The weekend before last, Andy and I went to the farmer's market to get some stuff and then we spent the rest of the day making things from The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying and Start Making by Alana Chernila. It was super fun. We made rhubarb-ginger syrup with lemon verbena (for pouring into seltzer water and making sodas), mayonnaise, ketchup, and hamburger buns! And I made another rhubarb custard pie (that thing is really good). We took turns whisking the olive oil into the egg yolk to make mayonnaise. I seriously don't know how one person could have the muscle strength to do this; our arms were yakisoba noodles after I don't even know how long it took (and we were also actually sitting down the whole time). Pffffft! The hamburger buns were seriously amazing. I couldn't stop looking at them. Our neighbors came for a cook-out later that night. We had burgers and sweet potato oven fries I sort of made up. I think they liked everything. They also thought we were kind of cracked but we're used to that. Then they had a neighborhood potluck party this past Sunday. (We have a lot of great neighborhood parties.) I spent almost the whole party talking to someone about suburban sprawl and someone else about window replacement and cedar shingles and I had a great time. I thought, "Ah. I must be in my forties."
