HUMP DAY

Tonight we had grilled tomatoes topped with creamed spinach, traditional clam and shrimp Paella, piquillo roasted chicken, and sangria. At a restaurant. Thank you.

JUST LIKE MOMMA USED TO MAKE

Tonight's theme was Home Cookin'. The kind of meal for which you'd ring a triangle to call in the ranch hands. What I like to call, Supper.

On the menu: pork chops, fried okra, black-eyed peas and cornbread. Mmmm, mmmm good. It was a tasty meal to be certain.

While the peas simmered and I battered and fried the okra, Aaron cooked the chops in a skillet. His seasoning was perfect. And I even added a little bacon to the peas for flavor. Aaron was proud. It was a double swine night!

And yes, that is heart-shaped cornbread, because as Aaron would say, "I lerv cornbread."

Here's the one dilemma with cooking this way. We could have split a pork chop, and the veggies were enough to feed a family of six. As it turns out, we don't have a family of six; but we do have two dogs that lerved them po'k chop bones.

We're two for two! Chow down!

FAIRYTALE PIZZA

Okay, so tonight was easy. We had pizza. No, not delivery. Not even DiGiorno. Geez, have a little faith in me. We made it! Surprise! I was struggling to figure out what to do with five mini eggplants. Not enough for Eggplant Parmesan, baba ghanoush or eggplant lasagna. And I didn't want to resort to my old stand by of just cutting up any vegetable and adding it to pasta. Plus, I was pretty sure eggplant would be an iffy fruit for Aaron. The light bulb finally went off and I landed on broiling the little suckers to add as topping to personal pizzas. Voila!

My pizza included eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, olives, tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. (above)

As I suspected, Aaron went the more traditional route and created a three cheese (mozzarella, Parmesan and cheddar), pepperoni, olive and mushroom pizza. He was disappointed I had not picked up anchovies at the store.

We had fun making the pizzas together. Not to mention they were really good! Maybe this will become a weekly tradition -- to make our own pizzas and experiment with different toppings.

Here's Aaron's scrumptious pie.



Oh, also, did I mention we were having champagne as we created? Or, to be more accurate, sparkling California wine.



I finally got the call today that I never have to go back to that vampire lair for blood letting so someone can tell me my hormones are not as they should be! Cheers!

GOAL SETTING

My goal this week is to try a new recipe each night with some of this week's market bounty. I usually just fall back on the old stand bys and end up steaming vegetables or roasting potatoes or making a salad. B.O.R.I.N.G. So this week I'm challenging myself, and my cooking prowess, to Be Adventurous! Take A Risk! Step out of the Box!

Here's what we have:

• Chicken breast (from a "happy chicken" a.k.a free-range and grass fed)
  
• spinach (dark leafy green hero)
  
• yellow squash and zucchini (in peak season)
  
• a cucumber (cool)
  
• two tomatoes (guaranteed salmonella free)
  
• a bunch of little Fairytale Eggplant (who could resist these little darlings)
  
• some delicious green beans (possibly my favorite fresh pick, you can really and truly taste the sweet, crisp difference)
  
• black-eyed peas (especially for Aaron)
  
• okra (also especially for Aaron)
  
• BLUEBERRIES (the most powerful food in the Universe)
  
• eggs (from a "Happy chicken")
  

Do I have the meals planned? Have I chosen recipes? Well...No. I'm working on spontaneity here people. I do know that I'm cooking with Fairytale Eggplant Monday night. I don't know what I'm doing with it. But I'll figure it out soon enough. I sent this letter to the Internet:

Dear Google,
I need a fairly quick and extremely easy recipe for preparing Fairytale Eggplant. Preferably something that includes only ingredients I already have in my kitchen; which would be syrup, coffee and a slice of stale bread. Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours truly,
Angela

Will keep you posted on my progress.

WORKIN' AT THE CAR WASH, YEAH

I had some fun in the automatic car wash on Saturday.


I even got the fancy $8 wash for free 'cause I went home with this guy. You can tell he's propositioning me in the video. You can't hear him, but he says "So, wanna come back to my place?"

FILLING UP

I love the summer months. It never fails that our days become filled with travel and visitors, and the time in between is spent looking for deodorant in a half unpacked duffel bag, sweeping a layer of dog hair from the living room floor or going to book club.



Sometimes it feels like regular life gets kind of out of control, my to-do list grows and grows. I get worn down from lack of sleep. The "to be shredded" stack piles up. Leftovers start to mold in the refrigerator.



But I love it.



I love that my life is full of family and friends to the point of exhaustion. Long weekend visits and weeknight dinners; Saturdays at the lake and Sunday afternoon movies; sharing Popsicles and singing Blue Skies and Rainbows, again.



Life is made full by the people we share it with, not a seamless household. Yes, I value taking care of my things, but a shiny kitchen sink has never made my heart sing.



Okay, who am I kidding? A shiny sink actually has made my heart sing. But you get the point.



I can't imagine I will ever look back and say I wish I had spent more time at home relaxing.



I can't imagine I will ever say the hours spent traveling weren't worth it.



I can't imagine that an extra hour of sleep will ever outweigh soaking in a smile I love.



I can't imagine I will ever regret leaving a hamper full of dirty laundry to go play with someone who is growing so quickly right before my eyes.



I can't imagine the sound of housework will feed my soul more than the sound of laughter.



I can't imagine my life without all the amazing people God has blessed me with.

FILLER

I have a lot to blog about. . .all the things that have kept me busy and not blogging lately. We'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming this weekend.