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So I made this recipe from Smitten Kitchen his week. If you’re like me, you want to eat more veggies but you don’t want to make “salad” or, when it’s this hot, roast vegetables. So this one is perfect! It’s a great side and it literally takes about 10 minutes to prep. I did get sumac from the store in a tiny container—I’ve seen other recipes that use it but that’s fairly rare. But, since I like this recipe, I might have to invest in a larger container of sumac!

I also made chicken gyro salad for lunch yesterday. This is another way to eat more veggies and healthy things and it’s easy. I don’t have a grill, so I prepped the chicken the night before, and then set my oven to 350 and cooked the chicken for 30 minutes. I also used plain ol’ chicken breasts instead of the thighs the recipe called for and didn’t use pitas, but I used pita chips to serve with the tzatziki (which is one of my favorite summer snacks and so good for you!)

(If you’re bored, click the Surprise Me! button on the smitten kitchen website [at the top] and see what fun things pop up!)

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Since St. Martha’s feast day was on Wednesday, I give you: St. Martha and the Dragons

(Really, St. Martha needs more love!)

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As you’re reading this, I might be receiving sacraments! A good friend of mine is a Dominican friar and while he’s home for vacation, he offered to bring me the Eucharist and hear my confession, and also give me anointing of the sick (because why not?). So I was insanely grateful because I have not had any sacraments since March, which is the longest I’ve gone without them in my life. (Yes, lots of italics, sorry not sorry.) So I am very, very thankful for his offer! Right now, the diocese is “still working” on how to bring sacraments to people like me….apparently it’s hard? (I know we want to be safe vis-a-vis the virus, but….it’s also very hard to go without the sacraments!)

Here in Ohio the requirement to attend Mass is still abrogated until September (not sure of the date, I think it’s mid-September?). I do want to go back and I keep thinking about it. What I might do is go every other week, to start? Or once a month? Not sure. Or maybe every three weeks. I like every two weeks better, honestly… and with social distancing and mask wearing and no sign of peace, this is actually safer for me probably than a normal Mass!

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Next week in the Yarn Along there will be a cardigan update! Yay! And also details on this guy…

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I’m also re-doing the watercolor class I took a few years ago. Since I have all this time, I might as well use it, right? Fortunately I have a lot of paints here (So I don’t have to go out to top up my palette!) and a sketchbook that’s mostly free—I don’t buy tons of sketchbooks at a time, so I generally only have the one I’m currently using. It’s also a nice way to deepen my watercolor and sketching skills. I’d also like to take the teacher’s foundational sketching class, but I gotta save up for that.

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Reading: working on Pride and Prejudice. I haven’t been reading much lately which is a total BOO EMILY moment! I’m thinking Friday night will be a Pride and Prejudice read night. I did read Sense and Sensibility earlier this month, and Mansfield Park will be next up after P&P.

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HOCKEY IS BACK!!!!! The Pens had an exhibition game on Tuesday—which they lost, but I don’t care because hockey is back— and they play the Canadiens in a best of five series starting Saturday. The Blue Jackets play Boston in an exhibition tonight, and they play Montreal starting Sunday. Basically, the NHL is gonna be like March Madness, and it’s gonna be glorious.