Oh right, like your kitchen never looks like a crime scene?

There is probably some reference that I could make to C.S.I. here, but unfortunately I don't watch it, so you'll have to make up your own inside joke. Let me just assure you that after the steady influx of beets from my friend Robert's farm lately, many, MANY batches of borscht have been made and shared with friends around town in recent weeks. Frankly I'm surprised this was the only casualty. (Those beet stains are serious. I think my kitchen sponge will be permanently easter egg colored.)

Since things have slowed down a bit teaching and lesson-planning-wise during these out-of-school summer months, there has been a lot more work with gardens and farmers markets, and thus a noticeable uptick in the sheer volume of produce finding its way into my kitchen. Hiding indoors during the most intense hours of midday heat, I've found myself doing a fair bit of culinary experimentation, including my first foray into making shrubs (the drinks, not the plants), but I'll get to writing about that after the fermented fruit concoctions have bubbled a few more days and I can get a second opinion on whether they are, in fact, drinkable. (Not bad so far. Certainly nothing a little champagne couldn't fix if things get a little... iffy.)

Some fermentation experiments have gone better than others. For instance, the kombucha: not my finest work. In fact, I think I had to make myself a cocktail afterwards to get rid of that taste. But I'm up for trying again if someone out there can offer advice on how to have it not taste like a scotch drinker sucked on a piece of charcoal and then burped in my mouth....

Sorry, was that too graphic?

Speaking of (hopefully less ill-fated) fermentation, the homebrewing supplies I ordered should be showing up any day now! (Dad, aren't you glad you stored those 5-gallon glass carboys under the porch for me for all those years?) I'm ready to make some roasted pumpkin ale for real:

A pumpkin summer ale? Is that even legal? "But it was August, Your Honor. How could I possibly have committed cucurbicide to make that? Everyone knows pumpkins aren't ready for harvest til autumn!" (I'd better make sure the DCPD doesn't follow my blog....)