July is like a friend you want to stay connected with, but can’t seem to pin down. Always moving quicker, smarter, and busier than anticipated.

August is loyal. There for you when you are ready. Present. Summer bliss. Reliable, with no surprises, tomato sandwiches, and mosquitoes only past 8:30. You really start to lean in and relish in the joys of summer... The tan is good, the feet are calloused, outfits are in rotation- It feels like it will be like this forever.

The school busses will not come, the leaves will not fall and the daylight will persist… but I guess thats the thing, we all get tiered at some point and just cant hold on anymore.

Summer- Summer changes. Last, this one, next. Tomatoes are constant. They always creep their way onto the windowsill and onto a lightly toasted piece of bread with a heaping amount of mayo, corn comes in august, peas come in June. Blight comes in waves ( or not). All things coming from my kitchen are simpler, seasonal and abundant- constant. A dressing turns into just olive oil and red wine vinegar. Bread becomes an easier and cooler vessel than pasta or rice. Dinner takes 20 minutes rather than an hour.

So here is a brief and unspecific rundown of what I have been eating this summer, on a daily rotation.

Cold Noodles

Two variations. Broth and dressed. Both good, both easy, and both are sure enough to use up that stock pile of veggies in your fridge that need to get to working.

( To the right) In my brain, this was a quick way to make Korean soba noodles. You could add or take away various things. This was a great way to use up some cucumbers and leftover zucchini that I had sautéed for a pizza the night before.

For the broth

On the stove in small saucepan, heat up:

1 cup water

1 tablespoon miso

1 tablespoon chicken or beef bouillon

some sort of dashi if you have it ( I used Kombu Dashi)

I’ve never wrote about Dashi, so I dont really know if I am writing about it correctly. ‘Like, add some Dashi?’

1. If you’ve thought ahead, chill the broth in the refrigerator until cool. If you have not, you can add the broth to your bowl after 10–15 minutes of cooling and throw in some ice cubes to have chilled noodles.

Assemble: place your cooked and rinsed noodles in a bowl with the broth, cut cucumber, scallions, leftover sautéed zucchini (or something else), and top with chili oil, soy sauce, and a little sesame oil. This would be fantastic with a little kimchi as well.

Cold Noodle Salad with Peanut Sauce

I’ve found another way to scratch my Teddy’s smooth addiction... in a peanut sauce. So good. Alex won’t be happy, as he has asked me to budget for my own peanut butter due to the mass consumption. He is in charge of groceries, but I guess not peanutbutter anymore.

Again, another flexibly creative salad where you can substitute in or out whatever veg you have.

For the salad

Ingredients:

Radish — thinly cut in rounds

Snap peas — cleaned and cut into small pieces

1–2 shaved carrots

2 scallions — chopped

1/4 green or red cabbage, thinly cut (like coleslaw)

2 packs soba or udon noodles, cooked and rinsed

Peanut Sauce

1 tablespoon peanut butter

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar or the juice of one whole lime

1 teaspoon miso

1 teaspoon chili oil

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon fish sauce

2 tablespoons water

• In a small jar or bowl, whisk all ingredients together, pour on top of the salad, and toss until well combined.

Zucchini... & Squid Two Ways

In the realm of Zucchini and Dishing it up, There is quite an archive to pull from, me being romantic with the zucchini man of Maine, of course.

I have always saved squid for Christmas Eve, or something special, as that’s how I grew up eating squid... on an occasion, not that it’s outrageously expensive or extravagant, actually, the opposite, but just something that was looked forward to and anticipated. I decided while driving home from the beach one day that dinner called for some fried calamari. It also transported me to my trips to Italy, where it is not an occasion to eat squid, but still very much an occasion and always eaten by the beach. Something about the salty, fried, and sun kissed that closely resembles the food of fried Calamari. As if the squid was sun kissed. So here I was, not in Italy and not during Christmas time, wanting some fried squid, accompanied by zucchini... this time.

My recipe for fried calamari is in the Dishing It Up archive. I used the same batter I used for the calamari for the zucchini and fried in batches.

Zucchini, Squid, and Tomatoes with Fried Bread

This would be fabulous with pasta, but it’s summer — we are taking it lighter. Fried or not fried, bread is a just perfect vessel to soak up all of the deliciousness in this dish.

Ingredients

1/2 pound cleaned squid (tubes and tentacles)

• Cut the tubes into about 1/2” rings

2–3 large tomatoes, cut into thirds, or a pint of cherry tomatoes

3-4 chard leaves/stems - cut

3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

2 zucchini, cut into thick rings

olive oil

salt & pepper

1. In a large saucepan, heat up a tablespoon of olive oil on medium heat. Add in your zucchini and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring the zucchini around to make sure all the pieces are cooking. Salt and pepper.

2. Add in your garlic and tomatoes. Cook the tomatoes until they become jammy, about 5–7 minutes.

3. Lower the heat and add in your chard. Cover and let the chard wilt for about 5 minutes.

4. Once the chard has wilted, add in your squid cooking until tender and no longer translucent, about 5 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste, and drizzle with a bit of olive oil.

5. Serve on the side with a piece of bread, could garnish with some parmesan

Blueberries

For those that don’t do baking or don’t do pie- here is a crisp. I will take crisp over pie any day. More textures, more fun and a little less time consuming. Clusters of butter and sugar, blueberries from the freezer or freshly picked, no measuring cups and one bowl. Serve with Ice cream.

9x 6 baking dish or equivalent?

For the filling:

2 Cups frozen or fresh blueberries

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 juiced lemon

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon flour

1. Pace in a bowl and evenly toss all ingredients together until blueberries are evenly coated. After, Place in your baking dish.

For the Crumble

6 tablespoobs softened butter

1/2 cup AP flour

1 cup rolled oats

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1. In the same bowl you mixed the blueberries in, toss all ingredients together in the bowl massaging the butter with your hands in with the other ingredients. Do so until you have clusters of flour, butter, sugar and oats.

2. place on top of the blueberries and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until crumble is golden.

3. Serve with ice cream.

I have just woken up, weird dreams travel with you. Every morning I open the air conditioned bedroom ( thank god) and I am greeted by the most forward character of this island, the sun. It blinds my tiered eyes while I am forced to cope with the jarring transition from the 60 degree bedroom to the 85 degree main house, almost putting me back to sleep …

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Hello from my lake house. It’s Memorial Day weekend, and I am sitting on the porch watching and listening to the blustery wind blow off the lake and through the trees, smacking the glass porch windows, leaving a low rattle and a big draft. The propane heaters hum behind me. It’s positively wild what weather can come through New England in the span of a …

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Real Time

My definition of luxury is waking up and thinking about what to do with my time.

It was spring break last week, and I had that luxury. Though sometimes the transition from regiment and rhythm can be a bit jarrin…

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Friday, March 20th

I write to you on a much needed day off after a week of battling whatever variant of influenza is moving about the small heathens I spend 40 hours a week with, gladly repaying me for my dedication to spreading knowledge and my love for the arts with disease. Education really is the most powerful weapon…

I am safe now, I have a 24 oz mason jar filled with water next to me and a face mask on. If my boyfriend were here looking at me- he would make some sort of Hannibal Lecter remark.

Walk:Run

Today is the first day of spring. In my previous sub-stack, I touched on the feelings that come with the new season and its signs of ecological and emotional rebirth. Our noticing of the new season and the ways it enhances or *notices us, give us a feeling of new, a reflection of what is to come. I find that with each season, not only spring- there is some sort of rebirth. Something to be mindful of, although its faces can be different.

The sincerity of todays Spring equinox is in the fact that it is the first day I woke up feeling better, and thus, more connected to myself after this week of being sick, rebirth. I celebrated with a walk, to notice the incoming season.

This week, The runner in me has been disappointed in my bodies lengthy recovery time during this sickness, the me has been disappointed with my body. How impatient we become when we rely on our bodies to feel and look their best all the time, how hard it is for our brains, our sense of self when they do not meet that expectation… These are the thoughts provoked by walking, rebirth.

To walk is to get somewhere slowly, thoughtfully. Momentous, one gentle step in front of the other, abandoning yourself to the elements. It allows time, movement, nothing more than that- still making you feel accomplished, you made it back where you started. The clever thing is, you have to have the time do it. Maybe thats why it is so special. While running is a medicine of mine, it fits into my schedule as follows; pull into the driveway at 4, run 4 miles in 40 minutes sometimes it can feel contagious in an abrasive way, the constant feeling to go farther, faster, with not always the time to think while doing it, just about when it will end.

Food Lately

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Monday, March 2nd

I have struggled to write and provide a focused product for you all to sink your teeth into over the last few months, That was January and February. I guess I was on some type of sabbatical? nothing c…

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My Christmas traditions rely heavily on the menu. What will be on your Christmas eve…

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Turning 27- the weight

I turned 27 on the first of November, and it felt big.I realized it felt big when I was reading my birthday cards, and tears began to stream down my now more weighted twenty-seven-year-old cheeks …

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Saturday, October, 25th

Friendships

A diverse intimacy between people.
They are platonic, they are romantic, they are rooted deep—and also shallow.

But what about the life you build outside of them?

I’ve been struggling with the expectations of friendship. There’s the romantic friendship I see…

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So, if you’re looking to hold onto summer just a touch longer, but like to do so in your fuzzy socks and a light sweater… this could be the recipe just for YOU!

I made this on Saturday at my family’s home in Maine, one of my favorite places, especially in the fall. The house is sleepy and preparing for its winter alone, tucked in a world that feels like an entire season ahead of everywhere else. The leaves are turned, the northern wind blows a winter’s wind across the lake and through the floorboards, but the sunsets still leave you with a gentle grace of summer, and the birds still wake you up in the morning with their chatter.

While I was in my northern fairy tale making Pasta Pomodoro, beginning with the aromatic sizzling of garlic, red pepper, and anchovies in olive oil, I felt a moment of propinquity. Close to my family, close to my roots—given by the smells of anchovies and sizzling garlic in a house I feel so warm and safe in. Close to the tomatoes that I was blistering in hot oil—tomatoes that we grew in our garden here in Maine, and tomatoes that came all the way from Italy. A small island off the coast of Rome called Ponza.

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Its September, This month marks a year since Alex and I have been home owners. I felt it would be appropriate to write about the many things that has made our house a home. A reflection piece that goes…

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August,

The season of abundance, routine, and panic... I’m settled into my tan and the golden wisps that frame my freckled face. The tomatoes keep presenting themselves on my avocado-green countertop, and the evenings almost always guarantee a sandwich and a really lovely breeze.

August tricks us into thinking this is it, but we know the first frost is just around the corner... and quite frankly, I could be looking forward to it. Slowing down is definitely the prescription I need. But before I do that, I’ll note to you that, with the heat, the drought, the bustle, and last week’s cold front in Maine, I’ve had a lovely August.

The coming and going of family and friends in my new home—amidst it all—can be overwhelming and exciting. But I often find myself, in the latter half of their visits, reflecting on how absolutely brilliant and lucky I am to have people who want to visit my “sweet life” in Maine, listen to my advice, and plan their next visit.

So, to catch a glimpse of the sweetness, here are a few favorites that have carried me through August...

What I am Wearing and Cooking, In August, In Maine.

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Sunday, July, 20th

Meditating on summer has not slowed it down. My hands in the dirt each day, in tune with the harvest and patterns of July, rising and setting with the sun. Last night I dreamt in anxiety of the beginning of a school year, the falling of the leaves, the harvest of zucchini….

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I have had this post lurking in my drafts for sometime. So for my trusty subscribers wondering where there next meal is… Here, and I am sorry, but the season calls. It seems like after July 4th everything said “ pick me, pick me” , so duty called. Can you even harvest rhubarb still? I hope so, because this is a good recipe. Substitut…

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Maybe it matches your outfit, maybe in matches the mood, maybe its about the way you bring the glass to your mouth, your sip. I don’t know about you, but I feel better with a drink, when I look good, and deserve it.

… You deserve this. A light, floral, summer sipping drink- This is a cocktail that will make you look good, and keep the buzz at just a whisper. Great for dinner with friends, or after mowing the lawn.

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Friday, June 6th

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OK, rhubarb. I have never liked it or felt the anticipation and excitement of its harvest season. What I have learned, though, is that people LOVE rhubarb. Maybe it’s a niche group of people. However, it’s been enough to get the wheels turning, starting from a conversation in a bed of weedy onions. My farm (yes, I have happily taken back the occupation …

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Tis’ the season for very exclusive produce. We are once again following the seasons, which is so much easier in the SUMMER time. Waiting for tomatoes is hard, but the reward is pretty great.

Its not much yet, rhubarb ( which is just always too much), spinach, asparagus, some greens in the mix- but a fresh picked bag of salad that ends up on my plate is …

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