Showing posts with label Costco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Costco. Show all posts

Saturday, July 06, 2024

The First Week in July

Fun on the Fourth of July

For Deb’s Sunday Salon (link), here are some of the things I’ve done this week,  beginning of course with our July 4th celebration. Nine of us gathered in our back yard to have a barbecue. Here are just a few photos of the great foods we enjoyed.

Ready for guests.

Kabobs: mushrooms, sausage and peppers, ready to grill.

Grilling! We also made chicken and onion kabobs.


Nat made a Nantucket Blueberry pie: same as he ate as a child when his family had a summer place in Nantucket.
His mother knew all the good berry bushes. Nat knows where to pick great wild blueberries here in Michigan.

Jason made two kinds of ice cream: cherry and blackberry. We also had a box of strawberry ice cream.

After dinner: fireworks in the park.






What I’ve Been Reading

Listening Woman by Tony Hillerman (1925-2008)

Listening Woman was published in 1978, the third of Hillerman's twenty-five books about Navajo tribal policemen Joe Leaphorn and (in the later books) Jim Chee. Hillerman was recognized for his knowledgable presentation of Navajo individuals and their culture. To solve a murder and several other open cases, Leaphorn must use enormous reasoning skill, knowledge of the hostile mountain and desert terrain, and understanding of Navajo traditions and beliefs. He also has to use his grasp of how to deal with the FBI agents who are assigned to the cases he is solving. As he hides in a cave while rescuing a number of hostages from some very murderous criminals, he risks his life over and over and deploys incredible cunning and bravery. Not to mention 33 hours without food. It's a great book! 
Two other books I read and reviewed this week.


Afternoon Coffee


At Argus Farm Stop: windows depict the local eggs, produce, milk that are sold here.

Shopping




In the Garden



Blog post © 2024 mae sander

Friday, June 30, 2023

June in My Kitchen

Gadgets and good things to eat!


Just outside my kitchen: pots of herbs for cooking.

I snip a few herbs to include in almost everything I cook!

New Plate from the Ann Arbor Potters' Guild

Just right for some toast and a glass of juice to eat on the porch, a plate from this summer’s ceramics sale.


Another breakfast on the new plate:  French Toast and apple slices.
The platter is also from the Potters’ Guild, purchased a few years ago.

New French Press Coffee Pot


Old one on the left: the plastic was messed up so Evelyn
ordered me another one.

New Sourdough Containers

Len finds these new containers much better than the mason jars he had been using.


New Magnets on My Refrigerator


A magnet from the Art Museum Shop: “Banned Books”

Le Petit Prince from Paris

Another gift from Evelyn: six coasters of Le Petit Prince, here with the fox that he tamed.

The Little Prince is a favorite story for me and for many other people. Here's one of the original illustrations of the prince and his fox:


“Supoon”

A gadget: “Supoon” for scraping the inner edge of a jar.
A gift from Arny & Tracy.

Treats and Cooking in my Kitchen

New Joe-Joe’s flavor.

M&M’s: a favorite all my life, now in a Costco size!

Alice made us great turkey meatballs

She also made a great zucchini dish.

The best rhubarb pie:

Made by Evelyn.

The best Asian food:


Len made a number of great Asian dishes like this grilled eggplant.

Pad Thai — the best yet!


Ready-Made Mediterranean:

Ready-made stuffed grape leaves, pita, hummus, and tadziki
are very convenient.

Most Intriguing Food News of the Month

A recently-uncovered mural in Pompeii seems to depict a pizza, along with other food and wine. 
This places the origin of pizza as early as Roman times: the mural was buried by Mt. Vesuvius 2000 years ago.
Obviously tomatoes were not available to the Romans because they came from the New World after 1492,
but this prototype pizza has other toppings. (source)

Important thought for Foodies

I visited the headquarters of our local food bank, and learned about the ongoing (and worsening)
crisis in food insecurity, and the increased suffering due to the end of many government benefits.
Our society’s shame is that many children suffer with hunger.

From the Food Gatherers’ Website:

“Food Gatherers is the food bank and food rescue program serving Washtenaw County. The lead agency for hunger relief in the County, Food Gatherers supports a network of 170 community partners with free and low-cost food, deliveries, and trainings. We operate several large direct service programs — the Food Gatherers Community Kitchen, the Summer Food Service Program, and the Healthy School Pantry Program — and work closely with community schools, universities, and healthcare providers to address gaps in services. Because hunger will not be solved with food alone, we advocate for policies and system changes to create an equitable food system.”

Blog post © 2023 mae sander
Shared with Sherry’s In My Kitchen and Eileen’s Critters.

Tuesday, January 31, 2023

January Cooking

January 2023 began with a lovely dinner

New Year’s Eve at Carol’s house. Her kitchen is in the background.

Since the year began, my kitchen has been the site of  lots of cooking including experiments with new recipes and new ingredients. I’ve posted photos about some of this food before, so you may have seen some of the pictures earlier this month, but I’ve added some new ones too.. I’ll be sharing this post  on Sherry’s blog to participate in the once-a-month blog event “In My Kitchen.”

New Cookies from Costco

Stroopwafels from Holland via Costco. Nice!


Trying many new Asian recipes



Kitchen prep: sauce ingredients for the dandan noodles.

Minced pork for the dandan noodles.

Bok choi with ginger, cucumber salad with peanuts, and dandan noodles with pork and spicy sauce.
Len continues his successful experiments with Asian recipes.

Another dinner: bao buns filled with mushrooms, carrot pickles, wild-caught shrimp, and snow peas.


Chicken stew, fish-fragrant eggplant, and smashed cucumbers.
Smashing the cukes is fun, says Len.

Mapo tofu with rice and salad.


Inspired by Judee’s Posts about Quinoa


Judee at the blog Gluten Free A to Z had some nice quinoa
recipes, which inspired me to try some new salads with this ingredient.

And other dishes…

Old favorite: vegetarian chili and salad with avocados.

Tortilla with carnitas, cheese, cilantro. Cooked by Evelyn,
Tom, Miriam, and Alice in our kitchen.

Campari tomatoes are my favorite Costco purchase.
The tortilla filling was a total impulse buy, and a good one.

Tortilla and red bean casserole, plus clementines:
a very simple lunch.

On repeat: mixed salad.

Julia Child’s recipes are always a treat, and worth the effort.
I made this steak au poivre for our visitors.

Coffee Every Day …

New mug from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.
Old mug from Madera Canyon, Arizona.

We drink French Press coffee in the kitchen every morning.
But as in this photo, sometimes we have an espresso at a cafe.
This one came with a glass of bubbly water!
I'm sharing this drink with Elizabeth and the Tuesday bloggers.

Blog post © 2023 mae sander