Cooking at Home

*cut all the flowers from early in the afternoon and simply used small juice glasses as vases*. *odd numbers down the table, one in the bathroom, any leftovers scattered around the barn or house*

*grew the tomatoes and the basil, no market run for those*

how wonderful is that fresh garlic picked up from a road stand on Thursday? peeled the Yukon gold potatoes early in the day and let them sit in cold water until ready to boil. once all mashed kept them for hours (*even overnight! shh…in a bain marie)*

We’ve been on the run a bit, driving here, there, and everywhere, yet some of my most favorite days are when I don’t go anywhere, and we cook for days on end. No grocery trips, no hurried anything. It takes a bit of stocking in and sometimes simply making do with what you’ve got on hand, and that’s okay.

Two weekends ago we had a small dinner for eight on Saturday night, a pizza lunch on Sunday, and poolside early family dinner Sunday evening.

*peppers and onions ready to be roasted, blanched green beans, saved some of those wrapped up in a kitchen towel for the next day*

*ramekins for the cobbler filled, covered and refrigerated the day before, Ina says 4 hours, I always push*

*I made scratch mayonnaise and kind of covered the beef slices a bit too generously, beat myself up about that the next day but oh, well, everyone kind of liked it, the mayonnaise drenched tenderloin*

I started prepping on Thursday, thinking about a seasonal menu and organizing the workflow. Saturday night was fully planned out, Sunday just kind of evolved. Ethan, Lindsey, and Rory came out for the day, and I told Lindsey I would make her lunch and dinner, I think I like to entice my family and friends to visit with promises of being fed.

*once out of the very hot oven we cover them with arugula and any leftover fresh tomato slices*

With flour and yeast on hand you can make pizza crust quick, anything else in the pantry can be fair game for toppings. I used the rest of the Italian sausages from the night before as no pepperoni around, while mozzarella and fontina in the fridge are always good staples. The olives had to go, so sliced those in half.

*no tablecloth for the buffet area, this was a simple one*

*I always like to fill my plate with as many green things possible*

We moved away from the house and down to the pool for an early dinner, I simply reheated the garlic mashed potatoes from the night before, had some green and yellow beans blanched and tucked away, tomatoes from the garden, made a fresh salad, and sliced the extra beef tenderloin I roasted the day before. I’m a big believer in doing multiples, food favorites or t-shirts, when something is good, go in twice.

*Lindsey and Ethan’s precious baby boy, Rory*

Homemade ice cream both nights made fresh each day, I’ve been having a thing with that, no photos though, by desert I’m usually not much good with the iPhone, and that makes my husband extremely happy.

Every day dress and cooking at home.