Citrus bounty

I realized after I hit publish on my Summer 2020 post that I actually have read a couple more books I enjoyed. This light beach read:

And this book that had me on the edge of my seat in a good way and transported me onto a boat in the Caribbean.

And this highly anticipated book by the author of The Mothers which I also loved.

But the thing that I have actually spent the most time on this Quarantine Spring/Summer/hopefully not Fall of 2020???? has been cooking all the things.

Some evidence below.

Ay yi yi!!!

It started because I was trying so hard to ration our food stores, not knowing if there would be shortages and trying to limit my grocery shopping to every 10 days-2 weeks during our period of social distancing here in the US and it became a creative outlet and a way to mark the end of the workday when I worked from home and work life and home life were enmeshed and every day felt like ground hog day.

I tried to create family dinners that we would all enjoy, complete with flowers, when available from the garden,  and candles.

Also my workdays looked like this and I needed a creative outlet. A glass or two of wine while cooking also helped.

My primary muse was Alison Roman. I had bought her cookbooks early in the year with the intention of trying some new recipes and try I did. Here is a list of the recipes I cooked this spring that were new to me. Everything on the list is something I would make again. They are all keepers.

And more here:

In terms of my New Years Resolution to cook some new recipes, reader, I nailed it.

I am hoping, though, to be able to to read more, sew more, exercise more as life hopefully becomes a little less stressful, although in the Northeast, we are still practicing social distancing and I expect to be doing this for the foreseeable future. Our gym did reopen, though, and I am swimming my laps again which is a huge positive development. Especially in light of all the food and wine!