Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

I had a surprise video call from my Mom and sister today, it was lovely to see them, and chat about sweet nothings. It is so wonderful not to have momentous news to share, but only the little things that make for a good life.

The first zucchini of the season was harvested today. I’ve been looking forward to this! I make a low-sugar, low-sodium, low-cholesterol chocolate zucchini muffin that I find delicious, it reminds me of brownies, moist and chocolatey. So that is what I did with this first lovely zucchini, I grated it, and baked muffins.

Well, there is a bit of an issue with these muffins. I can’t stop thinking about them. I’ve had two today, and my eating window is closed until tomorrow. But I keep thinking I’d like a muffin now! This is the only food that has affected me in this way. Does this make me a chocoholic, perhaps. I will not succumb to this desire. I will wait until tomorrow, and have another muffin during my eating window. They are safely tucked away in the freezer, so they will keep well for however long it takes to eat them all up.

My day began with baking a loaf of bread. I baked my muffins, and had some squash thawed that Ginger lost interest in, so I also made squash squares. Then Attila and I went shopping for groceries, and spent a whopping $11.75. The garden is providing us with a lot of food right now, so we are only purchasing a few perishables, like milk, and onions. There are times when we spend over $100, but we regard that as a “big shop”. The “big shop” forays are usually to take advantage of sale items, but truthfully there haven’t been many sales at our local store lately. Of course we rely heavily on our home canned foods, and our dry-good bulk purchases from a wholesaler.

The grocery store stocks aisle after aisle of plastic wrapped things we rarely buy. In 1969 when the first individually plastic wrapped cheese slices came on the market, I wrote a paper on the insanity of this practise in the food supply chain. These kinds of opinions had my classmates at university regarding me as a member of the lunatic fringe, I was ridiculed. When the first plastic wrapped water came onto the market I thought it was incredibly stupid to wrap water in plastic and sell it to people. I still feel it is stupid, so we don’t do it. As Attila is fond of quoting, “give me convenience or give me death“… climate change is catching up with our obsession with convenience. It isn’t as if no one knew we were and are harming ourselves and others.

I am back at my sewing machine, mending Attila’s worn out work pants again. More of the fabric on the front of the legs is wearing out, so more patches are needed, which is fairly straightforward. The pocket areas also need attention, so I am using bits of the vintage tablecloth, that I made a top for myself out of, to mend the pockets. I am not being meticulous about the sewing, as long as it is secure and functional. I have asked Attila not to wear these mended pants when we are going out in public. He complies with that request, although he sees no need for such measures. Attila is a fashion criminal. Were he to wear them in public, I would feel pressure to make them look more finished, making the job of mending a lot more complicated, and a lot more time consuming.

Attila has a few projects he wants to do this summer. One is splitting the logs from the dead ash trees. That is progressing slowly, as it is very hard work in this heat and humidity. It is progressing though, and should be finished this summer. Another project he will be starting soon is touching up the paint on the exterior of the house. It is peeling in spots. Ideally we would put on metal siding, but we aren’t prepared to do that right now, so paint it is. Another project is to replace the back door. The original door has solid thin wood panels, and does not keep out the cold. The original screen door latch is getting more and more difficult to open, and sometimes locks itself. The screen door is so old that there is no replacement hardware for it, so a new one is needed.

Slowly but surely this house is becoming more livable. This year it was a new hot water heater, fixing the plugged tub drain, splitting the ash tree logs, and will be an exterior paint touch up, and a new back door and storm door. Eventually we will be able to focus on the interior, in theory anyway. But we are quite comfortable here in this tiny little space we call home.

Worldly

Weather

Updated on Mon, Jul 15 at 6:17 PM
26°C
FEELS LIKE 40
Overcast
Wind 6 NW km/h
Humidity 86 %
Visibility 16 km
Sunrise 5:38 AM
Wind gust 9 km/h
Pressure 100.5 kPa
Ceiling 2900 m
Sunset 8:48 PM

Quote

“All human situations have their inconveniences. We feel those of the present but neither see nor feel those of the future; and hence we often make troublesome changes without amendment, and frequently for the worse.”
Benjamin Franklin
1706 – 1790