Mid Summer 2013

When I did a what's-going-on-in-my-life post a few weeks ago, I had the best time reading your comments on what everyone has been up to. So here we go again...we're in the last month of Summer 2013 and this is what I am...

Eating seasonal goodies, such as peaches. This year we've had very unusual summer weather in GA. It has been so wet that the peaches are waterlogged- huge but bland. We had a house-guest from Israel last week and I wanted to make her something very Georgia, very Southern. So I made this peach cobbler using peaches from a nearby orchard and it was a wonderful dessert with vanilla ice cream. Very simple and fun to make too.

Today, I used a bunch of peaches to make peach salsa. It is chilling in the fridge waiting to be taken to a party later today.

To make the peach salsa, just mix together:
- 3 ripe peaches, peeled and diced. The easiest way to peel ripe peaches is to drop them for a minute in boiling water and then remove them into a bowl of ice water. The peel slips right off.
- 1 yellow/red pepper, diced
- 2 avocados, peeled and diced
- A bit of minced onion and cilantro
- Salt, cumin, chili powder to taste
- Lemon juice if the peaches are not tangy

Serve with a bag of tortilla chips or eat it as a salad if you want to be all goody-goody.

The other seasonal, local thing I'm eating too much of:

Boiled peanuts. Now this is total deja vu for me. I grew up in a peanut-growing part of India, and we devoured boiled peanuts every time the harvest season rolled around. Now after a couple of decades, I'm living in peanut country again, and what joy it was yesterday to cook a pressure cooker's worth of raw peanuts in brine. They taste soft and sweet/salty and have a mealy texture. I'm told they are an acquired taste. V is very indifferent to them and a friend told me she hated the texture. Never mind, that just means there's more for me :)




Reading Stephen King's novel, 11/22/63. It is 800+ pages long so I might still be reading it by the time next summer rolls around, hah.

Other notable reads from the last month:

Image: Goodreads

The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny. This is one of the books from the Inspector Gamache series set in Quebec, Canada. It kept me interested from beginning to end, with a good plot and a fascinating setting in a secluded monastery that reverberates with Gregorian chants. This book is a good choice for cozy mystery lovers.

Image: Goodreads

These next three books are for middle grade readers but each one was a thoughtful and meaningful read for me. So I would say, read them with your kids and read them for yourself. Wonder by R. J. Palacio is a book about a 10 year old boy named August who was born with a rare and severe facial deformity. After years of being home-schooled, he steps into fifth grade and out into the world. We all deal with our insecurities when we go out in public and stepping into August's shoes for a while is an eye-opening experience. What a beautiful, uplifting story this is. A must-read for you and your kids.

The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright was a real treat in the cozy, Enid Blyton style. The book is set in the 1940s in New York City and is about a family of 4 siblings who decide to pool their meager allowances and take turns going on Saturday adventures. The book is a small lesson in anti-helicopter parenting, in letting children figure out how to amuse themselves and come up with creative solutions to their small problems.

Black and Blue Magic by Zilpha Keatly Snyder was also an entertaining read about the summer adventures of a boy who is stuck at home helping his mother run a boarding house in the 60s while his wealthier neighbors move to the suburbs. I loved these three books about kids who are given the freedom to be resourceful while still having a strong and stable childhood in all sorts of different circumstances.

If you enjoy books in this genre, check out NPR's must-read 100 books for ages 9-14. I'm 2 decades removed from that age group, but this list is a veritable goldmine of books that I want to read (such as The Giver and Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret) and many more that I have read and loved (A Tree Grows in Brookyln, The Secret Garden, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and so on).

Two for the Road by Jane and Michael Stern. This is a couple who has spent decades traveling around the United States, looking for interesting and tasty food finds along America's highways and back roads and small towns off the beaten track. They started doing this as fresh college grads without much of a life plan and have been doing it ever since. I really enjoyed this book of essays about their meanderings. There's some really random stuff in here- about bad hotel rooms and interesting menus, about eating 12 meals a day to record as much as they could on their road trips. And there is some stuff that is very touching, such as when a very rural town's population came together to keep a cafe and a community alive.

Making more quilts, what else?

Watching episodes of Psych, the comedy mystery series when I'm in the mood for mindless entertainment. The best thing I watched last month was a documentary mini-series: Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking. This is absolutely must-see TV. And guess who shares the narration with Dr. Hawking? The dishy Benedict Cumberbatch. I also started watching Orange is the New Black- a tragi-comedy about life in a women's prison. It is engaging, a little disturbing, definitely raunchy. I don't know if I like it yet.

Planning Lila's second birthday party. It will be a simple affair at home with snacks and music and cake, of course. I asked Lila, "Do you want a butterfly cake or a fishie cake?" and she earnestly replied, "OK".

Celebrating the fact that my BFF Neighbor Girl passed the bar exam in her very first attempt. I've always teased her at being very good at lawyerly BS and now she can earn a living doing it. Call me if you need a defense attorney- I can get you the family and friends discount ;)

That's all, folks!

Please tell us in the comments: What are you eating, reading, watching, making, planning and celebrating these days?