A little bit of this, a little bit of that

[magid]

Such cool weather for August, far more like September, overcast and a bit chilly, with a hint of the season to come. The rain made it particularly clear how far the wheel of the year has turned, as already-brown leaves were washed onto the sidewalk. I'm enjoying the cool, but I hope it doesn't mean an early and hard winter.

On the Cambridge side of the river at the bend near the pepperpot bridge yesterday morning, it looked like someone not yet skilled in paper marbling was using green dye against the dark background of the water.

I got a lot of Looks yesterday because I wore my blue-and-white-striped engineer's hat. They all seemed to be commenting on the hat, presumably the disconnect between a supposed kid's hat and my age, but it was interesting to see the range of tones, positive to negative. I was also surprised by how much comment there was by people I know (*waves*); I apparently do not put my hair up much.

Made for Shabbat:

• roasted zucchini and cauliflower
  
• sauteed veggies (onion, garlic (both old and new), red scallions, two hot peppers, broccoli, two long red peppers)
  
• fish-corn chowder with potato and leeks (way too much corn, actually, but once I started cutting it off the cobs, I didn't want to stop until they were all done)
  
• vegetable-chicken stew (onion, carrots, garlic, lacinato kale, chicken thighs, chard, black pepper, cayenne pepper)

I'm thinking about canning things. The top three on my list right now are tomato sauce (using the Federle tomatoes), plum-cranberry jam with Chinese five spice (I'm not sure whether this is a good idea or not; opinions very welcome), and, assuming Boston Organics delivers five pounds of wild blueberries, blueberry-cranberry jam. It's very probable that there will be filled jars available; let me know if you're interested in something. (ZZBottom, I already owe you a jar of blueberry-cranberry stuff.)

PSAs:

• Wednesdays at 6:30p in September, the Paul Revere Memorial Association and the Old South Meeting House have a series of free lectures titled "A Radical Look at the American Revolution." They're hour-long talks, the first two followed by booksignings.
  
  • September 6: Adams, Rever, and "The Body of the People," by Ray Raphael (historian)
    
  • September 13: Cradle of Violence: How Boston's Waterfront Mobs Ignited the American Revolution, Russell Bourne (historian)
    
  • September 20: The Unifinished Business of the American Revolution: Race and Slavery at the President's House Site in Philadelphia, Doris Fanelli (chief of cultural resources management at Independence National Historical Park)
    
  • September 27: A Funeral Fit for a King: Terror, Iconoclasm, and the Coming of the American Revolution, Brendan McConville (BU professor)
  
  
• Tuesday September 19, 6-8p, the ACLU of Mass. and PEN New England are celebrating Constitution Day with an event called "An Evening Without.... giving voice to the excluded," which is people whose names I should apparently recognize reading the works of people whose writing has been suppressed at some time, such as Nelson Mandela, Pablo Neruda, Pierre Trudeau, Doris Lessing, et al. It's at the Copley BPL, in the Rabb Lecture Hall.
  
• For the 1776 fans: Lyric Stage is putting the musical on, September 8-October 14.

Comments

[rikchik.livejournal.com]

Where did you find an adult-sized engineer's hat? I looked for one 2 Halloweens ago, for a Lunar Rails costume, but could only find large childrens' sizes that fit Mary but not me.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I didn't, exactly. I've had this had since I was smallish (sometime higher single digits, I think), and it still fits. I think I got this one at the Children's Museum all those years ago, but I'm not totally sure. (And there aren't any tags or other identifying features still on mine, alas.)

[fetteredwolf.livejournal.com]

How did the fennel work out?

Plum cranberry with five spice sounds interesting. I'd like a jar if it pans out! (And of course of anything else you'd offer. Duh.)

I've made a lot of roasted zucchini and cauliflower, and I can't seem to get enough of it.

[magid.livejournal.com]

The fennel turned out well roasted with enough other stuff (onions, zukes, tomatoes). I think I overloaded the tray, though.

I'm thinking I need more than the nine plums I have; I hope the farmer's market has some. (Tonight I need to do at least one canning thing to have any hope of keeping up :-)

I totally find roasted veggies addicting. Cauliflower's amazing, also zukes, and, strangely enough, tomato, if you get good ones without a lot of water (grape tomatoes work when halved, and Striped Germans are pretty amazing, too). Sweet potatoes with a touch of cayenne are lovely too... (I could go on and on.)