it!) He's amazing in restaurants, looking around, chatting, smiling, sucking on his hands. It was BUSY at the Good Earth, so our lunch was a bit longer than Stacey had planned, but other than that it was just so nice. I had a delicious turkey club sandwich, of which I could eat only half. I'm making something somewhat similar for dinner tonight, ha, oh well. BLTs, heavy on the T, because I have a lovely stack of ripe tomatoes from my pots on the deck. Very exciting! I'm going to make beets for myself as well - even if I don't get around to eating them tonight, they'll be ready for a nice salad tomorrow... Can't beet that (sorry, ack).

Did make it home for a swim and some sun with Johnny, whew, it's smokin' hot out there. And yet lovely. Couple of dips in the pool, little tune-age and Anna Karenina, a nice cold poolside beer, followed by a cool, soapy shower and soft, clean clothes...oh yeah, I'm feeling gooooood.

(By the way, the beets, boiled until tender, sliced and combined with the greens, chopped and sauteed in olive oil with sliced garlic until tender and drizzled with a bit of vinegar, a drop or two of honey, and a sprinkle of salt...KILL. I'm full from my sandwich, so could only handle a couple of quick bites, but OMG, what a treat. I'll cash in on the rest tomorrow...)

Auriga baby, oh yeah. Yeah! John and I had our first date there, way back at the end of 1999. Blind date, no less, set up by Stacey, who was living with me, and John and Stacey's mutual friends Shane and Kathleen Coen. He was there before me, sitting in the bar, with a glass of red wine, a newspaper, and his cell phone. I don't know why I remember that, but I do. I remember he looked kind of surprised when I walked in and I thought, he's blown away by how tall I am (with heels, easily 6'2", his height, ha). I had a shrimp appetizer, which he ate part of, and I remember thinking how bold and odd it was that he was eating my food when he didn't even know me. Ate half of my salmon too. He had to rush off to a poker game (which I didn't know), so our date ended on time, which was good, I was more than a bit freaked out. He was my first post-marriage date and I had all these plans for spending time alone and not getting tangled up in a relationship right away. Ha. He announced to his friends that he'd met "the one" - a lovely compliment to me, and prescient as it turns out. Here we are, in our seventh year together, still having dates at Auriga...

...tonight, in fact, and oh, what a meal. I should back up - first, a movie, John's fav Friday night endeavor (I'm not always with him, sometimes Friday nights are meant for a glass of wine on the deck, with my book). The Devil Wears Prada this eve, quite fun. Meryl Streep is gorgeous in it, and the clothes are of course to die for. Anne Hathaway bugs the hell out of me - hey, what can I say. Still fun. Quick swing through the 'hood for my weekly CSA veggie pick up. Fabulous assortment - kohlrabi, broccoli, strawberries, raspberries, scallions, beets, baby turnips, sugar snap peas, and dill. Sent my brain a-firing, I am so enjoying this weekly surprise. Then off to...

...Auriga. Opened with a melon-y, peachy Viognier, which I didn't write down (sorry), loved it. Had two glasses in fact. I opted for a three-dollar amuse, nice option, I chose a bite of smoked potato topped with a smattering of tender garden peas. John had the most fucking incredible corn soup - smooth, silky, earthy, my god it was good, topped with some sort of foam and a small pile of peeky toe crab. Extraordinary, really. Then we each had a salad, he the tart, appropriately garlicky Caesar-ish romaine, with naughty fried cubes of bread; I the butter lettuce with pancetta, sweet-sour apple cider vinaigrette, and salty shaved parm. For a main course I had what they billed as "a plate of summer," and indeed it was - perfect, juicy scallops topped with minced preserved lemon, on a plate dotted with sliced purple figs, two fried squash blossoms, and sauteed pea shoots. Pretty, clever, and light. Prrrr...loved it. John had salmon with some incredibly creamy mashed potatoes topped with bits of fried artichoke. A lovely meal in every way. A romantic, dusky drive around Lake of the Isles on the way home and now, must go to bed. Must. Pleasantly full, but not stuffed, I should sleep like a baby...hope you do too. OK, John's yelling, I gotta go... Rarrrr...

What the? That was my reaction upon first laying eyes upon...kolhrabi. Hey, I think I know alot about veggies, I eat and cook with a ton of them, but when it arrived in my CSA veggie share last week, I didn't quite know what to do with it. So I googled it, and discovered that it would be mighty fine just peeled and sliced thinly, raw, so that's what I did. YUM! A sweet, tender-crisp broccoli/cauliflower sort of taste, I love it. And therefore bought some more, at Byerly's (today), and turned it into a lovely salad for dinner tonight, shaved, with shaved fennel and shaved pecorino romano. Drizzle of olive oil and red wine vinegar, sprinkle of salt and pepper, delicious.

Inspired by the Taste section of the Star Tribune this morning, as well as two bunches of unused asparagus in the cooler, I whipped up a lovely pureed asparagus soup as a little appetizer. Mmmm...and so light. Tastes creamy but has no cream in it at all, other than the itty bitty bit I drizzled on top for garnish.

And for a main course, I wrapped tilapia filets in foil, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with chopped herbs from my pots: a bit of tarragon, basil, and rosemary, along with some sliced cherry tomatoes and salt and pepper. Put the foil packet on the grill for about 15 minutes and voila, a light and lovely fish course, fantastic with a glass of Sancerre. Ahhh, summer... (Recipes posted in comments, below.)

Made into a perfect day by a visit from Kim and Emily, and Susie, Vivian, and Sullivan, here for a swim. The kids had a BLAST in the pool, and the moms - my minxes! - had a blast chatting while the minxettes swam. Again, ahhh, summer...

John was so happy with his boo here that he was absolutely, truly relaxed all weekend - with the stress of his job, that doesn't happen nearly often enough. He even did a little dance for Cooper! Now we just need a run of nice July weekends so he can enjoy some more time at "his" pool (every time he's out there he says, this is the first time I've been able to relax and enjoy the pool; luckily it's turning out to be a summer of many first times... I know it's dry and we need some rain, but wow, these sunny days are gorgeous! We Minnesotans cherish our summer days!)

Back to the usual groove today - Nathan had tennis lessons this morning and has a baseball game tonight. As a result, no time for cooking this evening. I'll be back on board tomorrow, and will take the time to post some recipes from over the weekend, like zucchini parmigiana and tomato toast with ham and/or manchego cheese. (Recipes are now posted in comments, below.)