kindred kind

Two weeks, two weeks! Can you believe that? We are already midway into July! I am enjoying my summer so much, I really don't want this season to go.

Friday I woke early, went to spin class, meandered around the farmers market (picking up spiced dill pickled carrots from hyhope, peaches, cherries, apricots and sugar plums), picked up our csa (romaine lettuce, raspberries, yellow and green beans, zucchini, broccoli, garlic, tomatoes and baby cucumber), came home made Gwenyth Paltrow’s peach bbq sauce (so good), went to a friends for lunch (more on this in a minute), went to the park with my niece, picked Ryan up at the train station, went out for sushi and to see Horrible Bosses – hilarious and lastly stopped to congratulate our friends Nicole and Owen on their engagement!

No work, no deadlines, no bells; just simple enjoyment of great friends, great family, amazing weather and delicious food.

I know this sounds like a busy day but the funny thing is, in there I had a 4 and ½ hour lunch. I met Nichole this year when I started teaching high school. She is one of those friends that you swear has known you your entire life simply because they “gets” the crazy that is in your head.

I had to drag myself away from her table but I could have easily sat there for another 4 and ½ hours and never run out of things to talk about…our last Starbucks visit lasted 6 hours. Friday we talked over tea, a summer salad and an amazing parmesan zucchini loaf with ricotta cheese. If you frequent this blog often you know I started a love affair with zuchinni last summer.

And, as I’ve posted before, if I leave a friend’s house with a recipe – I know they are a keeper! The picture above isn’t great quality; I took it on my iphone when I was at Nicole’s for lunch. But I think iphone pictures are real memories; no time to stop and find the perfect lighting or setting; they say this is so amazing I’ve just got to capture it!



This loaf is so good I had to make it yesterday with the zucchini from our csa so Ryan could try.
This is how mine turned out. I had to adjust the cooking time significantly – I added an extra ½ hour as the loaf was still very wet after 70min.

Martha Stewart’s Parmesan Zucchini Loaf

Ingredients

o 1/3 cup olive oil, plus more for pan
o 2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
o 1/3 cup milk
o 2 large eggs
o 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (about 4 ounces)
o 2 teaspoons baking powder
o Coarse salt and ground pepper
o 1/2 pound (about 1 medium) zucchini, coarsely grated

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan (6-cup capacity) with oil; dust with flour, and tap out excess.

2.In a small bowl, whisk oil, milk, and eggs. In a large bowl, whisk flour, Parmesan, baking powder, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; mix in zucchini, then egg mixture until just moistened (batter will be very thick, like biscuit dough).

3.Transfer batter to prepared pan; press in gently. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 60 to 70 minutes (tent with foil if loaf starts to brown too quickly). Cool 15 minutes in pan; turn out loaf onto a rack to cool completely.