The state of things

You may have noticed a certain lack of posts on a certain blog this past week. My friends, I am sleepy. Sleepy like a fox. A fox that is hibernating. In a parallel universe, where foxes hibernate.

In that universe, while the foxes sleep, the people serve some of the foods I narrowly avoided preparing this week: a peanut butter and hoisin sandwich for the preschooler and an iced coffee with tarragon vinegar for yours truly. Blueberry jam and vanilla syrup are for sissies! Also, certain bottles look a lot alike to bleary eyes. So you’ll understand, and maybe even thank me under your breath, when I say that I’m going to spare you a review of the week’s original recipes.

In terms of topics I usually spare you as a matter of course, but in my sleep-deprived lack of judgment have decided to impose upon you momentarily, let’s talk presidential candidates for a sec, mmm’kay? (If you need to feel that this is food-related, click here.) So it occurred to me yesterday while chatting with Farmer Rich in the garage that some of my readers, along with the rest of the members of our CSA, have spent considerable time in that garage since June. And that sometimes there is a car in the garage that has a McCain sticker on it. And that some of you may not know how very much that car belongs to our neighbors, and how it does not belong to us in the least. Just thought I’d put that out there and then never mention it again. (However, if you’d rather ride in our car and want to do some laughing, a friend turned me on to two hilarious websites, which are definitely worth a spin: Barack Obama Is Your New Bicycle and John McCain Is Your Jalopy. Keep clicking even after you start to get repeats, or you’ll miss some of the best parts. This will make sense when you click through.)

Anyway. Though you wouldn’t know it from any postings, I did manage to feed us pretty well this week by relying mostly on other people’s recipes, many of which have become regular parts of our dinner repertoire in the past few years. Actually, there was a little less “feeding us pretty well” and a little more of an inexplicable full-on cooking frenzy, as if to prepare for a period of hibernation. I used the ice cream maker two separate times, if that’s any indication.

So here is a look at a few of our more tempting indulgences from recent days. I’m loving how you can start to taste summer melting into fall just by looking at the list.

La Vie en Rose, Frozen

• Molly Wizenberg’s Blackberry Frozen Yogurt
• Pomegranate Gelato from Gourmet Magazine

Comforting One(-ish) Pot Main Dishes

• Pasta with Beet-Roquefort Sauce, again
• Jasper White’s Fish Chowder
• Beef Bourguignonne from the Gourmet Cookbook

Embarrassing Admissions of a Food Lover, and other Shrimp Taco Components

• Watermelon Margaritas from (shhhh…) Domino Magazine
• Avocado Cream (again, shhhh)
• Julie Hartigan’s Pimenton Shrimp
• Tomatillo Salsa, this one from Gourmet Magazine, but for which so many recipes are bizarrely similar

Avocado Cream
Adapted from Domino Magazine, July 2008

1 ripe Haas avocado
1/2 cup sour cream
Juice of 1 lime
1/2 teaspoon salt
A few good grinds of black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until perfectly creamy.