The Heat, The Heat,

6:05

6:05

8:50

It's 8:15, starting to warm up, and we are both sitting here, drinking our coffee, viewing the haze of a summer morning.  I paddled for an hour, talked with Tina and Jim, got a single shot of am eagle before he spotted me, and took off, thus the saying, 'eagle eye.' Because of the holiday, the lake was busy, lots of fishermen and ski boats, taking advantage of the calm lake. 

Kayaking Morning

 Yesterday was the first day that the heat really got to us so that we really felt it.  I was sweating on my way back from a paddle, should have cooled off in the lake.  Evie was out watering her garden when I returned.  We are starting to think about the fourth when we are having just one couple over, Linda and Ron.  I decided to make a Turkish dish, kuru fasulye,  basically white beans with onions and tomato paste.  I used the pressure cooker for the beans, sauteed the onions and celery, and paste.  While I was doing this, Evie was mowing half of the yard because we were going for a boat ride once she was finished   It was so hot and she was so sweaty that she had to take a quick shower to cool off.  So around 11:00, we took off for a cruise over to Bemus Point and back, a great way to keep cool on a warm day.  When we returned, Evie realized that I did not turn the burner off completely so that the onions, celery, and tomato paste were blackened.  She cleaned out the pan and I started over with the dish.  Finally, by 12:30, I added the beans to the vegetables, some Turkish pepper and let it simmer.  Unfortunately, later in the day, Evie felt it was too soupy, the beans not quite done, so she put it in the oven and forgot about it so that the beans are now dry, lacking any liquid.  I think it was a mistake to make this dish. 

Having Fun

Just before lunch, our neighbor's kids invited us over to a talent show.  They were great, confident and funny, reminding us when our grandchildren used to present similar shows.  I had a bagel and the beans for lunch, soupy but decent, and a few pieces of sourdough bread.  I watched my show while Evie finished cutting the lawn. That was it as far as work goes for the rest of the day.  It was actually comfortable out on the dock because the wind had picked up, keeping us cool.  And whenever we got to warm, we just jumped in the lake.  We spent a good part of the afternoon reading and enjoying the sun.  By 5:30, we had enough so Evie came in and fried up some eggplant to make us a French sandwich called a pan bagnat.  It's basically a vegetable sandwich on sourdough bread.  You can add anything to it, hard-boiled eggs, pickles, hummus, in this case, eggplant, and treat it like a salad by adding vinegar and oil.  Once its done, you let it sit, the vinegar and oil penetrate the bread and you have a tasty sandwich. 

Once that was done, we decided to have a Manhattan a day early since Saturday was the Fourth.  It was actually cool on our front porch, thanks to our ceiling fan.  We enjoyed hummus and pistachios for a snack.  Around 7:30, we had our sandwiches and watched another episode of Hometown, some of the Trump extravaganza and a Money Heist before bed.  Thank goodness we have an air conditioner in our bedroom window, cooling off the room.