Comfortably Cool

Good morning, my friends. We had a significant cooling off period yesterday, and we were able to sleep with the windows open last night. It was nice to get some fresh air blowing through. I was out in the garden early yesterday, trying to get ahead of the heat. Two more sunflowers have bloomed. This first one is called "Sunseed."

This one is called "Lemon Queen."

The garden is winding down some. The gophers killed every single bean plant, which was very discouraging. They also forced me to harvest the beets before their time. And the carrots were almost a complete bust. On the other hand, I can't complain about the zucchini harvest. The cucumbers have been producing slowly, but steadily. And there is corn coming in abundance. I'm confident we'll have corn before we need to leave on our September trip. The plums are looking very promising as well. And all of that to say that I'll be out hoeing the garden again this morning, but my hoeing days are coming to a close soon. 

Back inside, I finished up the embroidery on the "Chat to Friends" block. 

I'll get to work on the "Find Matching Socks" this morning. They'll both need scrappy borders when the stitching is finished.

With that done, I made good on my threat to bake a Zucchini Coffee Cake. This is very tasty. The topping is especially nice. 

Both Mike and I were feeling just a little bit puny after getting our RSV vaccines. I can't really say we were sick, but we both felt fatigued for most of the day. I took a nap after baking the coffee cake, and then Sadie joined me in the sewing room. She couldn't decide where her skills could be put to their best use. Should she be right in the middle of things, here on my table?

Or should she lie here on the Quilts-to-be-Sandwiched pile? Hmmm. This had potential.

On the other paw, it's good to have guardrails when taking a nap. Maybe this bed on the table. It could be the best of both worlds.

In any case, she refused to help with the tiny house. She has her own tiny house on the catio, and she doesn't see any need to continue with this tiny house papurr-piecing obsession of mine. When my hour was up, I had it about half finished.

Next, I went to work on the next Shop Hop blocks. This first one was from the Creative Mercantile in Reedsport, Oregon. Just now when I went in search of that link, I realized the name of the actual "quilt shop" was Kathi's Old Town Fabrics. It was one of the more unusual stores I've visited since it was in a "craft mall." It was a large space where different crafters rented rooms and put out items for sale. Think of it as a brick and mortar Etsy's and you've got a good idea what the place was like. Reedsport is a beach town, and so I selected this starfish fabric.

It was getting a little late in the day to start anything else. I was kind of excited to finish up the Toad in the Hole recipe I was testing for America's Test Kitchens. The batter for the Yorkshire pudding and the gravy was made the day before. I still needed to brown the bratwurst, add the batter to the skillet, and then bake it in a hot oven for 22-26 minutes. It finished off disappointingly flat in appearance.

The Yorkshire pudding had the custard-y center, as expected, but it didn't rise and brown like the one shown in the picture that accompanied the recipe.

I have a couple of thoughts about this. Possibly making it a day ahead accounted for this, although I was told I could make it two days ahead. Probably it was because I used a too-large skillet. I wanted to use my Le Creuset Braiser because it has a lid. I'm thinking the large size skillet didn't give the Yorkshire pudding batter anything to climb with its wider, flatter sides. Nevertheless, it was good for eating, and we both enjoyed it. Mike had seconds, and there's still enough for another meal.

Although I was told I could make the gravy and batter ahead of time, it really didn't save me that much time in the kitchen. I'll make this again, but I'll probably make it all at the same time. For sure, I'll use my smaller Lodge skillet and see if I get better results. The recipe is a keeper. Sorry I can't share it, but you can look for it in an upcoming issue of Cook's Illustrated.

So that brought me to the end of my day. As I mentioned, it's a day for hoeing and sewing. We're having leftovers for dinner, and there's not much more on the to-do list. It's going to be a good day. I hope you all have a good day too. Watch out, Southern California. You have some rain coming your way. Stay safe and stay dry.