If I wasn't still on vacation I'd be concerned that my phone takes a pretty shitty photo. But that's if I wasn't still on vacation. Sucks to be you, doesn't it.

I was totally inspired.

Do it. I dare you. Call me strawberry. Go for it.

Shit. I meant to post this a long time ago so when Mike got back to Argentina and walked by one of his coworkers (Buenos Dias Buenos Aires) desks and they were looking at my blog he could be all "Dudes? See those pancakes? I ate those fucking pancakes." Alas I have been sick and lazy. Sorry Mike. I guess you still can, though so it's not so bad. I hope they were good. Since, well, there were from the freezer.

Julie's last day of students was about two weeks ago and her faculty all went out and had a few drinks to drink away the pain celebrate a student-free summer another year well done. (Seriously though, WCCS, good job). And when I mean a few drinks I mean there were sure to be some rougher mornings the next day.

These pancakes could seduce a nation with their taste

Taking this into consideration (and the fact that she didn't have to be in until later) I decided I'd play the "best boyfriend ever" card (eek, in about six days that'll be "best husband ever") and make her pancakes to get the day started off right. (They would have been waffles, but lets face it. Open bar? No way I'm making waffle batter when I get home.) Awesomely enough we also had fresh strawberries in the fridge so she got strawberry pancakes.

But the best part about pancakes, well, I mean from the fact that you can call them fucking FLAPJACKS and I can't believe I just wrote an entire fucking entry about PANCAKES and not fucking FLAPJACKS, well I mean, the best thing about them is that you can make a ton of them and freeze them and then eat them warmed up in the toaster.

I'd also be a liar if I didn't say that making pancakes was an awesome reason to use the electric griddle my brother got me for our wedding two days before. I'd also be lying if I didn't tell you that two left-over pancakes, frozen and toasted, with peanut butter, bacon and banana between them like some sort of worse-for-you-if-possible-at-least-it's-not-batter-fried Velvet Elvis sandwich isn't one of the most awesomest things in the world.

I know. Two pasta dishes in a week that are devilishly similar, yet deliciously different.

What was that I was saying about less land-based mammal meat? Eh. Some ground lamb would have been amazing in this. But, alas. Julie is not a fan of it, and I like to make sure she's gonna eat dinner too. (I know! Not a fan of lamb? And to think I'm marrying her in twelve days!)

The bounty of our farm share has finally starting paying off in things other than leafy greens. This week we got some pea shoots, peas and more garlic scapes. I would have loved to get some more leeks, but, hey, I guess you can't always get what you want. Of course, this is exactly why communism failed, but like, you know. Who ever said that hippies learned from history?

Now what was I talking about? Oh yeah. Lamb. Well not lamb. But lamb would have been great in this. I guess I should probably tell you what "this" is, but I feel like you may be able to figure it out. In case you can't, this is is fresh ricotta, mint, pea shoots, peas and garlic scapes and mint. Oh and there's a ton of extra mint in there. I love mint. If you had browned off some lamb and then cooked the veggies and then added the lamb back in this would be even better.

I have nothing pithy to say about this photo at all. I mean look at it. It's delicious. I hope you don't eat your monitor.

I've been trying to eat a lot more fish as of late and a lot less other meats. Luckily we don't really eat much lamb, beef or pork at home, but I figure even less land-based mammal consumption would be a good thing. Thankfully the farmers market has been in full swing with the day-boat fish guy, which has been great. This actually was not from him, but it at least was wild Alaska salmon.

And to be honest this meal was all over the place. It was hot out so I was trying to use the stove as little as possible. So I steamed the potatoes and then covered them with dill and a little bit of butter, rubbed the fish down with some homemade chili powder (cumin, chili de arbol, dried chipotle chilis, smoked paprika, corriander and a little bit of star anise) and then grilled on the grill pan.

The salad was just an amalgamation of greens and fresh veggies from the farmers market.

This one is dedicated to all the math teachers out there who believed in me. Who thought I could. Who knew I could. This one? This one is for you.

Well. There are two things painfully obvious:
1. I need to stop listening to a lot of hip hop
2. I made another pie.

I just can't stop.

I've decided this summer that I would dedicate myself to the art of making delicious pies. OK. So I just decided that now. But like, hey, things seem to be going good so far and I, for one, have never been known to ruin a good thing while it's going on.

If the word "cardiologist" didn't exist, this pie crust would also contain lard. As far as it goes it's still a ton of butter, but like, at least I can say that I didn't have to render anything to make fucking PASTRY.

We were in the farmers market again on Saturday morning, as we have recently been wont to, and stumbled across some delicious looking local strawberries. And more rhubarb. And I said, "Self," I said, "Self, you love pie. Why don't you make more of it." And lo-and-behold, I answered back in a booming baritone (no really this is how I talk to myself), "Self! You are a genius man! Let us adjourn to the kitchen and make us a pie in the image of our lord." And it was done. And it was good.

But yes. The crust. This one came out much better than the previous one. There were some differences though which may account for this:
1. I did not blind-bake it. For this one I made the dough but then had to go to dinner, so I wrapped it well (with it in the pie pan) and froze it. I took it out when I turned on the oven to let some of the butter revert to a more softened state.
2. I rolled in side of a lightly floured zip-lock bag. My new pie pan's diameter is just less than the width and height of a zip-lock freezer bag. Rolling and ensuring evenness has never been so easy.
3. I used a different recipe. Mark Bittman's one was the first time. It was good. But this time I used Alton Brown's (I'd like to see them do a cook-off minimalist meets iron chef style sometime). His has no sugar and less water. Like less water to the point where you're barely moistening the flour and letting the flour hydrate fully by putting it in the fridge for thirty minutes.

I must admit, I much more prefer Alton Brown's recipe. It's simpler (6 oz flour, 1/4 cup ice water, 8 tbls butter, pinch of salt) and I think it's actually tastier without the sugar. Plus, with cooking with rhubarb, there's enough sugar in the pie. Next time I'd use a little more cornstarch (or even follow Cook's Illustrated's blueberry pie technique. And no, I don't pay for the website. I get the magazine!).

Speaking of which, it's about pie time here.