Jen's Popsicle Dream

Jen had a dream this summer. Her dream was to make some popsicles. We're not really into dreaming big. It may seem unimpressive but it means we're often happy. We're living the dream.



Jen's first experiment was to make these popsicles out of grapefruit and Aperol, her new favorite liqueur. She had one before dinner claiming that it was not dessert but rather an aperitif. My objections were not registered.

Unfortunately today the unthinkable happened: Jen purchased cucumbers. Unfortunately she did not realize we still had those weird Poona Kheera cucumbers in the fridge. Not only that but she bought one more cucumber than needed. So now, instead of having to use up two cucumbers I had to use up three cucumbers. This resulted in a special salad just for Jen.



It wasn't so much a salad as it was a plate of cucumber slices with olive oil, salt, pepper, feta cheese, and chopped basil.



Jen was a little annoyed by this salad since she'd already made her classic gazpacho recipe for dinner. Even I like this gazpacho even though it has cucumbers in it. It would probably be better if it had not cucumbers at all in the recipe but it's still pretty tasty. Jen insists that gazpacho counts as salad so she shouldn't have had to eat the cucumbers. I wasn't that concerned with her eating the cucumber as I with just using them so I told her that was her decision.



For beer I had this beer which was unlike any beer I've ever had. It tasted like carbonated lemon. It wasn't sweet but it was shockingly tart and lemon-flavored. Supossedly this is a style of beer made in Germany that Napoleon became very fond of after conquering Prussia. It's brewed by Professor Fritz Briem of the Doemens Institute. While this beer was extremely interesting I don't think I would jump at purchasing it again. It was not quite what I had expected.

Also, I am suspicious of anything crafted by a mad German scientist.



Last night, during dinner with friends, Jen mentioned annoyance that I never talk about her wine so here you have it. Jen had some Fat Bastard Rosé which we'd picked up at a liquor store recently because of the fact that it was a rose and it was potentially the cheapest bottle of wine in the store. Like all rosés she enjoyed it thoroughly on a warm evening.



Jen had also purchased a mess of basil so I threw it in the food processor with some toasted cashews, garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper. I used the pesto with some spaghetti, fresh peas, and the leftover grilled vegetables from last night (green beans, radicchio, and corn). I topped the pasta dish with some grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.



For dessert we enjoyed another of Jen's Aperol grapefruit popsicles while watching today's final stage of the Tour de France.

I'd intended on making a French-themed meal to celebrate the end of the Tour de France this year. When I realized I was too lazy for that I thought maybe I could make a few different dishes from some of the riders' countries. Even too lazy for that I thought maybe I'd pick up an Australian beer to drink in honor of Cadel Evans. Then I realized that the only Australian beer you can really get in America is Fosters. That just wouldn't do.

Fosters may be Australian for "beer" but it's also American for "not very good beer."