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it has been entirely too long since i posted. it is too easy to get caught up in everything and neglect reflection. but i have done it! completed my first year of law school (still waiting on the grades, eek!) and am finally enjoying summer. i have started one of my two jobs for the summer: i am doing research for a professor at school on the way that courts have applied treaties to cases brought in the united states during the 20th century. it should be pretty interesting, especially once i actually figure out what i am doing.

but, the best part about summer is the garden :) boyfriend and i planted quite a few different varieties of vegetables this year in our backyard. as this is our first year in this house, we call it an experiment year: figuring out what plants do best where and if we can actually grow food that we can eat.

so far so good.

we have had a few issues with the beets; i am not sure if it is too hot where they are growing or if they caught a bug, but one day they just up and shriveled away. good thing we are not relying on our own garden for all of our food :)

our tomato plants are thriving, herbs are settling into their pots and we are crossing our fingers for the cucumber and the eggplant. carrots and scallions appear to be hanging in there, but the BROCCOLI have been incredible. ginormous big leaves, tightly sprouted heads that we trim often so that more grow. it is so cliche but there is nothing like picking food that you cook THAT DAY. nothing like it.

today we had some friends over for a brunch bbq. one of them is a vegetarian, so i decided to make a quiche while boyfriend grilled up some whiskey/maple/sage sausages for the carnivores (well omnivores). we also made a salad with green goddess dressing (see the recipe here from bon appetit) from our giant lettuce heads. we have been picking leaves off the edges and new growth pops up each day!

i couldn’t really find a recipe i liked for the quiche, so i made one up. i think i cooked it a little too long, but oh well…next time. here is the gist of what i did (note the extremely exact measuring techniques :) ):

ingredients:

-1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed

-two handfuls of broccoli, cut into bite sized pieces

-1 cup fresh spinach

-1 small shallot, diced

-5 eggs

-two handfuls of grated gryuère cheese

-1/2-3/4 cup of milk

directions

preheat oven to 425. roll out the puff pastry big enough to fill your pie pan. spray the pie pan with non-stick spray or rub with butter….i didn’t do this and the crust definitely stuck to the bottom. line the pie pan with the pastry and use a fork to poke some holes in the bottom.

in a skillet, heat olive or canola oil and add the shallots. sauté until softened, then add the broccoli. cook until bright green and starting to get tender. add in the spinach and cook until wilted. remove from stove to let cool a bit.

in a medium-big bowl, beat the eggs together and add in the cheese, as well as some salt and pepper to taste. add in the milk and the vegetables, and mix until homogeneous. then pour into the shell and put in the oven. i did mine for 25 minutes and that was too long, so next time i would do about 20. thats it! it still came out really well, i just like my quiches a little softer.

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