Source: lilluna.com via verymom on Pinterest
- Finish building a lemonade stand, sadly not as pretty as the one above, but hopefully made with as much love.
- Build a firepit in the backyard. The scouts are having a camp out back there next weekend, and what’s a camp out without s’mores?
- Sandbox! The old sand area is now part of the chicken run and I sure am tired of my littlest making mudballs in the garden aisles*.
- Maybe getting myself over to the Farmer’s Market to see if anyone has eggplant ready. I’m trying to find an authentic Eggplant Parmesan recipe. My husband spent 2 years in Italy and it’s his favorite dish, but he’s never had an American version that hasn’t made him want to gag.
*Every time I type the word ‘aisles’ I remember getting hollered at by a commenter on an old blog because I spelled it ‘isle’ in multiple posts on my website. I wanted to say thank you for the correction, but she used a fake email address. Thanks, anonymous spelling Nazi! It seriously helped, you didn’t need to hide.
Kind of praying our weather cooperates with our plans… the weather says it might snow tomorrow and it’s pretty chilly today. What are you up to this weekend?
I have a Sicilian recipe for eggplant parm, which I can transcribe for you.
Okay, I watched the video. (It took a thousand years because of INTERRUPTIONS.) Gianni’s recipe looks really good. The one I have is by Vincent Schiavelli, who was a character actor whose grandfather was a chef in Sicily. He wrote a few books of his recipes, which are great.
The main differences between the recipes are that Schiavelli does not do an egg wash, uses only mozzarella (or caciocavalo) cheese, and adds a layer of pine nuts and white raisins. (He explains that the name of the dish has nothing to do with the cheese, but describes the way the layers of eggplant look like a palm-thatched roof.) I’d be happy to transcribe it if you want to try it!
Oh my god I am so hungry.
Oh that sounds really, really good. I’d love your recipe if you get some time to write it out. I watched another in Italian w/ English subtitles and she didn’t do the eggwash either, the eggplant just went right into… sunflower oil, I think. It was way more basic. Pine nuts and white raisins sound amazing.
I just pinned a great idea for a sliding/trundle style sandbox. I would so love one like it for the kids.
snow snow (or chance of it anyhow) go away! I think in all the years I lived in Idaho, the first week of June was the latest we ever got freak snow (one of those weird storms that started out as a cold rain and ended up dumping slushy consistency precipitate). I can definitely remember running into snow on the hike pretty much every single year @ girl’s camp. Def not an issue out here.
We are packing and cleaning this weekend (and pretty much every other day for the next 4 weeks until we actually move 2nd week in July). I only wish I were building a cute lemonade stand or sandbox. Bah, I loathe packing/moving (not the actual moving part…just the putting my entire life/household into hopefully well-labeled boxes part).
You’ll have to post how the sandbox turned out–We have one of those green plastic turtle jobbies (also perfect for collecting rainwater when someone forgets to put the lid back on!!) and it’s okay–not great, but it works. Do you ever have a problem with neighborhood cats uh…leaving a little something? We (for at least 4 more weeks anyway) have a huge backyard and originally had a perfectly lovely sand ‘area’ in a part of the backyard but unfortunately the neighbor’s cats also loved our lovely sand area and hence the arrival of the green turtle sandbox so we could (hopefully remember to) put a lid over the sand and keep the kitties and their poop out.
I just wanted to let you know that my eggplant parm turns out WAY better when I “sweat” the eggplant for a few hours first. I slice it up (around 1/3 inch) and then sprinkle sea salt all over it, then prop it up on their sides in my colander (you might find a better way to do this) and let the salt pull the excess moisture out of the eggplant for a few hours. Before I start the egg/breading procedure, I wipe away all the salt and extra moisture with a paper towel or two. This way, my eggplant is not soggy. The salt is gone, so no extra sodium or salty taste, and the eggplant is never dry.
Good luck!