A Day of Nothing Accomplished

Fair warning: I promised answers to yesterday's quiz today. If you missed the quiz and want to give it a try, click right here before continuing. Answers are at the bottom of today's post.

It isn't true that nothing was accomplished yesterday. What I meant to say is that nothing was accomplished that I wanted to do. Of course, you can boil that down into one sad phrase: It was a no-sewing day. I had a few things to do in the kitchen, and I ended up staying there all morning long.

To begin, the CSA greens are trying to outflank me. We haven't been able to eat the collards and kale fast enough, and so there they sit in the vegetable crisper, plotting, planning, scheming. Here's the thing: We like the collards and kale and chard and all of those things, but we like them best in soups. And, I'm sorry, but a hot and hearty soup just isn't appealing in July. In July, I want a big main dish salad. Which brings me to my other issue: lettuce. We are getting the most beautiful HUGE heads of lettuce in our CSA.

Now, I ask you: Who in their right mind would choose kale or collards over that lovely sweet lettuce? I think I've made my point.

So, there they sit. The kale and the collards, and what to do? What...to...do? Well, I got the bright idea to freeze them for soups this winter. Not being an expert on greens, I first needed to find some information about how one prepares greens for freezing. Of course, I consulted The Google and came up with an excellent tutorial on Fresh Bites Daily with two different methods. I chose the boiling method, which seemed quicker and easier to me than the alternative. It took about half an hour to do both, but in short order, I'd defeated them and put them in quart-sized ziplock bags before they could carry out their evil plans.

After boiling them and squeezing out the water, it was possible to fit an entire bunch into one quart-sized bag. And those are going to be mighty tasty come winter.

While I was waiting for water to boil, I made a cucumber salad from one of the cucumbers in the CSA. I happen to love cucumbers, and we're promised an "avalanche" of cucumbers very soon. Don't worry. I'm already strategizing about how to do away with them. Yesterday I made a Cucumber Salad with Thai Sweet Chili Vinaigrette.

(image source)

I've made it before, but I'd forgotten how good it is. I was using a regular cucumber, rather than an English cucumber, and so I peeled mine. Also, I have an overabundance of sweet onions right now, and so I used those in place of the green onions. It just so happens that I'm a great fan of Mae Ploy

and that's what I use for the "Thai sweet chili sauce". Really, you can just think of the cucumbers as a vehicle for the Mae Ploy.

And let's see...what else? Like I said, I ended up staying in the kitchen far longer than expected. As long as I was cooking stuff up, I decided to have my way with a few stragglers from the Army of Carrots gathering in the crisper by making this Carrot Walnut Loaf Cake...which is really more of a bread, but who am I to quibble over terminology?

(image source)

It's another recipe I've made before, and it's so tasty. It has a sprinkling of golden brown sugar over the top, which gives it the nicest little crunch. You can grate the carrots in about two seconds in your food processor. It makes a nice snack, but we each had a slice with our coffee this morning.

And that was about all I wanted to tackle in yesterday's kitchen battle. I think I've whipped the vegetables into submission for another day or two. Today I'll head out to the grocery store. One cannot do battle with vegetables without bringing in reinforcements.

The only other thing of note from yesterday was the arrival of yet another piece of furniture for the catio...this little waterproof cat house. It fits together with velcro and zippers and so it was easy to put it together. Or, at least it would have been easy if Smitty hadn't been jumping inside before I could even finish. This was a big hit. Smitty was inside just before I snapped this image, and I caught Sadie inside as well.

It gives them a little privacy for napping, and it also makes some shade for the bright sunshine of the afternoon. And bonus...the little flannel practice piece I've been using for free motion quilting fits right inside. I'll have to bind it now, and I wasn't planning to, but there you go. Sewing is never wasted.

Okay, so I promised you the answers to yesterday's quiz, and here they are.

I'll admit to cheating on number 11. Also, I missed number 5. I said "Catcher in the Rye". Actually, Catcher in the Rye was written by J.D. Salinger, which I knew, but I got confused. Rats.

So there you have it. Nothing accomplished, but plenty ventured. This morning I'm heading out early for the grocery store. I'm determined to get some sewing in today.