Sunday, July 5, 2009

How to love squash.

Step 1: Have a mother who's friends with someone whose closest friend is an olive oil connoisseur, and who gives Mother a bottle of extremely fine, fresh, and expensive olive oil to thank her for helping him unpack after moving.
Step 2: Plant yellow crook-neck squash in the garden. Harvest several young squashes.
Step 3: Rinse and cut up squash into bite-sized chunks. Roll in cornmeal. Saute in a little olive oil for about ten minutes or until tender.

Step 1 is the important part. I will never go back to cheap grocery-store olive oil again.

In writing news, I revised and sent out a story this evening. It's not much, but it's better than nothing. I thought I had other stories to send out, but no; I've either sold or retired all but five of my stories. If I have time tomorrow I really want to finish "Standard-Bearer." I'm very close to being done with the rough draft, but it's very rough. The sooner I finish it, the sooner I can start hacking it down to a reasonable length as the first step in revising.

12 comments:

Danielle Birch said...

I have trouble keeping plants alive, let alone trying to grow vegetables.

Jameson T. Caine said...

hmmm, that sounds good.

K.C. Shaw said...

Danielle--The squash are easy to grow, so easy they're trying to Take Over the World!

Jameson--It tastes a little bit like popcorn to me, oddly enough.

Aaron Polson said...

Squash. The wife always has me plant some in our garden. I loathe it, mostly, but this recipe sounds good. I might have to give the yellow buggers another try.

Jamie Eyberg said...

the differences in Olive Oils are like fine beers (or wine if I drank it) you can buy a cheap bottle and it will do the job, or you can buy a great bottle and have an experience.

Good luck with the story.

K.C. Shaw said...

Aaron--it is a sublime fruit, although I too once sneered at it. More to the point, my grandmother was the only one who ever cooked it when I was a kid, and she just fried it in wesson oil. *shudders*

Jamie--I never knew olive oils even had different tastes. At this point, I'm wondering how hard it is to grow my own olive trees. :)

Unknown said...

That sounds good. We're going to try it - but because I kill everything In my yard ( my yard and my stories seem to walk hand in hand) I'll probably cheat and sneak off to the farmers market.

Cate Gardner said...

It's not just my characters, I kill.

Alan W. Davidson said...

Blech...You could fry that up in a fine single malt and I still wouldn't touch it with a 10ft pole (I know, very cliche of me...)

K.C. Shaw said...

Jeremy--Farmer's markets are great! and they should have squash all over the place this time of year.

Cate--Y'all are scaring me, horror people. :)

Alan--But it tastes like popcorn! But it's good for you! It's the perfect combination. Also, you can drink the single-malt along with it.

Anne Spollen said...

I buy a great bottle of olive oil every Christmas and every Easter and use the holidays as an excuse for the price. It really does make a difference.

K.C. Shaw said...

Hey, that's an excellent idea! I could even casually mention good olive oil as the holidays approach, as a subtle hint. :)