“They sowed the duller vegetables first, and a pleasant feeling of righteous fatigue stole over them as they addressed themselves to the peas.”
The morning is a short one. I slept in again. I did wake up around ten when the dogs chased each other on my bed. I brought some really heavy litter bags downstairs, let the dogs out, cleaned up a bit of gross stuff on the dining room floor, fed the cats, combed Jack, let Henry inside then went back to bed for another hour. The dogs joined me. When I woke up, I made coffee, got the newspapers, put the litter bags in the trunk and finally sat down to have a cup of coffee and read the Boston Globe, saving the Cape times for later.
I already feel as If I have had a full day, and I’m not even dressed. I’m not even sure I’ll get dressed. Mostly my chores are inside the house. You know the usual: pick up the huge clumps of hair and vacuum downstairs. I do have a growing basket of laundry. I might have to pay it some attention.
Last night was quite comfortable for sleeping, no need for the AC. Today is hotter than yesterday. Henry is resting on the cool kitchen tiles. It is 77˚ which is the predicted high for the day. There is a now and then breeze from the north, from the window behind me. It is pleasant.
I have a ripe plantain. It will be part of my dinner tonight and will join the rest of my meal, the pork chop and the fresh tomato. I first tasted plantain in Ghana. It looked just like a banana to me, maybe a bit bigger, thicker and green, sort of a banana cousin, but plantain is also called the cooking banana so cook it you must. I’ve mentioned several times that kelewele is my favorite Ghanaian dish. It is street food and is still sold along the sides of the main street in Bolga where I first tasted it. I always have kelewele when I go back to Ghana. I also have jollof rice, my other favorite Ghanaian dish; in fact, I think on my last trip to Bolga I had jollof rice just about every night.
When I was a kid, I don’t think I ate any rice except for Chinese fried rice. My mother made potatoes, mostly mashed but baked for Sunday dinner. On Fridays, we sometimes ate French fries, the frozen sort. They went perfectly with the fish sticks, also the frozen sort. We didn’t eat fresh veggies much. I think beside the ever present potato we only ate summer corn.
My street is so very quiet. The dogs are milling. Henry is hoping for someone or something to bark at incessantly. He’s in luck. I’m expecting groceries, just a few things, mostly produce. The order is actually late, unusual for them, but Henry will let me know when the car has arrived. He is my early warning system.
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
July 23, 2021 at 4:54 pm
Hi Kat,
Today’s high was a pleasant 93° under partly cloudy skies. Tomorrow and throughout the following week we could be in for the famous Texas summer, 100°+ temperatures and sunny skies with low humidity. Texas summer requires both AC and a pool of water.
My father was a big fan of eating mixed green salads with every dinner. His father never ate raw vegetables and if my grandmother tried to serve it to him he would ask her if she thought he was a horse. My mother served an appetizer that was always a tossed green salad. My father’s favorite was a local product that came in a large jar which was similar to thousand island dressing.
The main course always included a starch and a cooked vegetable along with the protein. Usually it was a potato and occasionally it was a sweet potato or some pasta. The veggie could range from corn, fresh on the cob or canned nibblets, to green beans, broccoli or cauliflower. Sometimes they were fresh and sometimes they were canned. Back in the stone ages of the 1950s fresh food was only available during certain seasons.
July 23, 2021 at 8:07 pm
Hi Bob,
The humidity wasn’t bad yesterday or today. It stayed nice all of today. Right now it is down to 71˚and will get down to 61˚ tonight, another great night for sleeping.
We never ate green salads. I don’t remember my father eating any sort of green salad. The only salads were things like pasta salad or potato salad at barbecues. I like a green salad and often end up buying a themed salad. Southwest is my favorite right now, but I can always enjoy a Caesar. My favorite dressing varies.
Sweet potatoes only seemed to have been served at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I like sweet potatoes and buy them often. I have some now. My mother never served pasta as a side. Our veggies were varied though never cauliflower or broccoli. Most of the time they were canned veggies when I was a kid. Later, when I was on my own and visited, my mother served my father canned veggies while the rest of us got fresh. My dad ate canned by choice. I think it was a throwback to his childhood and his mother’s horrible cooking.
July 23, 2021 at 9:00 pm
I never ate plantains until I traveled to Miami a few years ago and one of our instructors there ordered them fried with lunch. I tried some of his and wasn’t that excited. Did your mother serve your dad frozen vegetables?
July 23, 2021 at 9:09 pm
My father preferred canned asparagus and corn. I think he ate the green bean casserole at holiday dinners, but he wasn’t a huge veggie guy. Fresh corn on the cob, however, he loved.
July 24, 2021 at 12:43 pm
Hot again today but the morning was actually pretty cold, I loved it 🙂 We have one or two hot days left and after that it will cool down pretty much and we’ll also get some rain, great because I need the rain to fill up my water barrels again.
Can’t remember when I ate rice for the first time but I know I was pretty old, rice and french fries were way above my mother’s knowledge of cooking. Well most things still are to be honest 🙂
Have a great day!
CChrister.