Staycation

Technically, I think a "staycation" is supposed to take the place of a vacation, and we are most definitely going on a real vacation later this summer. Still, the past two days have felt lovely and staycationy indeed--after sleeping an absurd amount over the weekend, we took today and yesterday off to try and remember what it was like to be at home and forget, even for a brief time, what our desks look like. So sweet.

What we really did was sleep and run errands, actually--Costco, grocery store, Home Depot (of course), fabric store, etc. It was nice to have four days to get things done instead of just two! We also tended to the garden, picking a basketful of green beans and snow peas, harvesting lettuce, and tying up our six-foot-tall tomato plants (!). We get better at this tomato thing each year, and after doing some serious research (aka Google), we've now learned to cut off the suckers and tie up tall, slender plants instead of be buried under heavy, bushy ones. We'll see how it goes come August...

We also did a bunch of projects. I am a reluctant seamstress at best, and while I remember the basics of sewing from the old Caravan days, I usually remember the order in which those basic steps come once I've already started the project. And I invariably sew things wrong-sides together instead of right-sides together every time. Needless to say, my seamripper and I are close. Still, over the past few weeks I've completed a number of projects--curtains for the dining room and library, baby gifts, my mom's yet-unsent mother's day gift, a yoga mat carrier, and, most recently, new cushion covers for our deck furniture. This may be my best accomplishment (albeit UNFINISHED accomplishment) yet, especially since today we decided just to see how much it would cost to just get new cushions. We had kind of croaked at how expensive the outdoor fabric was, but after today we decided that it is well worth the time and sweat it takes to sew them instead.

Finally, we did a lot of cooking this weekend. It is apparently the Summer of Thai Food, so today Jason took another trip to the Thai grocery store and made Basil Chicken for dinner. I think this is Thai dish number...five? And we really loved cooking with home-grown produce, including Ginger Chicken with Snow Peas and this delicious recipe with green beans from Bon Appetit, which George and Lynda gave me for Christmas. Jason made it on Friday night, and it was an heavenly end to a long week. I have been talking about how delicious it was all weekend.

Chicken with Haricot Verts and Lemon Butter (serves 4)
4 boneless chicken breast halves
All purpose flour
2 T extra virgin olive oil
8 shallots, peeled and halved
2 T (1/4 stick) butter
¼ c fresh lemon juice
1 ½ t finely grated lemon peel
1 lb haricot verts or slender green beans, trimmed
2 T minced chives

· Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper; lightly dust with flour to coat. Heat oil in large skillet over medium head. Add chicken and shallots; sauté until chicken is golden and just cooked through, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to plate.
· Melt butter in skillet with shallots over medium heat. Add lemon juice and lemon peel, then haricot verts; toss. Cover and cook until beans are crisp-tender (3 minutes).
· Return chicken and any juices to skillet; sprinkle with chives. Simmer until sauce thickens enough to coat, about 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

See, nothing too fancy, but you get to use up those green beans AND home-grown chives (and if you’re looking for homegrown chives, please come see me. We have more than we will EVER eat.). So tasty. And now back to work. Which is so not a bad thing, since it’s recess AND in two days we have another long weekend. And, of course, August is only a few weeks away…