I hope you are staying cool wherever you are. It's 90 degrees where I live today. We are still in the middle of a heat wave, with highs expected to top off around 96 degrees on Wednesday until we cool off a bit on Thursday. Although it does cool off some in the evenings, so we can sit out on the front porch or back deck, as I'm doing now. I love sitting outside and hearing all the sounds of summer. Currently, I hear birds, crickets, and cicadas. Oh, and I see a few fireflies flying around. I love that it's 9pm, and it's still somewhat daylight! The AC can't seem to keep up with all the high heat, though, and the house is relatively warm, especially if I turn the oven on.
As you can see, I have a few times. I made our favorite meatballs, which are rather easy, and I don't have to turn the oven on for this one. I tried a new pasta dish from my new cookbook. It's a corn pesto pasta, and it was just ok; the corn made the dish too sweet, and I'm not a fan of anything sweet with my pasta; I probably won't make this dish again., but it wasn't bad. I don't have Valerie Bertinilli's new cookbook yet, but I plan to pick it up soon. I came across one of her recipes from the book here. It's the four-cheese baked ziti, and it was delicious. Everyone loved it, and we had leftovers for dinner the next day - even better. I also whipped up a very easy cheesecake from Smitten Kitchen, which was quite good. I know it's not the best picture, and it's supposed to get very dark on top, but it was nice, light, and silky and was delicious topped with a drizzle of homemade hot fudge, our favorite; seriously, I could eat this stuff by the spoonful, and I do! Other things pictured here - I still like to have a cup of hot tea most days, even during a heat wave! I picked up some peach iced tea bags, which are perfect for these hot summer days. Peach tea just says summer to me. It was not homemade by me, but a delicious loaf of cinnamon raisin bread from the farmer's market. So, how are you staying cool these days? Are you doing any cooking/baking/grilling? If so, what are you making? I'd love to know.
Charlotte and I have a girl's day planned for tomorrow—pedicures, lunch, and some shopping. It'll be really fun, and we are looking forward to it. I hope you have a great week!
Hello, lovely friend! We have the same tea kettle!!! And you will love Valerie's new cookbook! Have a wonderful day tomorrow. Stay cool!
ReplyDeleteAll that delicious food is making my mouth water. Summer has finally arrived here too, though we're not up to the nineties yet. We're really not geared up for hot weather, no air conditioning, so it's a case of opening the windows wide at night and trying to sleep, which is easier said than done when you're a lady of a certain age! Enjoy your day with Charlotte, that sounds like a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteEverything looks delicious!! It's been so hot here too but you are inspiring me to get back in the kitchen! Your meatballs look so good!!
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoyed your girls day with Charlotte! Stay cool, my friend! xx
Hi Julia! I enjoy my morning cup of tea with breakfast, regardless of the weather, too. I like your tea strainer pictured above! I have a couple that are very similar to it.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing about the Everyday Meatball recipe. I've checked it out and cut and pasted it so I can give it a try. It sounds delicious and we enjoy having just meatballs at times. This one sounds perfect.
Hope you and Charlotte had a great day today!
Hi Dianna. My tea strainer is the OXO - Tea Infuser Basket from Amazon. Please let me know when you try the meatballs. I think you will love them!
DeleteThank you for sharing the information about the tea strainer. Mine were a gift to me from my daughter-in-law. At one time she sold tea through a Canadian based company and a lot of her gifts to me were centered around tea...which I totally love!
DeleteHeat wave is definitely in full force here. So grateful for the air conditioning!:) I love your pink mug...would make me smile drinking tea (or coffee) from it each morning! The four-cheese ziti sounds delicious!! Happy eating...it all looks so tasty!
ReplyDeleteHi Jennifer. My lovely mug is from Hogben Pottery in the UK and it's one of my favorites! The ziti was delicious and I would highly recommend this recipe. Hope you are staying cool!
ReplyDeleteThey all look so delicious. I'm looking forward to spending a little more time in the kitchen during summer break. At the moment meals need to be easy to prepare and quick to cook.
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoyed your girl's day. X
The here in Philadelphia area has been HOT- so hot that we had company for 3 days and we couldn't do any outdoor activities! Your cooking looks delicious. I'm a sucker for melted cheese, so I would probably enjoy the four-cheese baked ziti. Somehow I although I will eat hot soup in the summer, I just don't want tea in hot weather. Sounds like a wonderful girls day- hope you enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful blog
ReplyDeleteHi Julia! I just got back from the Cape Cod area where the temps were in the 70s...my faves. Today here in eastern NY it is 74 but SO HUMID it feels more like 94! we're supposed to have normal early summer temps here in the 80s all week so i'm ok with it although i'd prefer the humidity levels to break. Today is sunny. Saw your question on my post about why i don't like the south: mainly due to the politics and certain far right religious groups that say they are Christian yet from what I see in the media or even just in certain churches, I don't feel like they even know the actual meaning of the word. They certianly don't seem "Christ like" to me nor do they represent Jesus well. Of course I'm generalizing. Also I have only been to Atlanta so have never lived down there but the south would drive me crazy. I did live for a very short time in Missouri and could not stand how slow everything and every one was. HAHAH i'm definitely a northeast gal who loves all 4 seasons. Mainly, it would be the politics, certain denominations/religious far righters, and the humidity plus all the hurricanes/tornadoes, etc. if I could convince my husband (once he retires..he's 6 yrs younger than me so no where near retirement yet) to move to either NH or Maine, I would SO move there. LOVE summer and autumn and i'm very outdoorsy so living in the south in the summer would depress me. I have friends in florida and shesays they basically stay inside in the AC all year. UGH
ReplyDeleteYou have been doing some delicious baking, Julia. I particularly like the meatballs. There are two tea drinkers in this house-my husband and D. Your tea mug is very pretty in pink. I hope you and Charlotte enjoyed your girl's day together.
ReplyDeleteJulia, I just wanted to let you know that we enjoyed meatballs over your recipe this evening (Wednesday) for supper tonight. They were SO good! Thank you for the recipe link! xx
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you enjoyed the meatballs. Yay!!
DeleteGood morning Julia. I was so excited to see your comment on my blog. I am your newest follower. Our grandson is in the military out in California and is stationed on the coast....between LA and San Francisco. California is a beautiful state. Your dishes on this post look amazing. The freshness of the veggies in the pasta dish sure caught my eye. Being from the South, nothing speaks refreshing like a cold glass of iced tea, and better yet, peach tea. It is a favorite around here. I look forward to visiting here and reading about your cooking recipes. Happy 4th of July.....Have an amazing day.
ReplyDeleteYour meatballs look delicious.
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
The meatball dish looks really good. And I think I could eat bread alone for dinner. We all love it around here. The peach sun tea sounds refreshing. Perfect for these hot Summer days.
ReplyDelete~Sheri