Bake-a-thon.

For brunch, Saturday morning:

• decide, finally, that I'm going to make orange rolls. So,
• at 11 p.m., I get up and make the dough.
• I soften the yeast in a small bowl and set aside. Meanwhile
• I melt some butter and heat some milk and whip some eggs, then
• add the required flour, beat, and add flour a little at a time.
• Wonder if the dough doesn't seem a little stiff.
• I notice the yeast sitting in its little bowl to the side, just as you're adding the last cup of flour.

ACK.

• So I pour that softened yeast over the dough that will never rise unless I can make the yeast, somehow, incorporate.
• Work that yeast in like it's my job. With my hands. Gently, so I don't make the dough too gluten-y.
• Success! I hope. Put the dough in the refrigerator and say a small prayer to the gods of yeast.
• Make the orange filling.

Get up the next morning and roll out/shape the rolls. Perhaps the dough is a little...funny. But with great faith, slice the rolls and put them in muffin tins and go to the store for other stuff.

Did you think this story wouldn't have a happy ending? Well, it did. I made precisely twice as many rolls as I actually needed, which meant I could send some home with both families who came to breakfast. Brunch, I mean.

For writing group, Sunday noon:

• I decide to make an olive oil cake with grapefruit juice/zest. This recipe appealed...I'm not sure why. Olive oil cake? grapefruit? seemed a little unlikely, and therefore perhaps--piquant? 
• It turns out this cake is easy, because you don't have to beat the butter to make it fluffy. You just 
• zest two grapefruits, and rub the zest into the sugar,
• then add eggs and olive oil and grapefruit juice (squeezed from the zested grapefruits) and buttermilk,
• whip it with a whisk,
• and add flour--white wheat flour and regular unbleached, along with leavenings.

Seriously, that's it.

• You can bake it in a bundt pan,
• but I thought it might be a tricky unmolding,
• since the batter was a little thin. So:
• loaf cake.
• Its glaze is grapefruit juice and brown sugar and confectioners' sugar,
• and I decided I'd also serve it with a dollop of creme fraiche, sweetened with a little brown sugar.

It was delicious, and we ate it with tea.

Attack of the killer tomatoes.

Predictably, there are so many tomatoes in my kitchen right now, I could plotz. Awhile ago, I made a deal with myself that I have mostly kept, not to eat tomatoes except when they are in season. That means that from August through September, there are tomatoes galore at the market, which I buy in unreasonable amounts, because when you can only eat them for two months, you want to get your fill.

I buy them from the Tremonton farmers (aka Tremonton Girl), our regular farmers, Chad, and the Savages. The ones from the Savages are the ones I use for roasting--they're good, round, red tomatoes that aren't too fancy, and the Savages sell 'em pretty cheap. Today I roasted 15 pounds of them, and that takes care of a lot of tomatoes.
But there are still lots of them! Lots! In every possible color, shape and size. For lunch, I had a slice of bread with slices of yellow tomato on it, very delicious. Tonight, we had gazpacho, which can use up a bunch of tomatoes; roasted green beens with a tomato/garlic/basil dressing; and a corn salad, also with some tomatoes in it. And there are still! lots!

Tomorrow I am going to make some caprese salad, a tomato topping for bruschetta, and a frittata, which I will top with sliced tomatoes. I predict that I will still not have used them up. But by golly we will eat them all, and have a good time doing it, because when they're gone, they're gone, and no hothouse tomato will take their place. It will be a long tomatoless winter, so now is the hour to get our fill.