We spent the weekend in the garden.  I garden the way I write first drafts... semi-haphazardly, and whatever survives looks better for all the flailing.  Rip-and-tear, with the best of intentions.  We put in six (leetle) rose bushes and two hydrangeas.  I moved plants that may or may not survive, according to their will to live.

The yearly pruning of stuff, the purging of closets and ruthless throwing out of crap continues.  I have a crumbling dressmaker's form about which I am conflicted.

Making bread this morning.  Last time, the two-pound loaf didn't rise enough (although it tasted great, it was super-dense) so this time I used filtered water (not tap) and bread machine yeast (instead of regular) and I also pulsed the 7-grain cereal in the food processor.  This loaf is already taller than its last-week-brother.  Ah, the chemistry of baking.

So melissajm started a very interesting disgustion discussion in a different post about food and weird, habitual combinations.

I put pepper on cantaloupe, which is a habit I acquired from my maternal grandfather.  He salts and peppers almost any kind of melon.  Angel puts honey on his cantoloupe.  Both of us think the other person is disgusting.

(Sidenote: cantaloupe makes my mouth itch, which makes me doubly-weird.)

My mother eats her favorite Jell-O salad (lime Jell-O, marshmallows, nuts and other assorted awfulness) with mayonnaise.

Your turn!  *hee hee*

Tonight, I simply topped the dough with olive oil.  When the crust came out, it got topped with mozzarella and chunks of the brine-soaked Bulgarian feta, plus leeks and scallions sautéed in butter, plus ground lamb browned with salt, pepper and onion and then tossed with chopped, fresh mint.

Back into the oven it went on a cookie sheet until the cheese went gooey.

Yeah, we'll be making that again.

I bought fresh mint and dill to make Bulgarian tziziki (yogurt dip) and had some leftover that I didn't want to stick back in the fridge just to rot.

So I minced the rest of it up, added a bunch of freshly chopped garlic, half a chopped yellow onion, salt and pepper, grainy dijon mustard, and covered the aromatic mess with lemon juice and olive oil. That's sitting in the fridge to become both a marinade and a salad dressing. This will henceforth be known as SLURRY.

Dangit, I might have just drooled on myself. Mostly I love that 1) the herbs won't go to waste and 2) I have tomorrow night's dinner completely prepped.

I've tried two new recipes this last week; one sent by sunilsebastian  after a long discussion about quinoa (pronounced keen-wah, apparently) and another I improvised.

In the oven right now, in my largest cast iron pan, is a batch of homemade whole wheat dough topped with:

Lutenitza (puree of peppers, eggplant, vegetable oil, sugar, salt, acetic acid, spice) cut with a bit of tomato sauce
Mozzerella and Bulgarian sheep's milk cheese (not allowed to be called feta anymore!)
Soujuk (dried beef sausage)

Next time there will also be a bit of sauteed eggplant and perhaps marinated artichokes!

*goes to take a Zantac*