Mr. Hawthorne and I left Saturday morning
for a brief road trip.
He dropped me off in Danville
for a visit with Mama Hawthorne
and he continued to Bassett
for his family's annual reunion.
As usual, I stayed at my dear friend
Maxine's house.
This is Maxine's lovely, relaxing,
peaceful, serene backyard.
I'm cooking dinner Saturday night for Maxine,
starting with stuffed peppers.
It's always a challenge cooking
in someone else's kitchen,
whether it be finding the right utensils
or ingredients.
I have found that my idea of "staples"
is not someone else's.
Not to worry though.
Rosie can do this.
Stuffing ingredients include:
cooked black beans
(drained halfway through cooking
and fresh water added)
chopped tomatoes
sliced green onions
and
minced jalapenoes
black olives
"Mexican" rice
(I'd found the rice earlier
at Yoder's Market in Yanceyville
where we always stop.)
lime zest
Pepper Jack cheese
This dish would certainly be fine by itself,
but I brought along some peppers from my garden
and will be stuffing them.
Slice off the tops of the peppers,
scrape out the seeds and ribs,
and stuff to overflowing.
Top with
I had brought along a quart of my chicken consomme.
Yes.
Rosie travels prepared.
She used to be a girl scout, you know.
I sliced some pork chops into thin strips
and salted, peppered, and cumined them.
Maxine had this rather odd squash
which I'd never seen before.
Sort of a cross between a zucchini
and a yellow crookneck squash.
If anyone knows the name of this squash,
please let me know.
I should've saved the seeds.
I found this zucchini
which looks similar.
I peeled and diced the squash.
While my block of consomme was melting,
I sauteed the pork strips in olive oil.
I deglazed the pan and added
the juices and the squash
to my broth.
Pork strips draining on a paper towel.
Ingredients for my soup:
chopped tomato
sliced scallion
sliced green pepper
pork strips
I added the tomato and peppers to the soup.
Here I have half an avocado,
the sliced scallion,
chopped parsley from Maxine's garden
(Dang it! I forgot to bring my cilantro.),
and sliced lime.
Pork went into the broth.
Add the scallion, parsley, and avocado
just to heat through.
Add the lime slices.
Chopped red onion would be nice too,
so just imagine there's some red onion in there.
Dinner is ready.
This was a very satisfying meal
with happy, friendly flavors.
I'll be making more of the same for
Mama Hawthorne for Sunday lunch.
I thought you'd like to see more
pictures of Maxine's backyard.
It's so peaceful out here.
Birds and squirrels frequent the garden.
Babbling water fountain.
White coneflower.
Oh, I went through the back garden gate
and stole a bunch of columbine seed pods.
Hope Maxine doesn't mind.
Here's Maxine's garden angel.
And here's Maxine:
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