August is providing such an abundance of vegetables, more than I remember. Is it my bad memory? Goodness, my memory is tired these days — like the rest of me! No, it's more likely that we've been consistent in picking up our CSA shares from the farms we frequent. Farmers are generous people and they certainly have been taking care of us. And now that we have a new and chubby, giggly, very compelling reason to sit down to dinner together, I find myself cooking more than in previous seasons.

There's tomato sauce bubbling. I haven't been using our old Damn Fine Sauce recipe. I just chop up several big tomatoes with onion, garlic, bell pepper, and basil, let it cook for a half hour, then pulverize with the stick blender and cook another half hour. It's less finicky so I have more time free to keep an eye on a crawling baby.

Also, there are eggplants, cooked whole in the oven for an hour in their skins, then peeled. These are nice and soft for a certain young miss.

I got up some roasted beets too, which made their way into a jar for fridge pickles, which the baby also loves. Seth is the canner in our family, but there's no time this season for him, or for me to dive in and learn. Maybe if I had become proficient at it before the baby it wouldn't feel so daunting. I know the woman behind Food in Jars has no trouble whipping up small batches in the evenings so it's not impossible to do. But I've only got so much brainpower per day (I'm tired!), and knitting is a higher priority. I'll probably regret it this winter. But I'll regret it from within my warm, cozy sweater, so it's hard to feel remorseful here.

One notable absence from our fridge this summer is green beans. As I predicted, we're not getting the quantities I prefer in our shares. And this coming from a woman with no room in her freezer for them. I didn't end up putting in any seeds this year for them, so I will have to make an effort to get local green beans this year. With all my excitement for beans, you'd think I have some sort of toothsome recipe up my sleeve, but it's not the case. We just cook them in oil, or steam them and eat them with salt. Let's not go overboard here.