Blossom My Blossoms

Squash blossoms have come and, I think, pretty much gone already... I was lucky enough to get my paws on one solid batch that conveniently correlated with a freshly made batch of homemade ricotta. I mashed that up with some chopped mushrooms and basil and a little salt and pepper, then stuffed the blossoms plumply, battered them with Josie's homebrew and flour and paprika, and fried them up in a canola-olive-oil cuvee. Mmmm, summmmmmer!

Pizza, Beer, Friday Night Date Night

Indeed, what more could you ask for on a Friday night? The evening was utterly lovely, we had the roof open and cocktails on hand, and a freshly made batch of beer was conditioning in the closet.

Ahh, rats. So that means we didn't get to drink the homebrew. But we will in two weeks! Meanwhile, "Dook's Brew" conditions away, and our home is filled with sanitized and drying equipment as we gear up for the second brewing...

We made two pizzas for the evening: the first was an artichoke, ramp and ricotta pie, which wasn't actually all that satisfying, and the second was a date, bacon and blue cheese pie, which had all the properly balancing sweet/salty/savory notes until I got carried away and put ramp bulbs all over it...
which somehow turned the thing into a strangely Dorito-flavored concoction with bits of dates.

It was okay, but this is not something that I'd fully recommend anyone tries to duplicate, unless a sweet, Dorito-y pie actually sounds good to you. Hmm.

Ricotta in the Morning

This is the breakfast of champions. As properly emphasized in the picture, I like to portion out more fresh homemade ricotta than actual raisin-pecan toast per bite, and I like just the tiniest dab of four fruits jam with each mouthful. This ricotta is, simply, stupid it is so delicious and easy to make. I often eat giant spoonfuls of it all on its own. Thank you, Miss La, for the addiction.

I've also found that a nice milky, honeyed cup of British breakfast tea is a perfect pairing with this.