An Abundance of Squash

John planted a mix of 7 squash varieties in our garden this year. It has been fun to see what comes up. So far, we've enjoyed four types - yellow crookneck, zucchini (which I think is called Black Beauty, but it's just regular zucchini), tatume (the round light green one to the left of the knife blade in the first picture), and cocozelle (the dark green zucchini to the right of the knife).

We have a few ready each day, so I've prepared it steamed, fried it, made it into zucchini bread, used it in a vegetable spaghetti sauce, and in veggie pizza rolls (ala Double Daves, yum!). I was running out of ideas, so I turned to the internet. My friend Glenn said he had tried squash blossoms and they were delicious, so I looked up recipes for the blossoms, as well.

I don't think I've taken pictures of my cooking since college (remember that, Christy? we were so proud of our cooking!), but I figured it was okay for the blog.

The cutting board on the left has squash blossoms stuffed with a ricotta mushroom mixture. (There are also a few mushrooms because I LOVE fried mushrooms.) I wasn't sure exactly which blossoms to use, so we tried some of each - male blossoms (the ones without fruit) and female blossoms attached to baby squashes of 3 varieties. They were then dipped into a homemade beer batter and fried - delicious! The other dish is all 4 types, stuffed with sausage, onions, breadcrumbs, and some other stuff. I topped them with a little Italian cheese right at the end of baking. Also yummy!

When I was washing the squash blossoms before preparing them, I opened up a tiny spot at the top of the blossom and ran water into them. I was very surprised when one of the flowers started buzzing and vibrating! I came to my senses in time to make it outside before the bee came zooming out the end. I had seen all the bees in the blossoms this morning, but that was when they were wide open; I didn't expect the bees to stay inside and get closed into the flowers in the evening.

Tomorrow night's dessert: Baked Squash with Blueberries!

Here are the recipes:
http://www.seasonalchef.com/recipe0805b.htm#Battered
http://southernfood.about.com/od/summersquash/r/bl00819a.htm

Cookie is a Rock Star

John's mom, whom the kids call Cookie, was in town for a visit last weekend. We got her to sing on Rock Band. Helene is cheering her on.







One of Helene's favorite new games is to sit on the boulders in the flower garden and imagine wonderful, fantastic things. Both "players" sit and think for a few minutes and get a good vision in their heads, then they share their ideas with each other.

I've had this entry saved as a draft for days because I haven't been in the mood to write anything interesting. I'm still not (maybe it's just too hot to think - can't believe I'm in Colorado and saying that), but I'm going to post it anyway because the pictures are cute.

Summer Stuff

I haven't figured out how to move pictures around on here easily, so since I just added this picture, it's stuck at the top of this entry, even though it belongs with the story at the bottom.  This is from the hike I did with Daddy and Bruce.

Campbell got to attend a "Science Magic" camp last week, in which the kids learned to do some magic tricks and to understand the scientific principles behind them. On the last day, they performed a magic show, and each kid got to demonstrate one trick. Campbell poured purple liquid into 3 glasses, then turned one of them blue by adding a certain powder to it and one of them pink by adding a certain liquid to it. Any of you science teachers out there know how it was done?



Helene got a haircut - first ever professional haircut. She got bangs, which I think will be wonderful, since she usually doesn't bother with clips or bows, and it's always hanging in her face. The bangs should help avoid that Cousin It look. And she got it cut short with layers, which should help with the tangles. Here she is sporting the clips Auntie Beth brought her from South Dakota and playing the pan pipes Beth gave Campbell. Thanks, Beth!!

Yesterday, the kids and I went up to Northfork and got to see lots of family! I think there were almost 30 of us gathered for dinner last night. I'm not good at remembering to take pictures of people, so maybe my dad and Grace and some of the others photographers from that night will send me some! :) Anyway, it was great to visit with everyone and a nice evening for a cookout.

Today, my dad and my cousin, Bruce, and I went on a hike along the Northfork Trailhead to the old abandoned hunting lodge of the Earl of Dunraven. It was six miles round-trip, all along a rushing stream, with wildflowers in bloom everywhere. Oh, and the butterflies - hundreds! Absolutely beautiful! And so nice to hike at an adult pace for a change.

Beth and the Boys

John's sister, Beth, came into town Wednesday with a carload of boys - our nephews, Jack and Carter; Beth's boyfriend, Jeff; his two boys, Alex and Sam; and a black lab puppy named Angus. They've been on a major road trip from Texas to Canada to South Dakota and now Colorado. I'm so glad they squeezed in some time to see us. We've had a wonderful time, and Campbell and Helene have loved seeing their cousins.

We spent yesterday at the zoo and the Museum of Nature and Science. Below are Carter, Alex, Jack, Campbell, and Sam.


A peahen with her peachicks.
Helene and her friend Grace have been going to Zoo Camp all week. We ran into their group a couple of times while we were wandering around yesterday. The camp has been fun and educational. Helene is learning quite a bit about animals and about energy conservation, the theme of her camp.

Gardening

Our garden is doing well so far this summer. We've had a ton of snap peas, which are delicious both straight off the vine and steamed. Here are Helene and Sydney picking the peas. The leaves in the foreground are squash. We planted a variety. The zucchini produced enough that we could eat some last week. I see some yellow crookneck and a round squash (acorn??) coming in now.


These vines growing along the fence are hops - guess why John wanted to plant those!

Here is Tobie amongst the strawberries and sweet corn.

And this is our monster pumpkin vine. John planted it from a small plant (in a regular 4-inch container) a month ago. Now he walks out to see it and swears he can hear it saying, "Feed me, Seymour!"

Rock Band

Last Sunday afternoon, we hung out at Chris and Kathy's house and enjoyed playing "Rock Band". Chris is on guitar, Kathy on the drums, and Cam on the mic. When playing the game, you watch a screen that tells you what notes to play and when or which lyrics to sing at what pitch. If you're not doing well, the "audience" on the game will boo you off the stage. It's much more of a video game than anything that requires actual musical ability, but it's a lot of fun.


Campbell sings a mean version of "Roxanne".

So, this weekend, we ended up buying Rock Band for ourselves. Cam, Helene, and her friend, Sydney, are all down in the basement playing together right now. It's adorable. I realize it's not as good as playing outside, but we did spend the entire weekend in the mountains playing outside. So, for an indoor video game, at least it's fairly interactive and something several people can do together.