Record highs...

So, I read in the paper yesterday that the weather has been breaking records this month. They say that the high temps in June are all in the 90s, which apparently has never happened. The plants don't seem quite ready for weather this hot, so I have had to water them more than I would prefer. I harvested and ate my first squash yesterday, but I think it was too soon. The seeds inside were really tough, but edible. I am going to harvest some basil today and make a batch of pesto. Now is a great time to harvest and re-harvest basil, because it doesn't want to go to seed quite yet, and is still putting a ton of energy into putting out leaves. It's time to take advantage of this!

So, word got out at work that I am vegan. I tried to keep it under wraps for as long as possible. My boss is a very lovely woman, but at heart is a stereotypical Jewish mother type in some ways. She loves to feed people. For instance, she brought some matzo crackers in one day. There is a kitchen at the office, and the kitchen table there is usually some sort of communal food offering. I was snacking on some matzo one day, and she walked by and saw me enjoying my matzo. She was overjoyed that I was eating something from the communal table. She made a comment about bringing in some more, and the next day there were 4 more boxes of matzo!!! And then of course I felt the tinges of residual Catholic guilt and had to eat the matzo just to make her feel appreciated. See kids, this is what religion does to people. I had never had matzo crackers before, and I am now a big fan.

Another co-worker asked me to pick up her CSA share while she was on vacation, which I was more than happy to do. There was a ton of great veggies, including a whole pile of beets!!! So, I am not the biggest beet fan, but I was determined not to let them go to waste. So, I scoured the internets for recipes with beets that looked good. I stumbled upon an interesting recipe for chocolate cake made with beets! So, I gave it a whirl last night and I must say, the resulting cake is quite tasty!