Notes from the kitchen table: No. 04

It’s been an interesting week here in the Sierra foothills - after the hottest July in California ever, we are now having some very unusually cool weather. I’m not ready for summer to be over, but I will admit that it’s a nice change from the heat for a few days. We’re supposed to get back to summer weather next week, but here’s today’s view from the kitchen table, with some actual rain falling on the pool in august.

We’ve had a full week of three back in school full time and that’s taking some getting used to. It’s so strange to have the house so empty all day - after 5 years of homeschooling it is an adjustment to have them gone all day.

I realized another aspect of having three of four kids in school that I hadn’t anticipated - we are going through the leftovers much more slowly. I always cook a lot so we have leftovers to eat for lunch. With all 6 of us home all day (homeschooling and husband working from home) we eat a lot of leftovers for lunch. But now with three in school and just three of us at home for lunch we suddenly have too many leftovers in the fridge. I’m going to have to adjust my cooking a bit.

Now that I have more time on my hands with three out of four kids out of the house, I am working on getting this blog. and my social media back in fighting shape. If you aren’t following me on Instagram and Threads, now would be a great time to start. I am posting a lot more regularly now, including sharing a lot of my past lunch pictures. You can find me on both platforms at @whatliscooks.

Things are getting interesting in my little garden. My melon plants have taken off. I planted a variety of small watermelon and a variety of cantaloupe. There are a couple of surprises here - first of which is the size. I thought these varieties were both for small melons. But I’ve got some huge and still growing melons out there. Second is I’ve realized I have no idea how to tell when they are ripe, so some googling is in order. And third, I had no idea how these vines would spread all over everything. It’s fine, it was an empty space and it looks nice all green, it was just a surprise. As far as the rest of the garden goes, I think the hottest ever July affected things a bit, a lot of the plants definitely struggled with the heat. But now that the weather has been a bit more normal the last couple of weeks, they are looking better.

The other awesome surprise in the garden has been the zinnias. This is my first time ever growing zinnias and wow they just don’t quit. I have had fresh flowers every day. I absolutely love them. Unfortunately so do my cats. It’s like catnip to them. They will not leave them alone, so I have had to put the bouquets in my bedroom and keep the door closed. But having a nice bouquet of flowers on your dresser is not the worst thing ever.

We are still enjoying lots of pool time, except for those few cooler days. Another thing I love about living here is all our little wildlife sightings. This past week I saw a bobcat, which are very rare to see here, and a giant jackrabbit. And always the deer. But I finally saw a baby deer, the first one so far this year. Their mommas keep them very well hidden for so long. I also finally saw a preying mantis for the first time this year. In years past we have seen dozens and dozens of them all summer, so I’m not sure why they are so scarce this year.

Here’s the big news: I’ve written an ebook! This is hopefully the first of many. Ebooks seem popular now and I thought it would be a great way to share all my 15+ years of experience in packing school lunches. The first book is just a taste of all the wealth of knowledge I’ve gathered in packing lunches over the years - my top 5 tips for school lunch packing. I hope you’ll check it out. I’ve also updated a few of my basic lunch planning printable, and I’ve created a new section of the website to start offering all of my printable things for downloading. I make templates and pages for everything around here - packing lists and meal plans and chore charts and more. People always seem impressed when they see them so why not share. Look for more to be added there over time.

Ok, now on to the meal planning section.

On the menu this past week:

Sunday: oven roasted salmon and veggie fried rice

Monday: pasta with bolognese sauce, garlic bread

Tuesday: enchiladas - chicken, and black bean (two separate kinds, not combined)

Wednesday: leftovers

Thursday: lasagna, made with the bolognese and a béchamel and roasted eggplant and squash

Friday: frozen pizza and bagged caesar salad

Saturday: leftovers again because we are swimming in them and we don’t waste food here

For the upcoming week here is my current plan:

Sunday: pasta with ground pork & sautéed cabbage

Monday: gumbo, or something gumbo adjacent but I won’t claim it’s authentic

Tuesday: ground beef tacos (are we calling these white people tacos now?)

Wednesday: leftovers

Thursday: seared ahi tuna bowls, with greens, edamame, tofu, rice

Friday: pizza, probably homemade

Saturday: still debating between shawarma or butter chicken

That’s all for this week.

A gallery of pics from the week, in no particular order, is below. See you soon.

Lisa