StephanieL

Jungle Bird today. Considering how my week has started, I have a feeling tomorrow's cocktail will be a Cutty Bang. #IYKYK 1 1/2 oz. blackstrap rum 3/4 oz. Campari 1 1/2 oz. pineapple juice 1/2 oz. lime juice 1/2 oz. simple syrup Shake with ice and strain into an ice-filled rocks glass.

N is on her way to South Africa for the next 3 weeks. The pipe under our garage sink sprung a leak as I was doing laundry this morning, necessitating a large mopping-up job. Meanwhile, the drain in one of the bathtubs (not the one we usually use) appears to be clogged. How do I know this? Well, the water I mopped up had to go somewhere.... Going to be a long 3 weeks.

I really enjoyed Ian Frazier's story on The Bronx this week.

We always had them in the house too. My mother loved them.

Just as, I'm sure, our parents didn't nearly travel with as much gear for the kids as parents do these days. 😀

I take it the porches don't have stoops. Or there are cooties all over the porch floors.

The adult crap in my house isn't laid out much neater than bloviatrix's kid's crap.

Yes, I saw it when it first aired. Blew me away. What I really need to see is Wattstax.

What she said.

Damn. Pearson's was great back in the day, and having to search for it in the back of a bar was kind of fun..

On a '70s kick: making my way through Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution that recently aired on PBS and watching the 1977 documentary Gay USA on TCM.

One of my exes plays fantasy cycling (akin to fantasy football/baseball), so she's truly invested in the Tour de France.

Have to admit, that is kind of a hefty meal to have after you've been semi-fasting.

Another icon of my younger days. She'd been fighting cancer for many years. https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2024/07/14/shannen-doherty-dead/74399542007/

Dark rye toast topped with more of that ricotta, homegrown small tomatoes, and a little truffle salt.

For N's birthday, I made the Buttermilk Tres Leches cake published in the Times Magazine a few weeks ago: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1025464-buttermilk-tres-leches-cake. Quite a lot of work, and found out 2 things: Bob's Red Mill coarse cornmeal is maybe a little too coarse for the recipe, and the cake definitely needs longer feeding and soaking times. It does taste good, especially with the recommended side of roasted stone fruit (nectarines, peaches, and one pluot, roasted with just a little unsalted butter).

Our garden got fried, between all of the intense heat and no water for over a week while we were on vacation. We were getting a lot of berries before then, and several other crops have given up the ghost for the year. At least the (small) tomatoes seem to be OK.

What's the shellfish at the bottom?

He's really good!

You've had 2 strokes?? Oy. Please look out for yourself--we don't want to lose you this soon!

N combined ricotta, Meyer lemon peel and juice, a little sugar, and some blueberries for a nice, light hot-weather dessert.

I have a colleague who lives in Palm Springs, where it hit 123 a few days ago. The water temperature in his pool was 103 yesterday--the same as a hot tub.

Cold dinner for a hot day: --Salad with mixed lettuces, radishes, Persian cucumber, and tinned blue mussels I got in Copenhagen --The last of the Nordic rye bread with Portuguese smoked trout spread (bought in Oakland) and fresh dill --Ice cream

Slices of the rye bread I bought in Copenhagen, topped with salted butter and a couple of small tomatoes from our garden.