Vegetable City

In the last two days: field peas with onions, carrots, and bacon, oats, roasted cauliflower, corn on the cob. Also some orange roughy.

Watermelon

and brownies. That's what we had for dinner, because for lunch we went to Miss Melissa's and ate like wolves from their buffet of primo southern cooking.

Grilled Salmon

with brown rice and roasted brussels sprouts.

Stewed Tomatoes and Eggplant

that I served over toasted sourdough bread with pesto.

Fish Curry

This is the best thing we've eaten in a long time. I put together:

1/2 onion
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
ginger
garlic
curry powder
coconut milk
3 ears worth of cut corn
2 haddock filets, cut up into little pieces
juice from two lemons
salt

I served it with cut up fresh tomatoes and cilantro as garnishes, and ladled it over brown rice. Honestly, I can't remember a better meal at home, and I used up all the nagging bits of this and that vegetable matter in my fridge.

A note on coconut milk: naturally, I made mine from the coconut concentrate I buy in quantity from the same supplier (tropicaltraditions.com) from which I get my coconut oil. What, you still buy yours in cans? Don't be a chump; concentrate is the way to live.

Scrambled Eggs with Herbs

and roasted potatoes and carrots, and bacon.

Corn Pudding

From Frank Stitt's Southern Table. I'm afraid the list of ingredients (eight ears of corn, one cup of cream, two eggs, salt, white pepper, and nutmeg) won't convey the incredible layered deliciousness of this dish. It's rich, it's sweet, it's savory. It was great even though I badly underestimated the time it would need to set in the oven and served it as more of a thickened creamed corn rather than a true pudding. I later baked it to the right consistency, and it was perfect both ways. We had it with sauteed okra and roasted red peppers.

Zucchini Gratin

from Richard Olney's Simple French Food, with fresh tomatoes. I love Olney because he is a terrific writer and his recipes always work and taste wonderful, and because he is so pleasingly strict. In the introduction to his section on zucchini he notes that "large fruit with well-formed seeds are uninteresting fare, and should on no account be considered as a substitute for small ones in the recipes that follow." I ignored this stricture, but probably wouldn't have dared if he'd said it to me in person.

I've noted here before that I don't like zucchini, and that's still true, but there are few things I don't like gratineed: add eggs, milk, and cheese and I'll eat just about anything.

Orange Roughy

with rye berries and roasted brussels sprouts.

Blueberry Cornbread

with sauteed Napa cabbage and bacon. Truly delicious.

Sea Silk Sweater

This sweater is knit in a yarn that is a blend of silk and something called sea cell, a fiber made from seaweed. It's a beautiful yarn, but mainly I'm just a sucker for the idea of odd fibers. The sweater itself is a triumph (for me) of experience over impulse: I knit it at a deliberately wrong size because I thought I knew something about how the yarn would behave (and thus, the garment would change size) after washing and wearing. And I was right! Awesome.

Field Peas

One of the many best things about a southern summer. I poached them in chicken stock, then served them over oat groats with sauteed cabbage and onions. I also sauteed (until mahogany brown) a bunch of beautiful okra; it was a feast.

Crab Cakes

with roasted potatoes (yellow, pink, and purple) and carrots, and orange cherry tomatoes.