You’re from the 70’s, but I’m a 90’s Fun Friday!

FUN FRIDAY: Sometimes we need to loosen the apron straps and write about some of our influences outside of food. Don’t worry, it always comes back to food. This is a recap of our weekly Apronite adventures devouring the interwebs.

Oh! And a happy Canada Day, Independence Day and Birthday to all of the Cancers and Leos out there!

We haven’t had a Fun Friday for a while – we have all been too busy having fun to write about it. We’re having a summer vacation of sorts, while Dana goes camping (toasted marshmallows anyone?) and the rest of us get on with the serious business of enjoying some nice weather. An Apronite is never off-duty though, so here’s a recap of what we’ve been up to lately!

This week Ship did a great job of reminding us of the importance of family food traditions while making us all just a little teary eyed with her post ‘Glorious Leftovers’. Busy Apronite that she is, Ship also interviewed Terry Walters, author of the bestselling ‘CLEAN FOOD’ and ‘CLEAN START’ about how to make clean eating part of your lifestyle. She also gave us permission to reproduce a couple of her favourite recipes, so stroll on over for some clean food inspiration.

What we’re reading:

This week Kristina sent us a book recommendation for the more ‘experimental’ chef… Natural Harvest: A collection of semen-based recipes is not for the faint-hearted. If nothing else, do yourself a favour and read some of the hilarious reviews on Amazon. Dubious bodily fluids aside, *some* of the things we read don’t make you want to vom in your mouth a little.

Amanda: I’m not normally a big fan of TV chefs, nonetheless, I’m diving in to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Cookbook this week for recipes to serve at a dinner party this weekend. Emphasis on well-selected, good quality ingredients, and some very savvy tips on how to get the best out of them.

Reagan: I’m doing a total dorkathon re-read of the Harry Potters. I’m currently working through the ‘Order of the Phoenix’.

Kristina: Was lucky enough to get an advanced digital copy of Samantha Irby’s upcoming book, MEATY. Outstandingly hilarious. For those not familiar with her work, she’s the brains behind the brilliant blog Bitches Gotta Eat.

Ship: I’ve been hanging out quite a bit over on Oh She Glows lately. Her recipes are pretty easy and delicious. This week I made the butternut squash mac and cheese which was gluten free and cheese free…

What we’re drinking:

Amanda: Gin. Or is that just me? Mixed with tonic water, sliced strawberries fresh out of the garden and a squeeze of lime, preferably.

Dana: Much craft beer sampling and brewing is occurring at my house. The hubby just did a fine job on a Newcastle Brown Ale clone and together we brewed up a Double IPA that is causing a lovely mango & guava smell in the basement as it ferments.

What we’re listening to:

Reagan: I’ve had the newish Beach House album, Bloom, on repeat for the last few weeks. It’s all airy and soothing and awesome. It seems to match my mood, no matter what that mood is.

Dana: Still cannot get enough ear exposure to The National’s album Trouble Will Find Me. I’ve included a few tracks from it on our Hot Pink Summer Summer Simmer Playlist. It’s a little bit rock n’ roll, a lot bit soaking in the sunshine soundtrack.

Kristina: the newest album by The Mark Inside, called Dark Hearts Can Radiate White Light.

Ship: I have Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic zeros on a loop. They make me happy.

Also this song makes me & my kid sing really loudly in the car (also found on our summer playlist)…

What we’re watching:

Dana: My closest friends have the task of forwarding me all things Anthony Bourdain. I’m grateful to have an inbox often sprinkled by tour info, published essays and TV appearances from the affectionately crass chef. But, what many of my friends don’t know is that if there was just one chef in the world that I could dine with, it would actually be Chef David Chang (Momofuku / Milk Bar / Editor of Lucky Peach food journal). So, discovering the PBS series The Mind of a Chef, produced and narrated by Bourdain and hosted by Chang, had me so excited that I ended up staying up to the wee hours of the morning to devour all 16 episodes of the first season earlier this week. Worth it. The show combines travel, cooking, history and science from the culinary perspective of one of the world’s most celebrated chefs. It is possibly the best, guaranteed to be the most sincere, food show I have watched in years.

Rumour has it that chefs Sean Brock and April Bloomfield will be joining the mix next season. Bound to be brilliant.

Things we love:

CommonGround is a group of volunteer farm women making themselves available to answer consumer’s curiosities on what goes into growing and raising the food we eat. These women are passionate, experienced and knowledgeable about food production – and we couldn’t be happier to have them draped in Hot Pink Aprons. You can now link directly to the CommonGround website from our sidebar to ask your questions on agriculture, food production in America, rising food prices, animal welfare, food safety, GMO foods, and more. The more we know the healthier we are.

Kirsty spotted this incredible pottery which will print handwritten recipes onto ceramic. We’ve mentioned the importance of family recipes and well-thumbed cookbooks a few times, so we think it’s an incredible idea to have these heirlooms turned into… well, heirlooms.

What we’re up to next:

Juicy, plump strawberries are ripe for the picking – and we’ve been picking. We have a delicious simplified gluten-free strawberry pie to post next week, as well as a strawberry coconut milk popsicles (a.k.a. what to do with the hulled strawberry leftovers, with coconut milk).

Caitlin has taken on the duty of playing bartender to our virtual Hot Pink pool party. She has wrestled the ferocious mint garden threatened to dominate her backyard and tamed it with 3 refreshing cocktails to post next week.

Like I said, an Apronite is never truly off-duty. Dana has been fighting off the hordes of mosquitoes in Ontario’s deep woods while working on the “ultimate camping cook master list” – the marshmallows, the canned goods, the utensils, the items that you never thought you’d need but DO when looking to enjoy yourself on a camping vacation. Stay tuned for that.

Now the question is, what have YOU been up to? Enjoying the farmers’ markets? Baking any pies yourself? What track has you turning up the radio and staying tuned on the tele? Don’t be shy – we want to hear about your juiciest July goods.

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