August was a bit of a wild ride for me: I took an epic road trip to a family reunion, my husband and older son were gone for three weeks, the garden went completely rogue, my pretend sister came for a visit, I spent lots of one-on-one time with my younger son, and, just recently, I began watching Season Two of NYPD Blue. Those of you who know me know that NYPD Blue is, strangely enough, one of my favourite television shows ever, but I have only ever watched Season One. I could never bear to watch the departure of John Kelly, which left me at a watching impasse. Have I watched Season One in its entirety multiple times? Yes I have. And now, after approximately two decades of this, I am ready to move on to Season Two which, I should probably note, originally aired in 1994. I AM READY.
I have a lot of non-television Favourites this month, though, and since September is SUNDAY, it is time to tell you about them!
I’ve Been Itching To Tell You About This
A few weeks ago I mentioned the myriad leprosy-like spots on my lower legs due to biting flies that resulted from the family reunion. At one point they were so painful and so itchy – not to mention so unsightly – that I wondered if it would be less painful to saw my own legs off mid-calf, and walk around on the jagged ends of my tibia. It was honestly agonizing.
I had some 0.5% cortisone cream in my medicine chest but it was a) ineffective, and b) expired. Possibly those two things are related. Anyway, I discovered this extra strength hydrocortisone cream; I thought I’d try the store brand as well as the Polysporin, and I am so happy to report that both really do work. If you, too, find yourself in a situation where you are considering amputation just to stop itching for One Damn Second, then give these a try!
Is That A Zucchini In Your Pocket Or…
Well, you knew you weren’t going to get through a summertime Favourite Things without more garden news, didn’t you? It’s insane. Every single day I’m picking a bowlful of tomatoes, as well as some late-season raspberries, and at least two or three zucchinis of various sizes.
Friends. The zucchini situation is out of control. Every single day I’m adding it to stir-fries, I’m making it into chips, I’m roasting it, I’m grating and freezing it, I’m sauteeing it, I’m baking it into every single thing I can think of: muffins, cake, brownies, loaves, and even, during a particularly low moment, cookies.
The cookies were great, by the way. Anyway, despite all that this is my current situation:
Every day I use up a zucchini and then I go into the garden and there are three more to be picked. I am overrun.
I have given away at least fifteen of these monsters and, despite keeping on top of the garden and harvesting them every day, they just keep coming.
But it’s not all about the veggies, although it’s mostly about the veggies. The flowers are beautiful too.
Feeling Fried
Up until this past week, when the temperatures have cooled off a bit, it has been too hot to cook, even though I have a well-insulated oven and an air-conditioned house. Hot meals have just not appealed. I have not really cooked dinner in August, other than this past week, nor have I for the entire month of July. Instead, we have been subsisting almost entirely on salads, bowls, and wraps, with the occasional barbeque thrown in there. Now, of course I have turned on the stove to cook the quinoa, pasta, noodles, or rice for those bowls and salads, but I was doing that early in the day and just assembling dinner at the regular mealtime.
I have been relying a lot on my air fryer; I always do when making chicken for the guys, but I have been using it a lot this summer for plant-based proteins like chickpeas. I have a double basket air fryer, so I can dedicate each basket to meat and non-meat items.
I usually roast chickpeas in the oven, but now that I’ve done them in the air fryer, I’m not going back. The result is so nice and crunchy!
I’ve also done some zucchini in the air fryer, which was really tasty.
I have an idea! my son suggested this week. How about next year, you plant LESS zucchini?
Tea (Towel) For Two
Last fall my dear friend Suzanne (HI SUZANNE) sent me a housewarming gift, and I think of her every time I use these precious tea towels. I wish I could reciprocate by sending her zucchini.
I mean. What could be more appropriate?
It’s true. I do.
The Hardest Part Is…
It’s been said that the hardest part of any workout is just getting started, but I would say that no, that’s not true. The hardest part is putting on a sports bra.
I go through what the Edies would call four Costume Changes a day, which makes for a lot of laundry, certainly, but with my current schedule there is no getting around this. In the morning I change out of my pajamas – always a matching pair! – into a yoga tank and leggings. I take my yoga practice, which is followed by what I think of as My Vigourous Exercise, a combination of the elliptical machine, the Peloton, and strength training. After that, I am very, very sweaty.
Whatever you are picturing right now, in terms of sweatiness? Multiply that by 100. When I say “sweaty,” I mean that there is a literal pool of sweat under the Peloton and my clothes are actually soaked, such that they make a wet thud when I drop them into my laundry basket. You could wring out my clothes and get another whole puddle; if I weighed myself I would probably drop several pounds of water weight after each workout. It’s a lot.
I don’t shower until around 9 or 10 in the morning, after I have walked Rex and worked in the garden, for obvious reasons. This means that I require another Costume Change, as I cannot possibly function in completely sweat-soaked clothes. I usually put on a tee and leggings, and since I don’t want to get my nice bras all sweaty, I put on a sports bra.
Why are sports bras the most difficult item to don in the world? I don’t know, but they are even on a day when my skin is not damp and sticky from a workout. How, friends, are we putting on our sports bras? Do we shimmy them on from the bottom up, do we pull them on and get our shoulders stuck from the top? Do we find ourselves partially strangled, with one breast supported and one arm tangled into the straps? What do we do? There is no easy way. I was so tired of this gymnastic routine that I searched and found a bra at lululemon that fastens in the front, and it has been a game changer.
I don’t know how I got this far in life without having one of these. I mean, you put it on like a jacket and then zip it up. It’s so simple! It also has great support, not that I really need it for dog walking, but it’s nice not to be bouncing around.
Outfit of the Month
Although I was distressed to get rid of a towering pile of ill-fitting jeans, including a pair from 2008, I am in love with these new crop jeans. The brand is Silver and the cut is Suki, and they are so comfortable and stretchy, without becoming baggy and stretched-out by midday, which is really saying something. I love them so much I bought two pair in different washes. To assuage my low-level guilty feelings about buying all new pants and contributing to the environmental disaster that is the textile industry, I wore this cute, light, 3/4 sleeve cardigan that I bought at Jacob circa 2014. The top is from Gap from a few years ago, the sandals are Skechers, and the bag is one I bought at lululemon back when I first started teaching yoga. It’s a workhorse!
I wore this outfit to go shopping with my older son, who’s moving back to university on Saturday!
See the holes in the garden behind me? That’s from deer. They haven’t been eating our (deer resistant) plants, happily, but they have been sauntering through the yard in the middle of the night, when our resident deer-chaser, Rexie, is asleep. I’ve also been awakened several times by howling coyotes outside our window, and the other evening my son said hey Mom, don’t let Rex out for a while. It turns out there was a mother bear with two cubs wandering through our property. It’s like I’m living in Lorne Greene’s New Wilderness, which, along with The Muppets, was my favourite television show when I was a kid. It’s been a journey from The Muppets and Lorne Greene to NYPD Blue, just as it’s been a journey from my 2008 jeans to today. Life, it’s a wild ride, isn’t it? I hope you’ve had a just-wild-enough August, and if there’s anything you’ve loved this month, I would love to hear it. xo
I obviously have weird tastes, because when you mentioned zucchini cookies I actually thought “ooh! That sounds good!” And I was actually wondering if you were going to plant, ahem, slightly less zucchini next year. I’m sure your family is probably begging you to, right now.
Chickpeas in the air fryer! I’ve never tried it but I will- I love chickpeas.
Putting on a sports bra while you’re already sweaty is IMPOSSIBLE. I’m glad you discovered the front-fastening bra. I don’t have one of those, but I’m thinking of it next time I buy a sports bra.
Ha ha, I’m glad you didn’t have to saw your legs off! I’ve been fantasizing about sawing my right leg off, but I feel like I would regret it later on.
I think you’d love the cookies! And the chickpeas are so good this way, so crunchy and perfect.
OMG the sports bra. I have spent so many years just trying to wiggle it on and here we are, the perfect solution to the problem.
I’m glad the itching cleared up. That is an impressive amount of garden produce. My garden this year is mostly herbs and flowers– my sunflowers are thriving and it’s making me very happy– but we also have cherry tomatoes and cucumbers.
I love sunflowers! I have a pot of mini ones on my deck, but they are looking a little scraggly right now.
Your love of NYPD Blue is cracking me up! I watched the whole series when it aired because my husband loved it. It was good, but not something I’d watch again. But I also never reread books. Your zucchini bounty is amazing! We didn’t get a single one, same as last year. We did get two yellow squash. I don’t know what my husband and daughter are doing wrong. They even tried that manual pollination thing. It’s weird because they grew zucchini in the past with no problems.
Hmm that’s so strange! I wish I could offer advice or a secret, but I didn’t really do anything. I also have about 25 butternut squash and several pumpkins on the vine. I guess it was a good year for growing!
OMG, zucchini. It seems like something you could sit down and watch grow in an afternoon. I remember having so much zucchini when I had my garden. I would make a lot of zucchini bread plus a rice dish with zucchini and grated cheese (which would not work for you obv since you are vegan). Another great way to use up large zucchini is zucchini boats – have you made them before? Here is a recipes (https://www.skinnytaste.com/veggie-lasagna-zucchini-boats/). Some of the zucchini boats will tell you to par boil the zucchini before filling the boats and roasting them in the oven. I skipped that step and that boats still turned out great. You can fill them with whatever you’d like! We did a lot of lasagna/marinara type of fillings, etc, but you can really stuff them with anything that sounds good to you. And then ideally top them with cheese (vegan or otherwise).
I love your outfit! Dark denim is my fave. I haven’t tried on any of my jeans since the spring as it hasn’t been jeans weather around these parts yet due to the high high high humidity we are experiencing, which is apparently caused by mature corn in the area (according to my husband – he read me a snippet of an article one night this week). It’s supremely humid here and we did not JUST start growing corn this year so it can’t be the driving cause but who even knows.
That sports bra seems wonderful! I hate putting sports bras on. The back always gets stuck up close to my neck so then I have to become like a contortionist to pull the back down. It’s not fun.
It’s so funny, one day I’ll think “okay, I’ll pick that one tomorrow” and then the next day it’s three times as big. What the what. Well, it’s a good problem to have and I do like zucchini in all its forms!
It’s not humid here at all, basically ever, which is wonderful. Humidity is soul-destroying in my opinion! Or at least hair destroying.
Zucchini tip: I shred it and measure it out into baggies in two cup portions (the amount my favorite zucchini bread recipe calls for), then freeze it. In the winter I just pull it out, defrost it for an hour or two and make zucchini bread. It works great. Also, the zucchini chocolate chip cookies & zucchini orzo recipes in Barbara Kingsolver’s memoir, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle are both delicious.
Twinsies! Laura, you and I do the exact same thing. I currently have sixteen bags of shredded zucchini in my freezer. EVERYONE GET READY FOR MUFFINS FOR THE NEXT YEAR. Lol!
I love zucchini! I got a zucchini cookbook from my grandma which has served me well over the years. (Plus, it always makes me think of her when I use it.) But, yes, having so much zucchini can get overwhelming! Your flowers are gorgeous! And I’m very jealous of your gnome towels!
I love zucchini too, but I might have a SMIDGE too much of it!
I knew you’d love the gnome towels!
Well, now that I know that a front zipping sports bra exists, I feel like I must try it. On the days when I take Doggo out before my workouts, I end up spending kind of a lot of time walking up and down the street in my jammies without a bra, and I’ve kind of been thinking that I should class things up a bit.
Look, you can try planting less zucchini, but that still doesn’t guarantee that you won’t end up with a million of the suckers. Gardening is strictly feast OR famine, and never ever “just enough”.
I swear that the air fryer makes all veggie proteins that much better – and there is nothing wrong most “non air fryer” methods for cooking them. It’s so nice to just throw the stuff in there and be hands off while it cooks.
I mean, yes, this is from two plants. Two. Plants. It’s pretty insane.
Being hands off is the greatest thing about air fryers!
I stopped growing zucchini years ago. Now I just wait for someone to give me some, because 100% they will.
Oh totally, yes they will. Just yesterday I went to the mailbox and there was a giant box beside it labelled “Free.” It was full of cucumbers. I guess I’m not the only gardener with this problem!
Your son may be on to something with the “plant less zucchini next year” idea.
I’m right there with you on watching old series for the first time. The Husband and I are currently watching Lost…which debuted in 2004!
I never watched Lost but I remember it debuting!
This is only two plants, but yes, next year, it’s going to be one.
Oh yes, the zucchinis! The first year I planted zucchinis I vowed to only ever plant one from then on. Even with one you can still end up with a glut if you’re not careful and pick them as soon as they get about 15-20cm long. although there’s always some that are hiding and you only see them once they are already monstrous. I’m very jealous of your tomato harvest. Do you can or make relish?
Your new jeans look fabulous, and yes getting the sports bra on is a chore. I’m an over the top, but I hate when you get it on and the straps are a bit tangles so it slaps down right in the middle of your breast.
Well, and that’s the thing, I go out every morning and search for the normal sized zucchinis and then find one that I missed that is three feet long. I haven’t been canning, but I’ve been roasting tomatoes and then freezing them. I like them that way for sauces.
See, that’s the thing about going over the top – I usually shimmy them up from below but then when I’m sweaty it gets stuck at least once!
I wish we are neighbors to get some of your goodies from the garden! I love zucchinis!!!
oh… double air fryer is brilliant. chickpea is my favorite pulse, I can eat it plain if it’s cooked from dry. Haven’t tried air frying it, any particular recipe/way you do it? do they keep crispy? or do you make every time you eat it?
front opening bra is brilliant!!!
I wish we were neighbours too, Coco! You’d be the recipient of so many things! Particularly zucchinis! I do make them every time I eat them, but I would guess they don’t stay crispy for long.
I’m glad you didn’t resort to amputating your own legs, calf down. That must’ve been some really horrible bite. I finally was bitten by the mites that were going after the rest of the family.
I remember NYPD Blue. I never watched it consistently. I hope you enjoy the rest of the series. I’m dying that you’ve come around after all these, decades. 😉
I only put my sports bras on before I’m sweaty and they are hard to get off once I am very sweaty, but I see your predicament. I’m glad you’ve found a front loading version.
The new jeans are really cute. You’re reminding me that I really need to clean out my closet.
I am nothing if not on top of pop culture *she says as she starts a show from 1994*
Sports bras, why are they so difficult?
I have never seen NYPD Blue. Actually there are a lot of TV shows I’ve never seen, and I get made fun of a lot as even the ones in the 90s are foreign to me. I wonder if you will like season two as much as season one and if you don’t, is all hell going to break loose? Sometimes quitting while you are ahead makes sense. On the other hand, high risk, high rewards!
I grew zucchini and tomatoes and spent the next five months canning and cutting and freezing and cooking, so I don’t miss that, but I do miss having a ripe tomato right from the vine! I still say I would prefer to get one from someone else though. That and fresh chicken eggs. Love having them, don’t want to do the work (but don’t really want to pay a premium to buy them either!)
I will keep you updated on this very important NYPD Blue news! I have also not seen so many shows – Cheers, Star Trek, Law and Order…there are just too many to name. I guess I’d just rather obsessively rewatch a season of a show I like.
I get you – it is a lot of work having a garden and dealing with the produce!
Thanks for the recs on the sports bra and the biting flies remedy, Nicole–I needed those two. I was bitten by flies this summer too, and was surprised that they didn’t heal as quickly as mosquito bites tend to do.
You zucchinis–the produce itself and your various productions–are so impressive!!
I meant “your zucchinis” were impressive not that you were a zucchini! haha
I feel like I’m turning into a zucchini! You are what you eat!
Maya, the situation was bad! But give it a try, both the name brand and the store brand! I still have little scars on my ankles, hopefully those will fade with time.
I’m notorious for starting shows late. We started The Sopranos this summer. Last year, I got Anna hooked on Desperate Housewives, and now Mike, Ella, and I are binge-watching The Middle (from 2009)—though we did watch it when it aired. I like to let a show age like fine wine before I pop the cork.
I am saving this post for future itch emergencies. 🤣
That bra is amazing. Girl, you have good boobs.
AND YOUR FLOWERS!!!!
The Sopranos! We watched that on DVD. So it was late, but not “it’s now streaming” late. I feel very bonded to you on this topic.
Thank you for the boob compliment! I feel like it’s more of a “good bra” than “good boobs” situation but I will TAKE THAT COMPLIMENT.
I’m currently addicted to HOUSE, which I never watched when it originally aired. I know what you mean about sports bras. I hate putting them on, actually any bra really. Vile invention. Mine comes off as soon as I walk in the door. I’ve yet to start undoing it in the elevator but that might not be far off.
Ooooh House, I have never watched that! Maybe I will! Once I finish all 11 seasons of NYPD Blue (I might be dead by then at this rate)
I wish you lived closer and I could take some of these ginormous zucchinis off your hands (LOL)… I used to have a coworker who always shared her abundance with the office but she moved to a different job so my zucchini supply has dried up. I have tried my hand before but never with much success.
Girl, and we had that talk about the sweat fest that is EVERY SINGLE WORKOUT for me. I am also always drenched (as if I just stepped out of the shower). I definitely try to avoid the bras without a closure at all, and I do think the front closure is genius. If only they could make the zipper as small as possible (it always shows under my shirts) LOL
Hahahaha I ALWAYS think of you and I as Sweat Sisters. I feel like you are the only one who really understands. It’s like we are simultaneously wiping up pools of sweat under our respective Pelotons. Apart but together.
That is some amazing zucchini situation there. I’ve been eating shaved zucchini salad – Zucchini ribbons dressed with salt, pepper, lemon juice and olive oil, with mint, walnuts and feta. Though I feel like with your zucchini it wouldn’t be like ribbons, more like sheets! The flowers are gorgeous too!
The other day, I tried to get a sports bra on and it wouldn’t roll down the back of my neck and I had to get my 12 year old to help me. That was kind of and embarrassing/bonding moment.
Oh wow, I haven’t yet had to resort to a third party assistance for my bra! That’s next level.
Oooh that salad sounds really good.
Oh, I was so excited when you were griping about the sports bra situation, and how I was going to BLOW YOUR MIND and tell you about the ones that zip in the front. Since I found those, I will never go back. Never.
My mom used to joke about how you had to lock your car in zucchini season, or neighbors would gift them to you by leaving them in your car. (I’m guessing these neighbors might have offered and been refused, but were refusing to take no for an answer?)
Your air fryer chickpeas almost make me want to buy an air fryer. There is NO ROOM on my counter, so it will not happen. I generally make them in the toaster oven or the regular oven, depending on how many I’m making.
Hahahaha we are on the same page as far as front zip bras go!
I have given away so many zucchinis that I think I may have no friends left if I keep pushing it. Even my MIL, when I asked if she wanted another zucchini, just said NO in a super firm voice.
HI NICOLE!
I love your zucchini production and flowers SO MUCH.
I have seen that zip up sports bra and have had some Doubts, but I agree with you that putting on a sports bra is AWFUL. So maybe now that you have paved the way, I can be brave and try a zip up.
Sweat has been my constant companion this summer. So much sweat. So many changes of clothing. So many showers and washcloths. SO MUCH DEODORANT.
I have to tell you, this bra is giving me a new lease on life. It has a little clip that you can fasten before zipping, just to, um, be sure everything is going to go smoothly. I LOVE IT.
SO MUCH SWEAT SUZANNE
Your garden is so gorgeous. I’m envious of the veggies, and the flowers-just wow. I am not a big sweater but last summer after I swam then showered at our cottage (on a very humid day) I was trying to get into a sport bra like/ long top and got completely tangled. It was all rolled up at the back. A gang was out on the deck and I had to yell “I need a girl in here” and my SIL came running lol. I used to own a gym and we sold a great front zip bra esp designed for well-endowed women. They were really popular but waaaay too much bra for me.
I am in love with my new bra! It’s just so easy. I’m not…super gifted in the chestal region but I do love that it gives a lot of support!
When you asked about how you put on a sports bra, I was going to mention the ones that zip right up in the front! I don’t do any other kinds of sports bras anymore. Trying to put on a regular one is way too hard. Just let me put my arms through the straps and zip those babies away!
I can’t believe how much zucchini you have! I was going to say you should start a zucchini farm but maybe planting less zucchini is the better solution. 😉
Hahaha it’s Nicole’s Zucchini Stand!
This bra is life changing!
I just saw this timely post on FB. Might be worth a try!
https://smittenkitchen.com/2017/06/zucchini-grilled-cheese/
Thanks J!
I have a front zip sports bra (maybe the same one? Athleta?) and I love it! Except for when the zipper SLIDES DOWN WHEN YOU’RE DOING A JUMPING JACK. That’s all. I may be traumatized.
Omg. Well. That has yet to happen (I haven’t done a jumping jack in ages) but good to know. This one is from Lululemon.
OOOOOH yes to the zip up bras. I also change a million times a day, so I feel you on this. Chick peas in the air fryer seems so simple and yet- I have never done this! Must correct. Love the cropped jeans, and the title of this post made me LOL. Y9u Gotham make a chocolate zucchini cake!
Chocolate zucchini cake – done and done. I love those, and so does my family, but I’m starting to fear that I’m going to have a mutiny on my hands. The other day I said “Oh, here’s a recipe for zucchini cornbread” and the pushback from that single comment was immense. That was a bridge too far.
Your vegetables look amazing as do the flowers on your deck. Your temperatures + your nurturing abilities shine through. As for deer, we have them too. They’ve nibbled my sunflowers and hydrangeas down to nothing. I’ve never found a sports bra I liked to I’m happy that you have. At least one of us should be comfortable.
Ally, in the spring we had a woman come and help with garden design, keeping in mind we wanted “deer proof” plants. The exception was, my husband wanted one hydrangea. The deer proof plants have all thrived, and the hydrangea is two inches tall. I do not think this is a coincidence!
I’m currently in the ready to amputate a limb portion of summer–the bugs love me. Aye Caramba!
Your veggies! Your flowers! I’m so happy for you to have it all, it looks like a page out of Better Homes & Gardens. Are you getting lots of bees and butterflies?
I had LOL’d at your son saying that maybe not plant so many zucchini’s next year; clearly he doesn’t understand how zucchinis work. 🫣
Sports bras are terrible. Even more terrible to take off when you are sweaty; gives me the heebie jeebies thinking of it, but I’m living it almost daily.
HE DOESN’T UNDERSTAND HOW ZUCCHINIS WORK! I baked a banana bread today and he was like “oh hey, there’s no zucchini in this.” Lol!
So many bees and butterflies, Suz! There are a lot of hives that have been placed around the vineyards to encourage the bees, and I’m always happy to see them around.
I am a seasonal sweater – sweaty now, yes, not so much in February. Logically. 🙂
I love zucchini but would only be able to take one – not very helpful, I’m afraid. I love your flowers, though. And all of this your first year! Just think how it’ll be when you really figure it out!
What setting(s) do you use for the chickpeas? I’ve never tried them in the air fryer but I love mine so much I might give that a try. Thanks!
Oh yes, give it a try! I just put them on the air fryer setting at 390 for ten minutes, then I shake them around and put them on for another ten. I also toss them in olive oil and add salt and pepper, but you could really add anything.