Res-o-puh-leese

Happy Moanday: Bon Voyage, Puppy

Well, Dave is currently slipping into extra-large hiking boots and starting two weeks of blisters and sunburn as he treks the Camino in Spain. I am bummed to go two weeks without chats (literal, electronic), but excited for the next part of his Spain trip, in which he rides a bus to Barcelona and picks me up at the airport (!!!). But, more on that later.

I am sleepy as usual from a busy weekend as usual. We spent the Fourth of July weekend in Philly (eating the most amazing tapas with Steve and Jenna) and at the shore, where Dave's mom made the chicken in white sauce that I blogged about a few days ago. No Fourth of July-themed food, I am both saddened (I love those little red-white-blue cupcakes) and pleased (red-white-blue veggie plate gets an eyeroll) to say. Some day, oh some day I will have a nice, big, light-filled kitchen and a beautiful top-o-the-line grill and then, dear readers, I will bbq up a storm...

This week I am hoping to finally get back on a normal (this is a relative term) schedule. With no boyfriend to distract me with heart-aching hour-long phone calls (or YouTube videos of Neil Patrick Harris singing "Les Mis") and coworkers back from vacation, I am hoping to have some time for cooking good summer food. On Friday I head out again (shocking, I know. My roommates are like, "Who are you again?"), this time to my cousin's baby shower in Maryland (or Virginia. Or D.C.? Whatevs, I'm not driving). My mom and aunt are making the dessert, which is something like strawberry mousse with mint, so pictures and recipes and mousse-smeared keyboards look likely to be in my future.

As for groceries this week, I still need to check what I got goin' on in the fridge. I seem to remember, last week, splurging on lots of food that I didn't really need and just assuming I'd deal with it later. It being later, it's probably time to take a look at things. I'm thinking homemade pizza (I may make the dough or go cheapie and buy--I mean test--a premade one). I'm also continually thinking about one of the tapas dishes we had--baked goat cheese with honey and toasted pine nuts--and it seems not unreasonable to assume I'll try my hand at whipping it up.

Also, for the first time eva, I'm getting the strong desire to try out some cookbooks. On the list, Mark Bittman's classic How to Cook Everything and a good, lightweight Spanish foods cookbook to take to Spain (Dave and I will be sequestered in a tiny cabin in a remote mountain town, so I am anxious/curious/excited to see what we'll be eating). Also catching my eye is The Polymer Clay Cookbook, which features tiny food-themed jewelry made from clay. Me and Sculpey go way way back, and I bet this book is cute and jealousy/hunger-inducing.