Pickled okra, watermelon rind pickles, dinner and to bed

As we're leaving town tomorrow, I felt quite an urgency today to clean out the fridge. The thought of any part of my farmers market haul going to waste compelled me to get on the pickling stick, so I put up 4 pints of pickled okra and, at present, have a double batch of pickled watermelon rinds on their second round of brining. Yummy!

In the meantime, I have been overwhelmed by the number of enthusiastic, supportive, incredibly kind notes of congrats from the food52 community. Thank you everyone! My mint-pistachio pesto and I love you right back!

In the vein of slash-and-burn fridge purging, I also threw together a random but good compost dinner salad. A little kale here, some steamed potatoes there, a roasted beet here, some fresh tomatoes and grilled bread there. And to dress the mess, a lemon-tahini-garlic dressing. Pretty, healthy and satisfying.

For dessert, I finished up one batch of plum-basil jam with nothing but a spoon in hand. Jesus H that jam melts my butter. I cannot get enough. It's like my first experience with hamantashen years ago; like a train whose brakes have failed, I roared through some ungodly number of chocolate hamantashen in a frighteningly brief time. This jam is definitely the second coming of those cookies.

Blueberry peach muffins

I had the weirdest, most vibrant set of dreams last night and now feel wiped out and confused. All sorts of folks from all parts of my life showed up but not exactly as themselves. Nights when you may actually have slept but feel as if you didn't are the pits. The boys woke me up just before 6 and although they have been sweet and funny, they are also heavily into "private parts" being included in every sentence and activity: the butt walk (they put their butts together, link arms and walk); Private Part River and City (WTF?); a dance which includes not insignificant slapping of their own crotches (I tried to tell them that as they get older, that will NOT feel good, but to no avail; Jack simply asked when- how many years until that happened?). I don't know! Anyway, during the hullabaloo, I managed to make a cup of coffee and these awesome muffins. Blueberry peach with cinnamon and lemon. Mamma mia!