In Amanda’s words: {this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Quick!  Make this salad before Summer is over!  This is one of my favorite summer recipes.  If I ever go to a potluck during the summer, you will usually see me with a large bowl of this in my hands.

ROSE’S BLACK BEAN SALAD

2 cobs of fresh corn

1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed

a handful of chopped cilantro

1/2 of a red bell pepper, diced

a few thick slices of red onion, diced, or a few scallions, sliced

2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 Tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Clean corn, then cook in boiling water for two minutes.  Drain and let cool (an ice bath works well for this).  Prepare other ingredients while waiting for corn to cool.  When corn is cool enough to handle, cut the kernels from the cobs.   Combine black beans, pepper, onion and cilantro.  Add enough corn to get a nice mix.  Sometimes I use it all, sometimes not.   Whisk together the oil and vinegar, then dress the salad to taste.  I usually use all of the dressing. Salt and pepper to your heart’s desire.  Try to not eat it all yourself.

Is it really September already? One can never start too early on Halloween costumes.  This is the scene on my ironing board right now.

The Girl has chosen to be a fairy, and did we ever have fun choosing the fabric for this one.  She wanted pink, of course.

No matter how many times I tell myself that we have plenty of costumes in our dress up trunk, I am a sucker for making new ones.  I just can’t help myself.

Here is what raw determination will get you in just one day.

This was the scene in my dining room today.  While The Girl napped, I painted for the first time since I found out I was pregnant with her, over three years ago.  This is the painting I had to stop working on, and it has hung in my kitchen, unfinished, for three years.

I hardly remembered what to do today, but then I remembered why I love it so much.  It was terrifying, clumsy, and exhilarating.

I’ll share progress soon.

The Boy started first grade on Monday and it’s been a big adjustment for him, as well as for our family.  We are still struggling to find our rhythm, but I am certain it will come.  He did great at drop-off the first day.  I didn’t know what to expect, and there’s been some grumbling, but after a hard first day, he’s taking it better than I expected.

The Girl and I are enjoying time alone, and I am enjoying getting my house really clean for the first time in three months.

It’s been raining practically non-stop for the the last three days, which is pretty unusual, but it’s been nice hunkering down at home, pretending it’s Fall.  Which is still at least five weeks away.  Sigh.

What better way to pretend it’s Fall than to make soup? Nevermind the fact that it’s 77 degrees outside (which is actually pretty low).  So crustless quiche and tomato alphabet soup it was.  The Farm is finally open again, which means glorious, bright-orange-yoked eggs, which don’t even compare to the organic supermarket ones.

In an effort to eat less meat, more locally, and to save money on the ever-growing food budget, I’ve been trying to cook at least one or two vegetarian meals a week.  I’ve also been trying to buy what looks good, what’s affordable, and what’s local, rather than going to the store with a dead-set menu plan.  I went shopping today, but I didn’t know what I was going to make for dinner tonight.

The gray and drizzly day made me want soup.   Bear in mind these are more formula than recipe, but for those of you who need it:

ROSE’S CRUSTLESS QUICHE FOR TWO (WITH LEFTOVERS)

1 small head broccoli

1/2 small onion, chopped

olive oil

1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 1/2 teaspoons all purpose flour

2 eggs

3/4 cups half and half (or light cream)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

pinch nutmeg

pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400. Butter an eight-inch skillet or pan. Cut broccoli into florets and blanch.  Drain and chop.  Saute onion in olive oil until soft. Toss the cheese with the flour and set aside.  Meanwhile, whisk eggs with half and half, salt, nutmeg and pepper, until well mixed. Add broccoli, onion, and cheese to the egg mixture. Pour into pan and bake 25 to 30 minutes, until slightly browned, and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool 15 minutes in the pan, cut into wedges, and serve.  Also good as leftovers, hot, cold, or room temp.

ROSE’S TOMATO (ALPHABET) SOUP

1 small onion, chopped

olive oil

1 large carrot, peeled and grated

1 small zucchini, scrubbed and grated

1 clove garlic, put through a garlic press

1  26 ounce box Pomi strained tomatoes

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon sugar (or agave)

salt and pepper to taste

handful of alphabet pasta

Heat a large pot over medium heat.  Saute onion in olive oil.  Add carrot when onion is soft.  Add zucchini when carrot softens.  Add garlic when all is soft and beginning to brown.  Add tomatoes, and fill the empty tomato box with water. Add water to soup with bay leaf, salt, pepper, and sugar.  Bring to a boil, then simmer, covered, for approximately 40 minutes. Fish out bay leaf and discard.  Using an immersion blender, puree the soup right in the pot.  Meanwhile, bring a smallish pot of water to a boil, then cook pasta and drain.  I like the add the pasta as I serve it because it tends to get mushy as leftovers.  I prefer the soup without pasta, but The Boy loves it.

And came out with this:

Meet the new Fall quilt.  Mostly from the fabric store, some from my stash.  Solids in purple, brown, tan and gray.  Corduroy, velvet, sateen and broadcloth, all in cotton, linen and silk.

I know, I know.  I’m insane.  But at least I just discovered that this is not a new phenomenon.

Let’s not speak of the other unfinished quilts. This made me do it.  I’ve had quilting on the brain ever since.

And this one’s going to be done lickety-split, I swear.  Just in time for fall.

The Boy had been asking for a party for several days in a row, so I decided to oblige him.  I had exactly six cupcakes in the freezer, so we invited four friends.

Everyone got a candle to blow out.

I made a fruit salad and put out a bowl of pretzels.  I blew up some balloons, set out some bubbles, and called it a party.

A good time was had by all.  Sometimes it’s good to have a party just because.

They are so easy to make. They are all-natural.  They are cheaper than buying beeswax candles.

And they smell positively divine.

I’ve been feeling a bit mixed up lately.  Lots of Big Thoughts going through my head.  Thoughts about home, life, children, education, religion.  You know, the little things.

Sometimes when I feel a bit scrambled and need to think or just vent, I reach for my journal.  Only this time I pulled out my journal and as I flipped through its pages, I was overwhelmingly overcome with how awful some of the things written in my journal were.  I’ve always seen my journal as a place where I can “let it all hang out” so to speak.  But this was just bad.  I read through some of it thinking, “this isn’t even me anymore.”  How could I possibly write in such a space?

Now that I am trying really hard to “use it up, wear it out, make do, or go without,” I told myself I would have to go on in that book.  But I simply could not bring myself to write in that journal.  And this is not the first time I have done this.  I have several unfinished journals in my home.  But I came to the realization that it’s okay to let go of an old journal.  I try to think of each book as a different chapter in my life.

So I bought a new Moleskine.  How I love these books. This time I vowed to let my journal be about me.

I took it home and gave the front page a wash of vibrant yellow.  And I placed on it a simple message to myself.

Hope.