Back home and now what

Well, I'm still waiting for the new fridge for one thing, which motivates me to cook from what's here, rather than going on a grand restocking shopping.

Wednesday morning I woke up in Chicago, and rode the train to Harvard, and then Mark drove us back to Madison. I wore shorts because after a long weekend sojourn in Chicago, surrounded by tourists, but me getting up early and putting on semi-decent clothes and going to meetings every day, I so wanted to be the one that people were looking at like, "oh, she must be on vacation, lucky duck." Got home and the house wasn't too bad, but still had to wipe some counters and scoop cat litter and scrub a toilet or two. Then off to work, to teach a class - student presentations, thank god, and a little trouble shooting for an assignment they have due Sunday.

Had to go to a meeting, home at 7:30, and Mark walked in with pizza. I tried to make a kind of steakhouse, lettuce wedge salad, drizzled with bottled bright red French & ranch dressings, and bleu cheese - but I didn't have quite the right type of lettuce - I had a red romaine from my CSA box that was far tenderer than standard steakhouse fare. Still it was quite tasty, and we ate it all up, while watching the Weeds and True Blood episodes we'd missed - and thus using up everything from my last CSA box except the kohlrabi and cabbage, to clear the decks for the new one that I got Thursday.

Which had in it:

• small head of butter lettuce
• big bunch of basil
• 3 zucchini
• 2 summer squash
• 2 cucumbers
• 2 long skinny Asian eggplants
• 2 early onions, globe shaped but with long green stems
• a tree of broccoli
• 2 fennel
• celery

So far, I am thinking some kind of pasta with the basil, tonight, and a salad with the lettuce, and nan. I'd like try one of those pesto recipes where you blanch the basil. I can't decide if I want to make the fennel into caramelized fennel, onion and goat cheese pizza, or add it in with the celery in sweet sour celery (I have most of another bunch in addition to what I got in the box). And I think the zucchini will go into the lasagna pie for Sunday - I am going to try Heidi's recipe, but use grated zucchini, a white flour & butter crust, and possibly more cheese.