July Goals

Let's talk about July.  But let's not talk about how many avocados I've eaten lately.  Maybe we can talk about how many stir fries I've eaten lately.  It's been a lot.

There's nothing wrong with that.  July goals:

• Start up Stir-Fry Season with style.  Done.  And done.  And done.  SO MANY SUMMER SQUASHES!
• Recipe Round-up. Check it out!  Not too shabby...
• Camping is on the list!  Over the holiday weekend we went camping with some friends.  Just a couple nights, but it was a really nice break.
• Ice cream from Tasty Treat.  Technically, I didn't quite wait for July to do this.  But it was after I posted the goal, so I'm considering it accomplished.
• Exercise.  Meh.  I did start some workouts, but I didn't make anything routine.  Summer workouts tend to be more like "spend a couple hours in the garden" and "ride the bike to a berry patch and pick berries for an hour while swatting mosquitoes." 
• Smoothies.  I made ONE.  Whatever.  Count it!

So that's how the month went.  What will August bring?

• A wine tour of some Traverse City wineries.
• A cousin's wedding.
• More harvesting and preserving!
• More recipes...I've been making so much food lately!
• The deep-cleaning of the apartment continues!  Cupboard by cupboard, the kitchen is almost done.  It's so liberating to get rid of things that I don't really use. 

In the meantime, here are some random cell phone photos from my month.  Very ripe red currants, practically glowing...

Rhubarb wine, finally started.  It's always a lovely peach color when it starts, but mine fades to a pale, pale white.  Obviously this photo doesn't do it justice.

Some flowers picked by the roadside.

And what to do with zucchini?  Zucchini bread!  You'll notice only one loaf lasted long enough for a photo of the finished product.

 

My garden is coming along swimmingly.  It's almost sad...because now I hardly need to buy anything at the Farmers Market!

And lastly, my laptop has finally kicked it.  Still have yet to try a couple things, but the truth is that it's so old even a quick fix is just prolonging the inevitable (Kyle is practically trying to get me to sign a DNR - do not resuscitate - for my poor laptop).  And yes, in this photo there are at least five hard drives and a flash drive.  Plus potholders.  Who knows if actually reformatting it last...uh...July... would have made a difference or not.

As always, good things.  Summer is the best.  Looking forward to some sweeter August recipes!