Slicing and Dicing

I've been such a foodie lately, baking and mixing and stirring, slicing and dicing and stir-frying, sprinkling spices and seasonings with abandon--a little on the food, a little under the arms.  There's nothing nicer than smelling like oregano.

With all this hot weather, the squash in my veggie garden is taking off, with leaves as big as elephant ears, and squash growing so fast you can almost hear it lengthening.  I have yellow crookneck, patty pan, hubbard, and I forget what the other squash is.  Soon I'll be making squash bread and freezing it or giving away as much as I can.  I'll never forget the time my then-new neighbor decided to have a veggie garden--his first--and he ignored my advice about NOT planting zucchini.  Everyone knows zucchini is the kudzu of the Northwest.  I came home from work one day, and all the mailboxes out on the road were filled with zucchini.  A whole line of mailboxes, bulging with obscene green zukes the size of zeppelins.  It was the funniest thing I'd ever seen.  This neighbor was crafty.  He sneaked the zukes into the mailboxes after dark.

I never grow zukes, but I have enough other squash plants to keep me in squash for months. It's amazing how many things you can make with such a versatile vegetable!