Things I've been eating a lot of this summer,

as I've certainly been filling up my writing time with eating–the proof is in this lack of a blog.

Raw beets: grated onto salads, as learned from my friend Andrea. Especially salads that also include pumpkin seeds. Before last November I'd never eaten a beet, which was tragic. Pathetic, really. I was reading a recipe for a bloody mary the other day, and it suggested that I cook up a bunch of carrots, fennel, tomatoes, and a BEET with a bay leaf and then puree it with all those other fixings- worcestershire, hot sauce– some Guinness, even– and let it cool off. I don't know how I feel about such a thick alcoholic drink. It's a drunken veggie smoothie. Huh.

Potatoes: I found these beautiful potatoes that were blue all the way through. Par-boiled, wrapped in a sort of foil pouch with olive oil, some salt and pepper, and crushed garlic, then barbequed for ten minutes or so to finish them off. Those are the dressing staples, but oh– some red pepper flakes, or lots of lemon juice and oregeno, or capers and parsley tossed up with them afterward. Or PESTO tossed with them afterward. Homina homina homina homina homina. With some sour cream scrambled eggs in the morning.

Homemade granola: I find that an entire bowl of it is a little overpoweringly patchouli. But a big handful of it to top off my Shreddies in the morning, plus some of these huuuge blueberries my Mom has been picking by the fifteen-pound bucket-full...mercy. I know that cereal doesn't sound like an overly inspiring breakfast, but please beliiiiieve me when I say that this is the perfect nibbly for a Tuesday morning.

Really Granola Granola

The basic recipe is the oats, the butter, and the honey: the added ingredients switches every time I make a new batch, but this is the combination I've liked the best so far.

4 cups of large flake oats

1/4 cup honey, warmed up for easy pouring

4 tbsp or so of melted unsalted butter

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup of chopped almonds, toasted

1/3 cup of chopped walnuts

1/3 cup of raisins

1/3 cup dried cherries, chopped

1/3 cup of dried dated, chopped

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted

This is all fairly estimated. Mix the 4 cups of oats with the honey, butter, and cinnamon until the oats are moistened and clumping but not wet. Spread evenly on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 350ºF, rotating the sheet once halfway through cooking and pushing stuff around with a spatula once or twice.

Toast the nuts and seeds all on the same sheet at 350ºF until fragrant. You can toast them at the same time as you're baking the oats, but not as long. Maybe ten minutes.

Let all your various pans cool off a little before you mix it all together. Throw your dried fruit in, toss it around. Mhm mhm mhmmm.