Summertime

      I am really enjoying summer this year, even through the heat, even though I keep putting off the yard work and it's getting pretty shaggy now.  And now that Eliyah comes three days a week, I am sure I'm going to play some every week.  Last week he beat me roundly at checkers!  I am enjoying the garden produce and the flowers too.  Here are some Zinnias in the yard of a friend who has a green thumb.  She has lots of tomatoes too and I took some home and canned Salsa for her and for us.

In my Friend's yard are many flowers.

Some people don't realize how pretty Hydrangeas are in alkaline soil.

 

There were six jars of salsa but we have already eaten one!

     Here is a new cookbook I bought last week when I was Not-buying antiques with a friend.  It's a Russian cookbook from 1969, a Time-Life series. (it cost me a grand $2) It has a number of recipes in it so I was surprised to find that it's not actually the cookbook, but a story-line that goes with a spiral bound cookbook.  Bill has ordered me the other part but in the mean-time, I have begun to use the recipes in the book  This one is Kulebiaka, salmon in pastry.  I try to have fish about once a week but Bill is not very fond of seafood, unless you mean shrimp.  I liked the look of this recipe and the fact that the filler was rice rather than my usual oatmeal when I make salmon patties.  Herbs made the taste memorable and really, I was surprised that canned salmon could taste so good, and ordinarily I like it anyway!

Here is the book

Here is the pie, well, one-half the pie

    

A better view

Here's the picture in the book.  It was not difficult to make.  Recipe follows.

     Here are my menus for the week:
Thursday-  Hot dogs, roasted garlic potatoes, sliced tomatoes, watermelon
Friday-Sandwiches only as we had eaten lunch out and were not very hungry. Later we had popcorn.
Saturday- Kulebiaka, fresh corn on the cob, tomato salad with blue cheese and watermelon
Today- Spinach dip and toast squares, pasta with red sauce, salad, almond cookies
Monday-Anniversary dinner at Scholar's Inn, It's been 11 years since Bill came to stay with his little suitcase!  In October we'll celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.
Tuesday-left-over Kulebiaka, steamed mixed vegetables, Cherry tomatoes with blue cheese, watermelon
Wednesday-Chef's salad with cheese, egg and meat, baked potatoes, watermelon, if there's any left!
Thursday-Hamburgers with lettuce and tomato, garlic roasted potatoes, cookies, if there are any left!

Kulebiaka, or my version of it.

1 can salmon, 14 ounces
1  1/2 cups cooked rice
2 eggs, beaten
1 small onion, minced finely
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried dill weed
1 scant teaspoon salt
some ground pepper
4 large pats butter
1 recipe best piecrust

Piecrust: 2 cups plain flour, 1 stick butter, 1/3 cup cold water, 4 tablespoons cooking oil
Work the butter into the flour, first with a knife, then with your fingers.  Measure the cold water, add the oil to the water and pour into the flour and butter mixture.  Gently mix until barely sticking together.  Divide in half and roll out each half into a long thin oval, one somewhat wider than the other, make it about 10 or 12  inches long and about 6 or 7 inches wide.  Mix the salmon, with its juice but picking out the backbones, the rice, eggs, onion and flavorings well.  Spoon onto the wider piece of pie crust, piling it up high. Dot with butter.   Lay the second piece of crust over the first and the fish pile and press the edges down, then fold the bottom, wider portion over the top edge and crimp.  Cut a steam hole in the middle. Transfer carefully with two spatulas to baking sheet.   Bake at 400 for about 50 minutes, watch the browning at the end.  Makes about 7 or 8 generous servings.

For the tomato salad, I just chop up tomatoes, sprinkle with bits of blue cheese and drizzle with a little salad dressing.  Cherry tomatoes can be cut in half.

     I am always on the look-out for a good recipe.  I don't mind paying for a cook book that has several recipes that become family favorites and end up being used frequently through-out the year.  Of course, the internet has an endless supply of recipes and I do use it and keep a loose leaf notebook full of print-outs, but to do a search you need to have a recipe in mind.  A cook book with a regional theme, or an opinionated author may have something I haven't even thought of.  And yes, you can teach an old dog new tricks!