So it's been a wee bit hot as of late...
                                     
 and as a result my oven's been a wee bit neglected...

                   

                                       
but this week I found some recipes that didn't require baking.
                                                                     
So enjoy.
                                                                   
(I sure did!)

"We are shaped and fashioned by what we love. "

♥ Goethe 

Do you think houses remember? Do you think the love and joy and laughter they experience gets stored up and somehow permeates the walls and becomes such a part of the very house itself that when you walk into a room you can sense it?

We as people certainly remember houses. I remember, fondly, the house I grew up in. And since moving out and moving away I would sometimes find myself homesick for it. Or rather, I'd find myself desperate to recreate the feelings and emotions triggered by my happy memories there. And this sensation was never stronger than when I was pregnant with my daughter. And sick beyond sick.

Now, at certain times, when I walk through a room in our new house and the sunlight hits the gleaming hardwood floor just right or I walk barefoot in the cool damp of our basement  or the smell of supper cooking drifts through an open kitchen window and mingles with the dewy evening air and the sound of Elli playing in the yard I feel like I've come back to the house I grew up in. Indeed, like I never left.

I think I've been looking for that sensation for almost 7 years now. Subconsciously. Without ever even knowing it. Without ever even knowing how important it was to me to someday find it. But it wasn't until walking into this house, 1187 Columbus Circle, miles and miles away from where I grew up, that I realized it. Then I sensed the decades of love and joy and laughter stored up in it's walls. And felt the search and the journey and the homesickness end.

This is our stove. It is quite large. And a bit dated. But it is gas. And let me tell you I love it. It's taken a little getting used to but what's not to love about instant heat? Plus the smell reminds me of camping and our little portable propane Coleman stove. Plus, plus I can make s'mores in the comfort of my own kitchen anytime I want.

"I noticed every time I spent a lot of time in the bathtub, I would just get fantastic realizations about myself, and they were so valuable and liberating."


-Leonard Orr

So. 

Since moving in 6+ weeks ago our beautiful pedestal bathtub upstairs has been in different stages of disassembly as my husband tried to fix the drain. He must have gone to at least a half dozen hardware and plumbing supply stores and talked to just as many experts about what specific part he needed and how hard it was to find and order. It was starting to look as though we may never have a fully functioning shower AND tub drain upstairs. 

Well, just last week while doing some random straightening up of his workbench in the basement he came across  a small little metal screw-like piece. And as he analyzed it the heavens opened and the sound of singing angelic choirs filled the air...

Ok. Not really. But my husband did have an "Aha moment". And in a mere half hour the drain was fixed, the tub was put back together, filled with hot water and some votive candles were lit. All so I could have the inaugural soak.

I was speechless. 

Then he told me the story about finding the part and being himself speechless, that after so many weeks of fruitless hunting in stores and online and being convinced that we'd have to buy some modern, expensive, plastic thing to replace the whole drain pipe, the one small missing "link" we needed ended up being in our possession all along.

"What I can't figure out is why it was in the basement in a baggie?"

"A baggie you say?" I replied. (Cue sheepish smile.) "I did that..."

"You?"

"Yeah. But in my defense I did tell you. Remember? I found it in the medicine cabinet upstairs with some extra screw caps for the toilet so I thought it was an extra thing for the toilet and I put it in a baggie in the basement."

"Oh, boy."

"Hey, at least we found it before you replaced half the bathtub..."

"I have often walked down this street before;
But the pavement always stayed beneath my feet before. "

-Lyrics from My Fair Lady

While the rest of the country languishes under drought-like conditions I thought you'd all like to take a break from the ever abounding browns and tans and rest your eyes with something green. Thanks to the towering oaks and maples and lindens Columbus Circle has thus far been spared most of the scorching heat. I think I have officially become a tree-hugger!