Cooking Unillustrated

This is just about the extent of my mom's garden this year, this one rose on this one bush. I guess the real question is: Who in the heck tries to grow roses in the desert during a drought? The answer is: Practically everybody. Most yards in the neighborhood will have at least one rose bush growing (or almost growing) in it--and I would bet that's also true for the rest of the city.

There are a few scruffy, weed-like dessert flowers in bloom--well, one to be honest. I didn't get a picture because it's a tiny little plant on slim stems that bob in the slightest breeze.

Not that there is much breeze. Today the forecast is for 106 degrees. The high usually hits us around 4:00. That's when you'll find us hiding out in the darkened house with the swamp coolers going gangbusters. At night, the temperature drops to 68 degrees. That's when we wear socks to bed and snuggle up in bed with warm blankets.

My day:

This morning I ran errands, dropping off gift boxes of baked goods that we ordered from Zingerman's to the ICU and OR crews that worked on my mother last week. She wrote letters praising the employees who went above and beyond during her hospital stay. I delivered those to their supervisors (and copies to the employees themselves).

After, I dropped by Peppers to buy supplies for dinner tomorrow. We're having company so I'm making short ribs and either mashed potatoes or polenta. (Planning is tough for me because god only knows what I'll find in this small town. Polenta? Maybe. Potatoes for sure.) Steamed green beans and a green salad and some kind of dessert. Maybe an ice box cake? The menu seems wintry and heavy to me, but then again, almost all food does when it's 106 degrees outside. I guess we could serve blocks of ice and ice cream sundaes. Maybe watermelon and lemonade as sides? I don't know.

Having spent the bulk of the last three decades cooking (and mostly eating) vegetarian (since Dave is vegetarian, that means that I pretty much am as well), I'm on shaky ground when it comes to meat-based dishes. So I'm doing a braised short ribs recipe that can be refrigerated overnight and reaheated tomorrow. That way if it comes out terribly, we can hide the evidence and run out to buy some prepped ribs to stick in the oven.

Cooking is one of the things I've been doing more of recently. I'm trying to shoehorn more fruits and vegetables into my mother to help the healing process along. Today we had our usual breakfast (eggs, toast, fresh fruit for my mom, salad and yogurt for me), but lunch was a Greek-style cous-cous (cous-cous, parsley, zucchini, tomatoes, red onion, feta, Kalamata olives), served alongside tumeric chicken salad with walnuts, dried cranberries, and raisins. Dinner is probably going to be some short ribs (I made extra just for a taste test) served over plain cous-cous and salad.

Anyway! My mom is doing well. The initial trauma of surgery to the bones and muscles of the leg is starting to settle down a bit and now comes the longer, patience-requiring healing process, and, next week, the beginning physical therapy. Right now, she does simple exercises and walks as much as she can (she shoots for a trip down the hall and back at least every hour).  So that's good. The doctor told her she'd potentially be back at work within 8 weeks, but has extended that to 12 weeks, just in case.