Friday Roundup #40

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Two white trays of oysters on ice on a mosaic table, raw oysters on the half shell beside a ramekin of cocktail sauce, with a card reading Pemaquid, Damariscotta River, Maine.
The raw bar, mid-service.

This one’s late, and for once it isn’t because I was cooking. I spent a good chunk of the week chasing down some blog and WordPress gremlins that were keeping posts from going out at all, which is why a couple of things you were promised showed up in a clump tonight instead of on their days. I think they’re fixed. Fingers crossed, knock on wood, and a pinch of salt over the shoulder for good measure.

The better news: it finally feels like fall. Not the calendar kind; the real kind. The mornings have gone downright chilly, and we’ve been able to open up the whole house and let it air out after a summer of sealed windows and the AC grinding away. Sleeping with the windows open is my favorite thing about this time of year, and I’ll fight anybody who says otherwise.

Friday Roundup banner in the karacooks brand style. The words FRIDAY and ROUNDUP in dark green serif type flank a small circular pepper cross-section mark in the center, with thin horizontal rules and gold dots extending to either side. Cream background.
  • Coming on the blog: Tuesday is Sharon’s chili, which is exactly what chilly mornings are for. Next Sunday is why October through January is my happy place, and the timing couldn’t be better. Creek House Wildlife #3 moves to October 11. And there’s a whole run of seafood posts on the way (see below).
  • This past week: The overnight chicken stock got its rewrite, with new photos and a much bigger pot, and how we do burger night finally got written down, burger press and all. Both are dated for the days they were supposed to run.
  • The seafood feast: Last night we had C and L over for a seafood feast, and it was fabulous. Oysters raw and roasted, Brunswick shrimp, lobster tails, a cedar-planked side of salmon, and a pavlova to finish. L came in not eating raw oysters at all, ate three, and didn’t hate them, which I’m counting as a personal victory. We bought sixty oysters and held a dozen back for Sunday breakfast. Somebody found them. All sixty are gone and nobody’s sorry. The whole evening turned into a conversation about where seafood comes from and how to buy it well, and there’s more than one post in that. They’re coming soon.
  • Garden Update: The saffron crocus went in this weekend, my first time ever growing them: twenty-five corms in a half-barrel planter in the front bed, just left of the front door. Each flower gives up three threads, so if all goes well, twenty-five corms should get me just about enough saffron for one very proud pot of rice.
  • What I’m Reading: How to Eat an Elephant: One Voter at a Time by Sarah Longwell [Bookshop.org* | Kindle]. So far it’s both bleak and hopeful at the same time.
  • What I’m Watching: We just started Hijack with Idris Elba [IMDb | Rotten Tomatoes]. It’s season one, I’d never seen it, and so far I’m really enjoying it. I love a good political thriller, and watching Idris Elba isn’t exactly hard on the eyes.
  • What I’m Eating: It’s been a seafood week, and I’m not complaining: oysters, salmon, and applewood-smoked trout from Diana’s Specialties, which I stumbled across at the farmers market at St. Philip’s on Saturday morning. I couldn’t resist it, and it went into the seafood feast on a whim. And then, because the weather turned, the first pot roast of the season: wine and beef stock, garlic, peppercorns, and bay leaves, into the Staub and into a 225°F oven for six or seven hours. Fall-apart tender.

What are y’all reading/watching/cooking/dealing with this week? Let me know in the comments.

P.S. For the record, the WordPress saga involved me staring at the words “not a valid JSON response” more times than any person should have to. If a post of mine ever shows up late, or twice, now you know why.

P.P.S. The weather has been genuinely beautiful, and evenings on the deck are back in the plan.

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