What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking?

Recently cooked two new dishes. I'm normally adverse to cooking with the wok, so I figured I'd give it a go.

Salt and pepper tofu

• I learned that blanching tofu dramatically improves its taste and texture. And counter to my intuition, it actually dries out the tofu.
• Salt and (white) pepper combination is incredibly simple yet delicious and versatile.
• Frying stuff is not as terrifying as I imagined. But I find dealing with waste oil to be incredibly inconvenient.

Din Tai Fung-style fried rice

• Using short-grained sushi rice creates a different but also enjoyable eating experience.
• Drying rice out overnight or several nights is critical.
• Using plain salt instead of soy sauce creates a great flavor profile that's subtle.

This summer I signed up for a farmer box and it's really brought me out of my rut! I'm really enjoying it and I'll probably do it again next year. It was a thousand CAD up-front for six months of enough veggies for probably three or four people, so next year I might split it with someone because I've eaten more chard than ever in my life. Still, the quality and convenience are both excellent! I'm sad strawberry season is ending but looking forward to tomato time.

• I made mak kimchi with the Napa cabbage and green onion they sent me and it turned out quite nicely at first, though towards the end of the jar it got a bit too fizzy and strong for me.
• Tried a few preparations but... nope, still don't like radishes. The radish greens are good though.
• There's a kohlrabi I'm looking to roast when return from my work trip! I've only had it before a couple times, I was introduced to it by some German co-workers. It reminds me of the stem of a broccoli.
• I've made a bunch of miso soup and added in whatever dark leafy greens I received in the box, which isn't traditional but I've got more miso paste and leafy greens than I know what to do with. It doesn't keep well at all but it's so easy to make it hardly matters.

I've always wanted to do homemade hummus but hate the time and effort it takes to get out and then, later, clean the food processor.

But then it dawned on me: I can use my smoothie blender that already lives on my counter and that I already use every single day.

And so I tried it, and It's so easy and so good.

And now I can't stop making hummuses.

I just made a batch flavored with tajin. Super delicious.

Tonight I had a Tuscan white bean and kale soup (a friend sells this) and I made some grilled smoked gouda, prosciutto cotto, basil, a little pesto, and grana padano sandwiches.

Nothing crazy, but everything was seasoned perfectly yadda yadda

It's berry season, and I just put in a few pounds of fresh-picked raspberries and blackberries to macerate for jam.

We had a weirdly cool early to mid-summer and the peas and lettuce are still producing. Spicy wok-charred snow peas were a fantastic meal when you're harvesting half a pound a day.