Saturday cravings

Saturday I climbed out of bed and wanted french toast.

No, wait, I lie.

I climbed out of bed because at 8 am I heard the high-pitched, relentless, inescapable YIPPING of my neighbor’s effing dog. They “play” a “fun” “game” where he holds a ball and the dog goes insane yipping until he throws it.

Again, at 8 am. On a Saturday.

So I literally rolled out of bed, threw on my bathrobe, stormed down the stairs, opened the front door, and stood in my driveway, in my bathrobe, and said “Hey Mike. Can you play this game later?”

Him, oh-so-sweetly. “Did we wake you up?”

Me: “Yes.”

Then I went back inside but when I’m up I’m up. Lame. Anyway, so then I made some french toast.

 

Dear farmer’s market egg yolks,

You are so, so, so beautiful and yellow and yolky!

Love, me.

Simple batter of just those, a splash of milk and a drop of vanilla. Whole wheat bread.

Topped with messy mango.

Didn’t actually go with the eggy wheatiness of French Toast so I ate ‘em one at a time. Plus then more mango.

 

Then I did all my favorite Saturday things that I haven’t had time for- farmer’s market, gym BEFORE LUNCH (that is the ultimate victory for me).

Then I was driving home from the gym and it was just SO BEAUTIFUL. 75 degrees, shockingly blue sky, gentle breeze, happy people out and about, flowers, birds chirping, etc.

And I decided a spontaneous barbecue would be just… mandatory.

And made my facebook status, “Today is a day for a spontaneous barbecue”

And so began my planning frenzy (or as I inadvertently typed, plenzy); envisioning happy guests sitting on the back deck with gorgeous grilled food.

Got a little caught up in that til I realized that I’d been back from the gym for like an hour and hadn’t eaten anything and was going to be horribly ill if I didn’t, like, IMMEDIATELY.

So.

Lunch included  a salad, the somewhat soggy remains of the somewhat overdressed spinach and goat cheese salad I’d enjoyed the night before at a celebration of my sister getting a summer job (yay!) that I perked up with some fresh spinach. Love that goat cheese.

 

Also, a yummy phyllo-wrapped farmer’s market tidbit (I ate these obsessively all last summer and will likely continue this one)

 

In theory filled with cabbage but there were moments of… eggplant… hazelnut… raisin. Anyway, whatever it was it was great.

 

I knew that combo wasn’t going to make me full but it was what immediately caught my eye in the fridge and then I ate it and felt scads better.51

Then my sister had torn a tiny piece off a bagel thin so I polished off the remains of it with- classic- peanut butter, thinly sliced apple, and cinnamon.

 

Then I finished off several handfuls of lucky charms cause agggggggggggh there are lucky charms in my house! Why!

Relaxing afternoon of more insane bbq prep and also things like showering/calling best friend/realizing I’d forgotten best friend’s birthday cause I’m a sucky person/hating self.

Powered up the grill, which was, as it always is when I grill at home, stupid and annoying and difficult because I’m perpetually using ancient charcoal that never wants to stay lit.

Eventually managed.

I’d thrown together some adorable teeny tiny baby little farmer’s market squashes with olive oil and lemon plus some dried oregano.

Then given a grillsie!

 

I wish foods didn’t look so awkward once you unskewered them.

Also tofu, which I pressed in advance, lightly oiled, grilled on one side, and then once I flipped them they were topped with pesto (which I made homemade and froze).

 

In terms of not just throwing stuff on the grill, I was expecting more people than actually showed up so I kind of just raided the fridge to see what was there and a complicated overabundance of

1. Phyllo dough and
2. Fat free ricotta (?) purchased by my sister

meant I thought about a slightly unconventional pizza.

Which to me meant caramelized onions.

Before:

 

After:

 

Finished pizza with those caramelized beauties, leftover roasted chicken, potatoes, apples, and ricotta:

And, strikingly similar, with more caramelized onions, more apple, more ricotta, plus mushrooms.

Ended up finishing both! Did I need all those phyllo layers? Def no. Was it a pain when they all separated in the oven? Def yes. Did it taste good anyway, despite huge layers of phyllo getting wasted? I’m gonna say sure.

Annnnnnnnd for more phyllo a google search led me to all these ideas for phyllo cups of various things. So I made dessert.

Baked phyllo in muffin tins. Plus powdered sugar.

Plus chocolate truffles, back in a low oven to melt

Topped with sliced strawbs, vair elegant.

 

So dinner was rawther small, as it turned out the only guest was my sister’s friend Valerie. I mean, Valerie is a lovely girl.

 

But yknow, wine. Dinner al fresco. Good food. Craving sated.