Be Glad You Aren't in Phoenix!

At 6:25 am this morning, it was 91F in Phoenix, Arizona! (That's 33C for my non-US friends.) Don't you feel cooler already? 

Several weeks ago Grandma received an Advance Reader Copy of Michael Natkin's Herbivoracious: A Flavor Revolution with 150 Vibrant and Original Vegetarian Recipes.  Most of the time Grandma doesn't mind Advance Reader Copies of books, but as Grandma pointed out in her review, cookbooks are a different story.

There are so many things to consider when evaluating a cookbook other than the content of the recipes, things like the size of the book, the paper, the indexing system, the pictures - and none of those are included in an ARC, which is usually printed on newsprint and features "000" where a page number should be in statements like "see recipe page XXX.  When Grandma said as much in her review Michael was kind enough to send her the real thing.

Herbivoracious: A Flavor Revolution with 150 Vibrant and Original Vegetarian Recipes arrived a week ago and it is marvelous.  Grandma is cooking her way through a few recipes and will be updating her review soon, but meanwhile thought to give you all a sneak peek at the goodies!

. . . . . Wait A Minute! The Popsicle Post

Here in New England you'll often hear old timers quote that old saw "If you don't like the weather, wait a minute."  There's a lot of truth in that!  So, right on schedule we had a break in the rain, just in time for the very first day of Summer when it turned . . .

And of course Grandma had dropped that Hot-Hot-Hot cast iron skillet on her foot, so there was no hope of heading out to the beach or lake to relieve the 100-degrees in the shade temperatures!  During the worst of it we headed down to the local TJMaxx to do some window shopping while we took advantage of the air conditioning instead.

Summertime -

When Grandma was a girl there were not all the convenience foods there are today.  Asparagus was available only in late April and May.  Late June brought strawberries for 2 or 3 weeks. In July & August there would be cherries and plums and of course great buckets of blueberries and blackberries.  Today foodies have a fancy term for people who eat mostly food that is locally available and seasonal:  Locavore.  Who knew that just eating what was available would become so chic!

If you don't like the weather . . .

This post has been a long time in the writing, interrupted at least a dozen times!  Never mind, I'm going to just finish it off and vow to do better tomorrow!

Grandma has been "on vacation" while her daughter visited for a couple of weeks,  and then catching up on all the many things left undone.  Meanwhile, it has done almost nothing but rain and then rain some more, so she's been putting the heating pad to very good use.  All of that rain did bring one blessing with it though.  Many of the houses in the neighborhood Grandma lives in have been here for a hundred years - and so have some of the rose bushes!  Look at this beauty - bigger than a Volkswagen: