i know there must be something wrong with me if i get sad when seasons end and news ones begin.  not because of the change, but because i realize i didn’t eat enough of the vegetables in season and soon they will gone, replaced by the vegetable du jour.  i panicked today because i realized i hadn’t eaten my fair share of summer squash.  so we had a yummy dinner of shrimp scampi and sauteed summer squash with basil, garlic and chili flakes.  i feel a little better.  time to the gorge on the tomatoes before it’s too late….

we have become a little lazy over the past few months.  not cooking as much, lack of routine, sleeping in, staying up late…. well it’s school time and it’s time to get back in the groove.  now that i have my scary speech behind me, i feel that i can focus and start catching up on the zillion things i have to do.  one of niels’ clients knows our love for thai food so she brought him a recipe along with all of the ingredients.  how cool is that?!  so while i made panang curry – britt played under the breakfast nook and made a “secret hide-out” (although it wasn’t too secret because i could see her watching me), jette did her homework (a collage on friendship.  fun!) and elle was at gymnastics.  it was a fun moment in time – relaxing and getting back into the routine.  home cooked meals, homework and family time.  each doing our own little thing.  it’s sad but true – i love routine.

during the school year – i am a strictly-cereal, serving mom.  absolutely no creativity and i sure as heck am not going to wake up early to make a breakfast.  i am a bear in the morning and feel sorry for anyone who is within a 10 foot radius of me.  can’t help it.  but in the summer, i get to sleep in (guilty pleasure) and so i’m a little more pleasant when i wake up.  in fact,  i feel a little martha-like and enjoy cooking breakfast.  now that tomatoes are in full-force i love to slice up a juicy tomato and serve it at breakfast.  yum.  they’re so pretty to look at – a better start to the day than a bowl of cheerios.

my mom has been heavy on my mind.  so i decided to make her famous tacos (famous in my world at least) for dinner tonight.  she called them “east-LA tacos.”  not the kind you find in mexico, but the kind you find sitting on the table of a third generation southern-californian.  i loved her tacos – so simple, so good (maybe not too healty, oh well).  my mom cooked dinner for my family, my grandma and grandpa and close family friends every tuesday night.  she rotated her repertoire and taco night was one of my favorites.  we had a standing competition of how many tacos we could eat.  my record is nine and niels’ is fourteen.  now, when i make my mom’s tacos, niels tells the girls every single time that he holds the record.  now they are starting to count their record – so cute (jette – 5, elle – 4, britt -2).  happy memories.

i love going to the farmer’s market.  we have a good one close to our house – it’s grown quite a bit in the last few years.  the fruits and vegetables have become a bit more exotic, there is usually entertainment and yummy food to sample.  most of all, it makes me feel like i live in a community – people are out, enjoying the sunshine, buying locally, buying organic.  it’s cool, i love it!   i like to just walk through and see at what is in season.  i nabbed some squash blossoms so i can make cheese stuffed squash blossoms with shaved squash and toasted pumpkin seeds.  i’ve had to wait all year to find squash blossoms!  the girls like to eat at “Red,” east african food.  they make yummy sambussas stuffed with savory delights like cream cheese and coconut, spinach garlic and assorted spices, potatoes & lentils.  so good and so different!  it’s pretty at the farmer’s market – beautiful shades of natural color, textured fruits and vegetables and exotic foods to sample.  my favorite  booth has a couple dozen vintage chalkboards that they strategically place around their booth.  so much to look at!

it’s summer, we’re on week two and i’m looking for things to do.  the weather is kind of yucky, “june gloom” in san diegan speak.  makes you want to sit on the couch in your jammies and well, eat ice cream!  so that’s exactly what we did.  except we made our ice cream.  i dusted off the ice cream maker, we went to the grocery store for goodies to go into it and made some yummy, old fashioned ice cream made with milk and cream.  and WOW!  amazing.  it’s been a while since i tasted home made ice cream and it’s truly heavenly.

i love in-season corn on the cob.  it’s so easy to cook and tastes like summer when you bite into it.  my friend cindy taught me how to make perfect corn-on-the-cob and i’ve been making it this way ever sense.   super tender and sweet.  to make:  boil a large pot of water with two tablespoons of sugar.  shuck your corn right before adding it to the water.  bring water back to a boil, cover, turn off the heat and let sit for 5 minutes.  remove corn from the water – roll it in a pan with melted butter, salt and serve!  for a little something extra – throw on the grill and char a bit.  perfect!

i have a tendency to obsess – if i like something, i think about it A LOT.  well my latest obsession is cuba.  i am trying to find a yummy cuban restaurant in san diego – after talking to megan one day, one of three sisters’ stamper extraordinaires, i confided my cuba-obsession.  the timewarp feel of the country, their use of colors, the food, the music, the people.  so cool! well turns out that there is a little “cuban patisserie” down the street from megan’s house in ocean beach called azucar.  she brought pastries one morning for us all to share and WOW!  my socks were knocked off: mojito sugar cookies, cream cheese and guava pastries, keylime white chocolate scones, coconut macademia florentine bars…. everything i tasted was a sensory seduction.  if you live in san diego, you MUST make a trip to azucar.  you will thank me!  move over almond croissants, there is a new pastry in town!

i bumped into my friend nikki and she told me that she has tried a few of my blog recipes.  i was totally surprised.  i didn’t think anyone actually tried them!  in fact, she said she was making the teriyaki chicken that night again.  wow.  so cool!  how neat that my mom’s recipe is reaching others.  i loved hearing that.  so guess what?  you get another recipe!  it may not seem that exciting, but it’s a staple in our house.  easy to make AND it serves a dual purpose.  an affordable, easy to make meal and it it’s a good recipe for the parts of the rotisserie chicken that no one will eat!  i have a weird hang-up and hate to waste food.   i grappled with the rotisserie chicken issue – it’s great to grab and eat when you don’t want to cook, but what do you do with those darn legs and wings?  my kids won’t eat them – niels will, but is it really not fair to make him eat the parts that no one wants?  probably not, so niels concocted this recipe and it’s a hit.  here is what you do:  cook three 2 cups of long grain rice.  while the rice is cooking, cook a pound of bacon in the oven (400 degrees for 20/25 minutes, turning once).  make sure it is very crisp – the crispness adds good texture to the rice.  once the rice is done (can be made in the morning), start your wok and heat to high.  if you don’t have a wok, then use a large pan (can’t do nonstick though) and heat to high.  throw in a handful and a half of finely diced or shredded carrots and stir fry until cooked.  throw in the diced chicken and stir fry until heated through (don’t do chicken?  use shrimp instead!).  add the rice and cook until heated and then add chopped bacon and handful of chopped green onions.  beat two eggs and add at the end.  stir fry until rice is dry/egg is cooked and then add 1/4 c. soy sauce.  drizzle with sesame oil and garnish with more onions (i use an entire bunch for the meal). it takes all of ten minutes to cook.   we then dress it up with our assortment of chili oils!  and lastly, try not to eat all of the bacon before you add it to the rice…

(PS – please don’t be scared of the picture of my wok!  it was a gift from my mom when i left for college – that and a rice cooker.  if my house was burning down, my wok would be one of the five top material possessions i would rescue.  it’s seen a lot of meals and is well seasoned!)

ever since i went to vegas with lisa back in march, i’ve been obsessed with beets.  while we were there, i had two beet salads in one day and i fell head over heals with those silly, little vegetables.  how could a small beautifully colored vegetable be so perfect?  i discovered prepared beets at trader joe’s and i’ve never looked back.  when the kids are in school, i make myself a huge beet salad and gobble it up.  they’re like little jewels sitting on a mound of pretty little leaves, surrounded by their friends – miss goat cheese and mr. blueberry.  i love my beets.