Summer eats

A few summery things I have enjoyed in the past few weeks:

1. Ice cream for dinner on my drive home to Charlottesville from an interview in Silver Spring, MD.  I was far from being the only person stopped at the Moo Thru on a warm summer evening, and like every other time I've stopped, I was not disappointed.  I relaxed my usual "it must have chocolate" requirement and tried blackberry and cake batter.  Blackberry was quite good, but like most cake batter/cheesecake flavors I didn't care for this one too much after the first couple of bites. 

2. The Fourth of July could not have come at a better time this year.  I was out of the office on Monday, so I only had a three day work week, but there seemed to be an inordinate amount of stuff crammed into those three days.  On the Fourth, the weather was more early fall than middle of summer and my friend Christina was in town for a visit.  We prepared a small backyard dinner with some of our favorite summer dishes: veggie patties, corn on the cob, couscous with tomatoes, basil & mozzarella, and a watermelon, mint & feta salad.  

The first time we made the watermelon salad two summers ago, I was highly skeptical of adding anything to one of my favorite summer fruits.  The dish turned out better than I expected then, and even better than I remembered this summer.  I think we got the ratio of watermelon to mint and feta just right.

Dinner in the backyard was followed by fireworks viewing from the top of Montalto and some s'mores brownies.  I think I did an excellent job of toasting the marshmallows, if I do say so myself. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the graham cracker crust on the bottom, which was mostly graham cracker dust.  The chocolate center was proclaimed "neither cake-y nor fudge-y" and overall, maybe this was not the best dish to eat without utensils.  I later discovered (with plates and silverware at my disposal) that 15 seconds in the microwave made all the difference--the insides became warm and moist and the marshmallows went from stiff to gooey.

3. The first of many ways to use zucchini that will be appearing on here in the coming weeks.  Thankfully, zukes are relatively flavorless and can be added to just about anything, like this shrimp scampi recipe.  There's half of a giant one sitting in my fridge as I type this, and another one needing to be picked, plus two smaller ones in the garden!  Next recipe: stir fry.

30 before 30: 6 month report

Six months ago, I finalized my "30 before 30" list and created a page for it on this lil' blog.  I also proclaimed "I will be crossing off items as I finish them"  and "assessing my progress every six months;" the first part of which has not happened, but never fear for I have not forgotten the second part of that declaration!

The complete (updated) list can be found here, with my notes on my achievements to date below.

Blog--Nothing to report in this category; sticking with my ongoing 1X/week goal (19/26 Jan-June 2014) seems challenging enough.

Cooking
6. Bake bread from scratch Chocolate Almond Swirl 4/6/2014

9. New recipe 1X/week--(17/26) Jan-June 2014 I've edited this item to reflect my ongoing new recipe/week goal.  #9 originally read "vegan/ethnic recipe 1X/month" but keeping track of that in addition to other new recipes seemed like a bit much.

Fitness
10. Run color/electric race Rainbow Rush "5K" 5/25/2014

14. Yoga 1X/week--(12/26) Jan-June 2014

Personal Growth
15. Study and take JLPT--I looked up the test date...
17. Attend 2  professional conferences--one down, one to go; National Women's Bicycle Bicycling Forum 3/3/2014
18. Find & commit to a regular volunteer opportunity--Girl Scout Troop 788 Cookie Manager/Volunteer
19. Read 12 non-fiction books--(4/12) Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices,Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Bikenomics, Blink
20. Donate blood--I have an appointment on 7/7/2014  

Relationships
21. Plan wedding--Printed a to-do list, perused wedding magazine, contemplated joining pintrest...
24. Write letter 1X/week--(14/26) Jan-June 2014

Travel--sadly, nothing to report here.  How I would love to change that, ASAP!

Well, I have certainly made some progress, but with only 10% of the items completed to date, I will have to apply myself a bit more if I really want these things checked off by my 30th birthday.  It's interesting to me how much has changed in the six months since I wrote these all down.  The small edit in the Cooking category is the only change I am allowing myself at this time, and I am going to try not to make others in the future.  The Blog category hasn't inspired any action to date, although I am pretty sure I included it to have some easy things to check off.  Even though I have a copy of the list posted by my desk where I can see it on a daily basis, this sort of more detailed accounting has been way more helpful for me to see where I stand.

I hope to be much further along at the next check-in six months from now!

New Recipes: June

What happened to June!?!?  The month really flew by, but by some small miracle I tried three new recipes amid the whirlwind that was family, work and saying good-bye to a friend starting a new adventure in the Big Apple.

Recipe 1: Strawberry Mint Smoothie

I followed the recipe as closely as I could with what I had on hand the first time, halving it to serve one person.  But my smoothie came out pretty chunky (gross).  The flavors were good though, so I made it again but skipped the raw almonds in favor of some peanut butter, used a whole banana and a little less almond milk.  I want to say that I really like the strawberry mint combination, but more likely it's the chocolate that makes it so tasty.

Recipe 2: Mini Party Quiches 

I earmarked this recipe for a potluck, not thinking about how long they would take to put together.  I arrived more than fashionably late, and there was a lot of other food, so I ended up bringing home several leftovers.

The recipe turned out fine, but wasn't anything remarkable.  Plus, with all of the frozen mini-quiches out there, I don't think I will be making this again any time soon.

Recipe 3:  Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Another great recipe from Joy the Baker.  I will admit I was not sure browning the butter would be worth it, but it was, even for the smell alone!  The brown butter also gave the cookies a subtle flavor boost.  I liked the cookies so much I made this recipe twice in one week; once to take into work and a half recipe to bring with me to share with my extended family as we continue to work on my aunt's estate.  My family was very appreciative, one of the many reasons I love them so much ;-)

Two out of three during a busy month isn't too bad!  More potlucks on the horizon for the Fourth, plus some prolific zucchini plants will help keep me creative in July.