Parmesan potatoes, Messy book, Puerto Rico update, just a sampling of the day

So today was another day in the neighborhood.  

Did a bit of desultory gardening, clipping off spent Montauk daisy heads, noticing yet another yellow rose, when I thought they were over, trimming back dead bits of both rose plants.

 

Needed to pick up a thing or two at the grocery, vaguely wondering what for dinner, already had wine and cheese on the list, vital supplies.  And bumped into Yukon Gold potatoes. Usually outside of my budget, but I thought to myself, self, if not for you, for whom, if not this evening, when?  And I bought a few.

Because I had noticed a great recipe for Parmesan Crisp Potatoes.  I love roast vegetables, especially roast potatoes, and this seemed like a good thing.  Several great cook friends tried it and approved. I added in grated Parmesan to the list, and made it out of there.

Once home, neighbor stops in to see if I have any drinking straws, emergency.  His little granddaughter is there the weekend, mouth sore, can't drink, unhappy baby.  So I went up and found the supply in the studio (no, perfectly unused), and went to deliver them. 

And found our mutual friend, Jackie, a current refugee from Puerto Rico, got in last night, was there, and I hugged her, and told her how good it was she was safe, etc.  She indicated that it was an ongoing nightmare.  She'll go back if and when they get power, because she loves it.  And hates our winters. 

Meanwhile, she has a place to stay next door.  I bet the cooking improves dramatically while she's there!  she was food shopping this afternoon.  She's a plant expert, so I reminded Gary that she's his first port of call with plant queries.  Didn't stop him from bringing a sad looking croton over to see what's what.

I have a large plant arrangement that I've been caring for for years for her.  It was part of her son's funeral offerings from friends, and she couldn't take it to PR, so it ended up with me.  She plans to come visit it.  Gary has sent pix now and then to keep her updated. It's about ten times the size it was originally, and looking okay.

On more cheerful topics, I found a great book, here

which vindicates all my lifelong beliefs in when in doubt, do everything!  everything you do feeds the next thing you do.  Don't do one thing at a time, have a lot going on.  I've had jobs where I was running up to 25 projects at once, and loved it.  

And in art I move from form to form as needed.  More about that in Beautiful Metaphor, probably.  Anyway, he's a lot of fun to read, and makes tons of sense.   And is a great defense against those people who say why don't you pick on something and do just that?  because that's not how some of us are built, that's why!

Accompanying this reading was a nice tea on the patio, warm weather still, we are now officially Zone 7 according to the USDA, climate change.  Anyway, tea with slices of the Biblical cake, which went down a treat.  Seemed so appropriate on a Sunday, too.

After that it was time to fire up the stove for the potatoes.  The recipe is here 

I had to sub a bit as usual. Didn't have garlic powder, so used other interesting flavors, Italian seasoning, turmeric, cayenne pepper, black pepper, mixed with the shredded cheese. You're supposed to use cheese grated to sand-like consistency, but I didn't have that, either.  No harm done. I actually did this a few hours ahead, thinking probably the mixture would blend if given time.

And here's the doings, awaiting their turn

And here's the final product, which, if I may say so, is well worth the prep, and totally worth getting Yukon Golds for.  Note to self: next year's container potatoes might as well be these

This was enough for two meals for me.  Next time HS is over, I think this will be on the menu. In the directions, they tell you to use a spatula to separate the potatoes, but I found my trusty pizza wheel did a better job. And the tip to use a glass pan was spot on.  Easy to lift the cheesy crust off without losing half of it.

Just a normal Sunday around here, really.  Other things happened too, but this is enough to stuff into this post for now.