Baked Sweet Potatoes

with scrambled eggs and pan-roasted okra. Every time I have a truly delicious sweet potato I can't believe I don't eat them every day. The best ones (I've learned) are small and fresh from the dirt. They bake into a velvety, not at all watery or stringy, paste. I know eating paste sounds awful, but in this one case it isn't.

Crawfish Cakes

with fried grits, salad, and some delicious whole roasted little red, yellow, and orange peppers.

Lamb Chops

Grilled, with pan-roasted okra and corn on the cob.

A Surprise Winner

Sometimes you get home and think: "dinner has to happen. How can it happen with the absolute minimum of work on my part yet still be something I want to eat?" Last night I answered that question by dumping leftover roasted vegetables (eggplant, onion, tomato, red pepper, olive, garlic) into a pan with fresh arugula and half a can of tuna; when it was hot I put it on whole wheat spaghetti and called it dinner. And it was fantastic! Truly, a great meal! It's so nice when things happen that way.

Short Ribs Again

which, following the law of all things long-cooked, were twice as good on the second day. It helped that we had them with out-of-this-world cornbread (thank you, McEwen & Sons cornmeal!), pan-roasted okra, and a friend's delicious kale salad.

Braised Short Ribs

There are times when Smell-O-Vision is called for and nothing else will do; this is one of them. This (not great) photograph doesn't do justice to the rich, complex scent the pictured dish filled our house with all afternoon as it braised. I followed the recipe for Braised Barbecue Short Ribs in the Hot and Hot Fish Club Cookbook. To the standard broth and mirepoix braising liquid it adds some barbecue sauce, and it's an excellent marriage. I used sauce made by my semi-uncle Loy. Delicious! With brown rice and pan-roasted okra.

Roasted Vegetables

over brown rice: eggplant, red peppers, garlic, onions, olives.

Simplicity 2406

This is actually a dress patern, but I had fabric (and a life) better suited to a tunic, so that's what I made. I sewed with abandon, which means a real seamstress would blanch and grow faint at the sight of the garment's inside. I'm ok with it though; I decided it was more important to finish a bunch of stuff than to worry too long over any one piece (at least until I'm a better sewer than I am now).

Sockeye Salmon

with quinoa and pan-fried okra. Very hard to beat that.

Whole Wheat Spaghetti

with pesto (half basil, half parsley), and a big mess of edamame (fresh CSA soybeans!) Cherries for dessert.

Frittata

with chives, shiitakes, arugula, and nicoise olives. With brown rice.

Crab Cakes

with brown rice and okra. More than one brownie for dessert.

Sockeye Salmon

with buttered whole wheat spaghetti with parmesan and tarragon, and roasted cauliflower, shiitakes, and red peppers. The peppers were the little ones we get from our CSA; when roasted they concentrate into something closer to jam than pepper. I could have eaten my body weight in them.

Long Hiatus

Bad blogger! But here I am, full of tonight's dinner: lamb chops, okra, and brown rice. For dessert cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcakes. Have you seen their TLC show, "DC Cupcakes"? It's a pretty grating show, but lordy, the cupcakes are all they are cracked up to be.