Auction Night

Today was a lovely day. First we went to the food pantry, then to the grocery store, then to the farm for our vegetable pickup. The girls and I headed out to the field to gather Sweet Potato Greens. We also got cucumbers, okra, a bell pepper, tomatoes, garlic, and 5 ears of sweet corn. This evening I made an "unstuffed zucchini" casserole with cooked brown rice as the bottom layer, mild pork sausage as the next layer (someone gave this to us), a layer of diced zucchini pieces sauteed in the pork fat with some Italian cheeses mixed in, and a layer consisting of a partial jar of pasta sauce, an undrained can of diced tomatoes and a quarter cup of water. Covered tightly with alum. foil and baked in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes. It turned out quite well, considering that I was inventing it as I went along.

After dinner we went to the community house for the annual fundraiser auction. This is for a big pot of money for the teenagers to spend on something benefiting the community and then they take the leftovers and do an end of the summer party. Leah was the only one to get a dollar to spend; the other two girls lost theirs for some dinner table behavior that was inappropriate (for example, Rebecca climbed on the table and stuck her finger in the lemon meringue pie!). My dad was the auctioneer -- he has been ever since I was a little girl. When I was a child I was always itching to spend my money. Leah, however, is completely different. She held on to her dollar and when something came up she would turn to me and say, we don't need that. We already have three dressers, or, that rocking chair is too big for our family. The few things she did want went over a dollar quickly. But at the end there is a big free-for-all where people race over to the tables, grab what is left, and take it to Dad and haggle. She ended up with a box of Japanese watercolor tube paints (100 yen on the price tag on the back) for 25 cents. Which meant 75 cents left over! And she was so pleased with herself for buying something she actually really needed, and to have so much left over, that she went around showing everyone in the Community House her box of paints and her three quarters. And I was so happy for her.

Lemon meringue pie with blueberry sauce for dessert; yum!

Two recipe links I found online and want to save so I can make them this week:

Fried Okra and Potatoes

"A granola recipe from my mom's hippie youth"