a week of meals no. 38
meal plan for the second week of July 2024
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Hello all, happy Saturday and welcome to another weekend. It’s been quite an eventful week here, we are currently in the midst of an oppressive heat wave, multiple days of 105-110 F and even higher. We often see heat over 100, but not often over 110 here. As you can most likely imagine, it’s not very nice to be in- you must do things either early morning or late evening if you want to be outside, and find inside things to do most of the day. For the garden, it means that we’ll have a gap in the future of tomatoes and other produce- they don’t set fruit well in the extreme heat. It’s also a battle to keep things watered, even with mulching, especially since a few days we had heat coupled with wind (think blowdryer). Watering deeply in the evening seems to be the best tactic.
We escaped to the beach with friends and kids on Tuesday, which was absolutely wonderful- the temperature difference between home and coast was almost 40 degrees. It was a beautiful day, and we swam and saw moon jellies and bat rays in the water. James is extremely content at the ocean, happy to haul buckets of seawater and scoop sand and rocks, which means I can relax more. Swimming in the ocean always hits the re-set button for me on a deep level, there’s something about it that is so soothing and makes you feel how small you are, how small your problems are, in the best way.
This week, I’m reading Giada Scodellaro’s collection of (very) short stories, Some of Them Will Carry Me. I’ve not read anything from her before, but her writing has been very enjoyable to read- the stories are centered on Black women and each story is so different- in both content and tone. They are short yet contain multitudes! I’m also re-reading my grandma’s copy of The Secret of Childhood by Maria Montessori. Also, I finally picked up my pre-order of Rachel Cusk’s Parade from my beloved Avid Reader. The clerk and I were discussing how she splits audiences so strongly- especially on this book, the reviews are pretty evenly divided. I’m going to dive in as soon as I’m finished with a knitting project I’m working on. Has anyone read it already?
This week in our CSA box I received: watermelon, sweet corn, donut peaches, heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, onions, carrots, and zucchini. I finished my ten boxes at Terra Firma Farm, and am now switching over to Full Belly Farm- they have fresh milled Rouge de Bordeaux flour (apparently it was used in the original baguette) available as an add-on to their boxes and I am so excited to try it. I am trying to switch more of our staple pantry products to local ones for freshness, sustainability and keeping $ in our community.
You may notice that the meals this week are very simple and fresh- this is high summer, and I rely on a small rotation of easy yet wholesome and delicious recipes. If you’re interested in reading more about my summer kitchen, I sent out a newsletter on Tuesday about it:
I hope you have a wonderful week ahead, and are staying cool in this heat, if you’re also experiencing it! The meal plan follows, with a poem after. As always, thank you for being here, for reading, for writing in. xx A
the meal plan
Sunday: grilled zucchini, tomato, and white bean salad with basil vinaigrette, sweet corn, cold goddess melon drizzled with good olive oil and salt
Monday: zucchini chickpea fritters and cuc/yogurt sauce, nectarine salad, sweet corn
Tuesday: white bean tomato salad, foccaccia, blistered shisito peppers
Wednesday: farinata, peperonata, leftover white bean salad
Thursday: leftover peperonata tossed with penne; sauteed zucchini with garlic, mint, a splash red wine vinegar to finish
Friday: panzanella with chickpeas added; cold watermelon
Saturday: gemelli with pesto, potatoes, and green beans; sliced tomato, shallot, basil salad
weekend breakfast: waffles with sauteed peaches and fresh blueberries and barely sweetened maple whipped cream
weekend bake: apricot olive oil cake
midweek treat: baked peaches with whipped cream
Phew, I hope you and your garden can stay cool during the heat wave! We are also having a bit of a hot week but not as hot as you. Still, watering the garden will also be a struggle while temps are high for me too.
Also, I read Fever Dream this last week on your recommendation. It was so well written and creepy in a slow burn/inevitable disaster way. I had to relate the whole thing to my partner so we could talk about it haha. Thank you!