by day the blue will pale down into white where it touches the white of the land, after sunset it has a new circumference-orange, melting upwards into tenderest purple. but the core of blue persists, and so it is by night. then the stars hang like lamps from the immense vault. the distance between the vault and them is as nothing to the distance behind them, and that farther distance, though beyond colour, last freed itself from blue. -e.m. forster (a passage to india)
i cooked up a new version of my red lentil soup this morning and took it to kendall in the afternoon. i also made a batch of granola to take over.
kendall was happy for a little break to take care of simple chores, such as taking out the recycling, checking the mail and unpacking a new water filter.
aurélien is growing plump. he's also trying to lift his head and look around more. (he, also, still likes to sleep a lot.)
back at home, greg and i had the new soup. i usually just caramelize onions with the red lentils. today i added cumin, oregano, tomato paste, finely diced carrots, and garlic (and chicken broth as the base).
this evening's meal featured a new risotto recipe. i found it online . . just through a random search for eggplant risotto.
what made this recipe so good, was that i used four slender eggplants: two i roasted, and two i sautéed. meanwhile, i sautéed onion and garlic in olive oil in a pan and then added the rice and ladlefuls of broth. when all the broth was absorbed, i added the roasted eggplant, which i had scooped from the skins, minced lemon and parmesan. when dished onto the plates, i added the diced eggplant with parsley. i finally found the recipe again and you can see it here. it was incredibly creamy. i've never combined eggplant and lemon before, without tomatoes.
i've had this movie from the library for over a month now, and finally watched it while working on a sock i've been knitting. i had refreshed my memory of michelangelo's life beforehand so i wouldn't be wondering what was true and what wasn't when watching. they embellished the characters, but the storyline was rather accurate. i also enjoyed rex harrison and charlton heston's performances. eva had recommended it back in february.
and . . dinner with chanda and greg. i made a kale soup with leftover chicken. granted, it was a bit hot to be making soup, but i was tired of having kale salad.
after dinner we watched the sokolow theatre company's latest performance, which was supposed to be in a theatre in brooklyn, but which moved online due to covid-19.
i thought it was a wonderful production with beautiful dancing and good tech work: the filming and editing was smooth and also interesting.
i don't think we watched in a very reverent manner . . as my feet were propped on the desk, and chanda and i kept up a commentary wondering what our dancing friends were up to in their lives. however, we certainly had fun together and enjoyed the performance, which is available on the sokolow theatre/dance ensemble's website for another week.
it was that time of the summer when we meet ellen for ice cream. this year we met at morgenstern's, which isn't far from where ellen lives. i had raspberry lychee sorbet and vietnamese coffee, chanda had strawberry guava sorbet, and ellen had mint chip and burnt honey vanilla ice cream (which is one of my favorites and which i had with espresso in march before lockdown - actually, it was in february! the post is here).
it was very hot day, but, fortunately, not too humid.
as you can see . . it was a quiet afternoon at the ice cream parlor . .
it was nice to catch up on each other's news. ellen has been trying to figure out how to have her dance classes. she has a few students sending her videos which she critiques with them, and she's trying to decide if she can have one on one sessions in a studio.
chanda ran off to meet emily and ellen and i visited the new bread shop on prince street. vesuvio bakery reopened with a new owner and i bought an olive rosemary bread.
we also tried the soft serve vanilla gelato with olive oil and sea salt sprinkled over it. chanda had raved about it, and we both loved it.
i said good-bye to ellen in washington square and passed this cute kitty at bigelow pharmacy on my way home.
dinner this evening was chicken drumsticks with a beet salad i've been making for many years . . from cynthia lair's feeding the whole family cookbook. it uses the beet tops and i mixed in some onion, sunflower seeds, walnuts and feta cheese.
mah ze dahr bakery is open again, and i stopped on the way home for carrot cake . . which they didn't have. i settled for cream cheese cake . . but it wasn't as good as their carrot cake. supposedly, they won't have carrot cake again until the fall . . ah well, i need something to look forward to in the fall! (wow, i had a lot of desserts today.)
----
here are a few pics from korrina's ferry ride to the beach today:
it's been a few weeks since i've been home to listen to first unitarian's sunday service. greg and i joined in this morning and i enjoyed singing somos el barco. this is peter, paul and mary singing above, from a concert in the not too distant past . . i think.
brunch . .
greg and i took a walk along the river, but didn't stay too long as there were quite a number of joggers and walkers. it was just a bit too crowded. we prefer the shady and quieter side streets.
when we left we met kendall and little aurélien just starting out. it was fun to run into them.
just some of the outdoor tents and tables we see everywhere now.
----
dinner tonight was cod fish with a butter mustard sauce and roasted green beans.
sunset . . it's been hot, but not very humid, which keeps life bearable.
Somos el barco, somos el mar, Yo navego en ti, tu navegas en mi. We are the boat, we are the sea, I sail in you, you sail in me.som
Somos el barco, somos el mar, Yo navego en ti, tu navegas en mi. We are the boat, we are the sea, I sail in you, you sail in me.
Somos el barco, somos el mar, Yo navego en ti, tu navegas en mi. We are the boat, we are the sea, I sail in you, you sail in me.
we had the AC off today as there was a nice breeze. however, it was still rather warm so i made egg salad and a mixed salad for dinner, along with avocado. now i'm having deviled egg cravings as i write this, so perhaps i'll make that soon.
i was happy to play a round of apples to apples this evening, and chanda won this time.
this morning it was my turn to sit out in my car and wait for the street cleaner . . who didn't come today either! i saw him pass by on other streets, but he decided to not bother with the cobble stoned street i was parked on. that was fine by me. i worked on my sock knitting and listened to knitting podcasts and watched the rain come down.
----
out on montauk my sister's family has been working hard . . here my brother-in-law is treating the deck . .
with help from my nephews . .
painting all the walls "navajo white" from benjamin moore.
sanding along the skylights . .
love the shades!
changing the broken lock on the slider door . .
and the broken lock on the front door . .
my sister cleaned the mildew from the window glider tracks . .
and my nephew sorted through all my dad's "stuff" in the downstairs closet. i wish i had a before pic!
----
korrina's sunset photos on her way home from work . .
taken with her new phone . .
my sunset photo from the bedroom window . .
and the book i read today, which i recommend. i read it along with black coffee with white friends, a book discussion group which is hosted on the good reads website. marcie, the leader of the book discussion, has a blog which can be found here, which is filled with book recommendations (found here), shared experiences, history, personal stories, and important conversations (particularly the one here). it's a good introduction to learning about the experience of black americans. it's important to know . . to listen, to learn, and marcie's voice is honest and accepting. this is the link for the book club.
dinner tonight was bratwurst from the butcher with zucchini and potatoes sautéed in butter, and fresh cucumber and radish.
it's slowly getting dark earlier, and i've begun occasionally lighting a candle again.
