Funk.

Man, have I been in a funk lately.  Things in the kitchen have been blah.  I tried to make crispy oven-"fried" chicken earlier in the week, and it was gross.  I should have just skillet-and-oil for reals fried it.  But I was trying to be healthy.  Might work better on chicken with skin and bones... I'll have to keep working on that.  I've been really unmotivated to clean up after myself in the kitchen, which means that every time I go in there right now, I have to clean up before myself.  Not as fun.

Last night I tried to make BLTs for dinner, including from-scratch homemade bread, after work.  Pipe dream?  A little.  I got home at 5:15 and immediately started mixing the dough.  The thing with homemade bread, though?  You can't make it go faster.  It has to rise and rise again, and you just can't force it to adhere to your timeline.  So we ate a little late, and were grumpy, and the sandwiches were good, but would have been better on bread that had had time to rise properly, cool, and then get toasted before being put to work.

Aaaaaaanyway.

On to more positive things!  Now that the farmers' market is very nearly overwhelming in its bounty, I'm trying to get better at planning my trips so that I use up everything I buy before it goes bad.  In the works for the next few days: cherry jam (4 quarts of tart cherries have been pitted!  I deserve a medal.), zucchini muffins, stuffed peppers, and avocado soup.  It's exciting!  Also on my list for tonight: CLEAN ALL THE THINGS.  Seriously.  Every surface in our apartment is covered in stuff, and there's nowhere to sit down and calmly do ANYTHING.  It's time for a flying tornado of clutter destruction.

You know how when you were a kid, you had your parents to make sure you did things like take a shower, clean your room, eat your vegetables, and not watch too much TV?  As an adult, there is no one around to make you do anything, so you have to impose rules and goals and systems on yourself, lest you collapse into:

• credit card debt,
• obesity,
• illness,
• living in squalor, and
• being an antisocial hermit,

among other things.  We have recently imposed monthly spending limits on ourselves like responsible adults.  I don't like it.  Last month, we were super close, but because we didn't reach our goal, we're not getting a new camera.  Until next month.  And only if we meet the goal next month.  And even though I'm the one who made/agreed to these rules, I am super disappointed!  I guess it's all a part of being an adult, which basically just means parenting yourself well.

Have you eaten a tomato lately?  I will be eating at least a tomato a day until they go out of season, because I just can't get over the taste.  It's time to do a lot of things with tomatoes - that's coming too, I promise.

So anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry I haven't been here much.  I really appreciate you people who come and read what I write, and I'll be back in force next week. And I may even have a giveaway for you.  Because I'm happy you're here!

Have a great weekend!