Hi there, friends, and happy September! And here we are, riding out the end of the summer months. Or the, you know, official summer months. Because here in Virginia, we have summer, then a fall teaser and here you go, have some more summer, and fall, and then surprise, here’s some more summer!
It’s not a bad thing. The herbs keep growing and the plants stay happy and there are plenty of thunderstorms and chilly mornings to give you all the cozy feelings and excuses to make hot chocolate and hot soups that you need. But there’s just so much to love about fall.
After six months of working from home with an energetic toddler in the house and with no daycare in sight, I’m used to it. I love getting to carve out time to have breakfast and lunch with my family as well as dinner, and I love hot mornings when we can pull out little man’s splash pad and play in the water and I love our early morning and late evening walks when the temperature and humidity are low enough for it to not be brutal out.
It’s enough to make me look at any possibility of getting back to work, of the possibility of spending long amounts of time in the car and shoved into an office where we can’t socialize, where we have to walk around and stand around in masks, where we’re around people but can’t be social…I dread it. Leave me alone at home with my family. We make time for friends, we make time for each other. We might even be able to get some of our family out for a visit. I’ll take that any day and be grateful.
In the meantime, here’s what’s going on now…
Currently…
1. The pandemic has had a lot of us digging into our cupboards and pantries and trying to figure out what to do with that ingredient we bought that one time for that one thing and then never used. Well, did you try checking the box? There’s a lot that goes into those recipes on the box {Eater has a great article on it} and a lot of them are worth giving a try!
2. I’m in a number of different food and food photography groups, and in one of my groups, the owner of Curdbox, a cheese and pairing subscription service {because awesome, right??} asked a few of us to take part in a photo contest for one of their boxes. They’d send us a box, judge the photos, and the winner would get a prize. I entered – and I won! Here’s the fun feature they did on this month’s contest and a little interview.
3. You all are some burger making fools out there this month. Or at least that’s what I’m guessing, because my Steakhouse Barbecue Ranch Burgers have been crazy popular lately! They haven’t been able to knock my Baked Crispy Chicken Sandwiches out of the top recipe spot, but they’re coming close! Did you guys try this recipe out? What did you like about it?
P.S. Nevermind – Steakhouse Barbecue Ranch Burgers is now firmly in first place.
4. Did you know you could make your own powdered sugar at home? Neither did I, until Jocelyn shared this post on how to do it. You seriously just put a whole bunch of sugar in a blender with a tiny bit of corn starch and let it rip. That’s it. That’s. It. Mind blown. She also has posts up about how to make your own brown sugar and cake flour, too.
5. I can tell I’m homesick in a big way. Tieghan Gerard shared some photos last month her brother took camping in Morro Bay and Montana de Oro, not 15 minutes from my folks’ house, and I teared up. I’ve been living all over the world since I left home at 17, so it surprises me that I’m feeling the punch so much, but I think the state of the world and not being able to travel home packs more of a punch than we realize.
6. My backyard herbs are going nuts, so I’m looking for all kinds of creative ways to use them. I started working a lot more with thyme since my plant has gotten so big, making more of the thyme simple syrup I made for my White Poppy mocktail, making thyme chicken, working thyme into my wild rice mushroom pilaf, and more. I think I need this blueberry lemon thyme smash in my life though! Berries and bourbon – what’s not to love?
7. So I’m always thinking about ways to spruce up my kitchen {because I spend a ridiculous amount of my time in there}, and I’m in love with this “Current Mood” deep green that Jasmine Roth recently featured on her blog. I love deep green and sage green paired with lots of bright white, neutral fabrics, and raw wood and leather accents, but I’m worried about resale {we plan on selling our house and moving in the next year or two}. Is it neutral enough to sneak in as an accent either in paint, tile, or rugs, or should I play it safer?
8. What’s for dinner tonight? Well, the grill is still going full force around here, especially with the evenings getting juuuuuuuust a little cooler. And charcoal char just makes the perfect flavor addition to my Teriyaki Beach Burgers with Pineapple Rings. The heat crisps and caramelizes the pineapple beautifully, just as it does those umami flavors in the burger. Perfect for a hot – but not too hot – late summer night.
You know we love our burgers around here and I’ve got another great one coming up for you this Friday!
9. Don’t be afraid to take a moment to breathe, to stop, to be present, to appreciate a moment, a feeling, a scent, a happy thought. This thing is a marathon, not a sprint, so you have to catch and appreciate the moments of respite while you can grab them.
What are you all up to these days?
