StephanieL

Believe it or not, the banana tree did so well this year that we have an absolute surplus of fruit. N made a banana-chocolate sorbet (blend it all up and freeze), and for breakfast today I decided to make challah French toast with a side of bananas cooked in a brown sugar-butter sauce.

Another hot weekend, another salad: a variation on RG's recipe for Salade Nicoise, using Royal Coronas. No green beans, because we're long past that season, so I threw in an avocado for something green (besides the parsley).

Good lord, triple digits in October in my part of the East Bay.

Chicken in a piperade sauce over spaetzle. Simonsig 2019 Chenin Blanc to drink (which also had gone very well with the sardines & beans).

Shlep into the city, get to the office, find out that an area power outage had started 5 minutes before with no end time given by PG&E, shlep back to the burbs, and get a text that power had been restored 10 minutes before I got home. It wouldn't have bothered me so much if I hadn't already paid for the train and parking.

Because we're experiencing little heat blips in the Bay Area, I made the recipe for Tinned Fish with Warm Beans and Herbs from the latest RG book. It's very versatile--you can use any white bean and any tinned fish--so I made it with the Baby Green Limas and some Spanish sardines in olive oil. Since I added all of the sardine oil, I used both lemon juice (per the recipe) and a little sherry vinegar to cut the richness. Also, a large shallot is a good substitute for the white onion.

Fried egg sandwich, using sourdough English muffins I got at the farmer's market in Lincoln, CA.

Nearly an unbaked kugel.

I do love going to Anchor when I'm in the Castro and the wait isn't too bad. For dessert, I recommend both Castro Fountain (homemade cakes plus ice cream sundaes and milkshakes) and Aegean Delights (a Greek/Turkish shop with lots of baklava and the best Turkish delight I've ever had).

We had a lot of Tupperware. I still remember the big mixing bucket (used for pancake batter) and the ice pop molds.

N likes that sound too.

Smoky black bean, corn, and sweet potato chili, served with avocado and tortillas.

--Pan-seared baseball steak --Baked Russet potato --Sauteed mushrooms and greens, plus a small roasted Japanese eggplant from our garden

Signed by the maestro himself at Omnivore Books.

I must look old enough now, because I've gotten seats offered to me on BART. I always take them. 😉

They're repaving the streets everywhere, and of course there are signs stating the no parking dates and times. As I started my walk from home to BART, I saw one of those signs on my block laying on the ground and I foolishly thought to open it and prop it back up. Well, those things are METAL, and when I got it open it immediately closed right on my finger, and I couldn't pry it off for several seconds. My fingertip still feels funny, so I have a date with urgent care (out of network, natch) in an hour. Oh, and in a separate incident about 20 minutes later I took a hard fall near the station and scraped up my hands and knee. Sheesh.

I saw him on Broadway in You Can't Take it With You in 2014. It made me wish I'd gotten a chance to see him onstage in his prime.

Speaking of lentils....N made a salad with RG's French green lentils last night. She first cooked them with shallots carrot, and bay leaves and then mixed the cooked lentils with sliced radish and cucumber and a whole-grain mustard, white balsamic, and olive oil dressing. The lentil mixture was then combined with arugula, roasted beets, smoked salmon, and a topping of mascarpone cheese, fresh dill, and dried Meyer lemon zest. Shelf-stable smoked salmon in those flat cardboard boxes is a great staple to keep in the pantry.

From long COVID. My parents had albums from Brasil '66 and Brasil '77; the 1977 one got played a lot when I was growing up.

Do drinks books count? I just got a free copy of Gary Regan's The Joy of Mixology.

Now that I know youth ice hockey starts in the fall, I'm not surprised that my nephew is starting fall baseball on Monday.

Fagioli alla Venezia, or Venetian sweet-and-sour beans, using RG Borlotti Lamons. It's usually a starter or side dish, but we turned it into a main dish with the addition of greens (spinach and lamb's quarters) cooked in the sweet-and-sour sauce and chicken Italian sausage from our butcher.

My condolences, @maison rustique.

John Lennon provided backing vocals on David Bowie's "Fame".

Went to Fenway years ago as part of an outing associated with my sister's graduation from Boston University. We were in the bleachers, it was so chilly that we were drinking hot chocolate, and I still managed to get badly burned on my face. The supreme irony is that it was Skin Cancer Awareness Day at the ballpark and they had given out packets of sunscreen to fans. At least the Sox lost to the Angels that day.