I made this while Josh worked in the heat, attacking the weeds in the flowerbeds. I'm a bit sad about the amount of peas we harvested this year. We had planted Amish Snap, Dwarf Gray Sugar and Green Arrow Peas, all from heirloom seeds. We harvested less than a quart from some 50 plants. I guess I decided that I needed one that'd stick around. Besides, I wanted to try something different and finally found a suitable use for the glass beads that were handmade in Ghana. I like the staining on the copper left from soldering, so I'm keeping it there. Here's how the first draft came out.

When my sweat-soaked mister returned, we decided it was a day to play in the kitchen. First up, ginger beer. We've had ginger root for some other goodies. No clue how it will turn out yet, but here is the recipe (thanks to a friend from church): 

The leftover lemon provided two uses: 1. lemony gin & tonic, 2. lemon rosemary zucchini bread. This recipe was recently acquired from a new acquaintance. It was fabulous when he made it. I'm a sucker for anything lemon or lime and with plenty of zucchini and rosemary growing, I wanted to try it out.

The eggs we used were of course from our chickens. Between that and the zucchini, an idea for dinner was sparked. We were already grating and freezing zucchini for future use, once we learn to miss it again. Zucchini thickens up tomato sauce nicely. So-I took last year's canned crushed tomatoes (soon we'll have these again and if I don't use the cans now, I never will!), grabbed a handful or two of the grated zucchini, threw in some basil from outside the window and added some boursin cheese that needed to be used up. (I adore boursin to a degree that is unhealthy. I also buy it when it's BOGO and then save it because it's so special.) The eggs have their role in the pasta. Recently inspired by our trip to Rino's in Boston (which we learned about on Food Network), it absolutely made sense to make pasta when the kitchen was already a wreck. 

It was delicious! The time and effort were most worthwhile. We also began the process for seven day pickles with our seven pounds of cucumbers from the garden that we picked over the weekend. The recipe I'm following comes from Harvest Sampler Cook Book: Messiah College Women's Auxiliary and was printed in 1974, with the food stained pages to prove its utility. Six more days to see how they turn out. 

The small leaved potent basil is growing faster than I can harvest it. I grabbed a big batch and have begun drying it for the winter down in the basement where it's dark and dry. A good batch of pesto has already been made and frozen into ice cubes. Though, there can never be too much pesto lying around. 

Processes like this that take time are a great way for us to spend that time together when we're so frequently pulled in many other directions. I feel accomplished in my day. Now to take on today. First: prepare peaches and blueberries purchased at market for today's ice cream social for Manada Conservancy. Then I'll leave to spend the morning volunteering as a sound technician, then a quick dinner with the mountain family where I'll share the bread, then off to socialize while serving ice cream! There are very short intervals between these events. Best be quick on my feet.