The Long Overdue Update

It sometimes amazes me how busy we are just living this experiment. A short recap of last week:

1. Pineapple jelly--no mint this time, just pineapple juice, so it actually tastes like pineapple. It's really good stuff, but a bit too odd for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.2. Andy decided to make homemade crackers, which are actually quite good
and were a great reason to finally open the jalapeno-mint jelly from last summer. The combination is really quite good. It turns out the key to a good homemade cracker--which are baked, not fried--is to get them really, really thin, which the pasta roller works really well for. And the thicker crackers would probably make good dog biscuits, so a good thing all the way around.

3. Moved the barbecue into a more convenient spot, and last night I made kebabs with curried steak, onions, and from our garden: red potatoes, garlic, and zucchini! I feel so Amish--except they probably don't use gas grills & prep everything indoors where the air conditioning, garbage disposal, and dishwasher are. So, not so Amish.

4. Hold on to your hats: I did a TRIAL RUN of the sourdough pizza crust BEFORE the party!!! A whole week before, in fact! I know--will wonders never cease?

5. Cleaned--still trying to catch up from the 6-week hiatus

6. Put up summer decorations7. Got some of the problems with the compost bin ironed out. (Which is, incidentally, not a job for anyone who can't get dirty or who is afraid of bugs)

8. Started researching "compost tea," which sounds like it would be good to do.

9. Made yet another loaf of bread in the breadmaker--this one going OVER the top of the baking pan. I love an appliance that knows how to keep the excitement in a relationship.

10. Solved a few sprinkler-system problems. For now. There are always sprinkler-system problems.

11. Researched zucchini recipes for tomorrow.

All good stuff but it doesn't leave much time for anything else. Today's agenda is more cleaning, and making some LOVELY zucchini recipes to subject our friends to serve our friends tomorrow evening...