Canicular

You know we're all about "edgycashun" here at the Three Cats Ranch, and so I thought I'd share with you Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for today:

Since some of you have been telling me about the heat in your areas for the past week or so, I thought you'd want to know this word. Stroll into your quilt guild meeting and say something like this:

"It's turning out to be a canicular July!"

And then watch all their jaws drop in awe at your brilliance. You'll be the life of the party at your Fourth of July get-together. It's just one more reason reason to stick with me for all things intelligent. You're welcome.

In less cerebral matters...

Block 7 for Heart and Home is finished now. It took me longer than I thought it would, but I got 'er done. This one is called "Welcome Friends & Family."

After that, I traced out the next block for the Snow Globes quilt. This one is called "Woodland Snowman." This will be the 8th of 12, and I'll get started on it this morning.

Since we're into a new month, I decided to stitch out the next quilt shop names for Row 4 of the Shop Hop quilt as well. I'll start stitching on them next. Rows 4 and 5 of this quilt will have a double-sized block in the middle. My regional fabrics are a larger scale, and so I want to give them a little more room.

That means I needed a long narrow piece. It needs to be 18 inches wide, while the ones above are 8-1/2 inches.

Then it was time to get started on my Spicy Dilled Carrot Spears. These are so easy and quick. Mine were all done in less than an hour. I'll probably do one more batch before summer is over because the kids gobble them up. Yesterday's yield was four 12-oz. jars. You can find the recipe for these right here.

And then...finally...time for some sewing. I fused the pieces for June's Tuxedo Tales block.

And since I'm going to do July's block as well, it made sense to do the fusing for it too. There's quite a bit of top-stitching on these, and it'll involve less thread changes if I do them both at the same time.

Also, both blocks have a lot of buttons this time around. Here's how June's will look when all the buttons are sewn on.

July's has even more buttons, and so I didn't take the time to lay them out. You can be surprised when I show you the finished block.

By that time, I was getting kind of tired of working on them, and so I took a stroll outside. The one ripening cherry tomato is getting oh, so close. I'm hoping the others will follow quickly because I have some great recipes I want to make.

Also, the purple hydrangea is almost fully opened now. This plant is doing very well, and it is covered with flowers. This is just the first one to open.

Also, I'm feeling better about my Irish poppies. There are three clusters like this one, and they are getting a little larger. Mae and I were discussing the fact that poppies are in bloom now, and mine aren't anywhere near being ready to bloom. I was worrying that they wouldn't come back next year if they don't bloom this year. She told me she thought hers had come back after the first year, even though they hadn't bloomed. And that got me thinking...are these biennials? As it turns out, some are. It will take them two seasons to bloom the first time, and so I believe all is well.

I have more seeds for these, and so I'll probably start some more next year for blooms every year. Isn't gardening fun? Yes...except for the weeding part, but we'll ignore that for now.

Okay, so it was getting on to dinner time by then, and I was looking to dispense with some CSA veggies. First kohlrabi fritters. These are surprisingly good. We aren't particularly familiar with kohlrabi around here, and up until last year, we've been suspicious of its motives. Just what is it anyway? Is it a turnip? Is it cabbage? Something more sinister? Well. We tried this recipe for the fritters last year, and it turned out to be a delicious way to eat them. You can find the recipe for the Kohlrabi Fritters with Lemon Dill Yogurt Sauce right here. They aren't difficult to make since you can grate the kohlrabi and onion in a food processor in about two seconds. The secret to success is to squeeze as much water from the vegetables as you can. I use two layers of cheesecloth, gather it together, and then squeeze it for all its worth.

And this went well alongside my favorite old recipe from my original Betty Crocker Microwave Cookbook, from when I got my very first microwave oven sometime during the 14th Century. Oh wait...I don't think microwaves came along until the 15th Century, but who's counting?

So anyway...these dispensed with some carrots (always on the "dispense-with" list) and some cauliflower. And again, these are super simple if you grate the carrots in your food processor. You can use zucchini in place of the carrots if you like. I've never made them with zucchini, but I love them with carrots. There's enough leftover for lunch today too.

I thought I'd posted the recipe for these somewhere along the way, but I can't find it, so here you go:

Swiss Cheese Veggie Sandwiches
from  Betty Crocker's Microwave Cookbook

1 Cup Shredded Swiss Cheese (about 4 oz.)
1 Cup Shredded Zucchini or Carrots (about 1 small)
1/2 Cup Chopped Tomato (about 1 medium)
1/2 Cup Thinly Sliced Small Cauliflowerets
2 Tablespoons Mayonnaise
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Dried Dill Weed
3 English Muffins cut into halves and toasted

Mix cheese, zucchini (or carrot), tomato, cauliflower, mayonnaise, salt and dill weed; spread evenly over muffin halves. Arrange on microwave rack in baking dish. Microwave uncovered on high (100%) until hot and bubbly, 3-4 minutes.

Finally, I never reported back to you about the Pink Pickled Turnips I made last Saturday. Remember these?

Well, I'll admit I've been tasting them all week. They aren't bad. I'm kind of fond of something like this for snacking on because they have almost zero calories, lots of flavor, and a good crunch. So a week has passed now, and I tried them again yesterday. They aren't ever going to replace the spicy dilled carrot spears as the food love of my life, but they aren't half bad. If you're trying to get rid of some turnips and beets, then these are your go-to way to do it.

In case you missed it the first time around, you can find the recipe for these right here.

Today I'm getting my monthly pedicure, and then I need to make a quick trip to the grocery store. Since I wasn't sure I'd have cherries on my last trip, I still need a few things to make the sweet cherry barbecue sauce when I get home. Someone has already requested the recipe for that, and so I'll just give it to you right here. I'm hoping I'll have some time to continue working on the Tuxedo Tales blocks today, but that might be pushing it. We'll see.