Playing Squash

I just returned home a few days ago after a couple of weeks visiting family in North Dakota, Alberta and Montana. That's a whole other post so I won't go into that for now.

Before I left I asked The Husby to keep an eye on the squash. Well, I can't get after him because he did keep an eye on it. He watched it and watched it and watched it and.....

The first thing I did when I got home was to check out the garden and there they were: the biggest crook neck squash ever, I believe. Turns out all was not lost. I was surprised at how tender the skin was. It was all knobby and rough as a gourd but it wasn't hard at all. So I peeled it, cut it into chunks, drizzled olive oil over it and gave it a good dose of coarse sea salt and cracked pepper. Then I grilled it with some onions and peppers. Outstanding.

However good the above mentioned squash was, I am not going to even consider abandoning the method my grandmother used to cook it. Honey, she fried it. In margarine. Oleo is what she called it, but trans fat, nevertheless. The way we like it is to slice it about a quarter inch thick, slice onions and bell peppers, toss it all together and coat it with a nice layer of flour and corn meal, salt and pepper it really good and throw it in the hot melted oleo and cook until both sides are slightly browned. Yum! Just one of the best summer treats ever.

Another reason I like to grow squash is because I just love the blossoms. What is it about them? There they are just kind of hiding under all those big leaves and it just smells like they're cooking up something wonderful in there. And I have to wonder about the bee that is curled up inside this blossom. If he goes to sleep in there, will he get engulfed in the squash-in-the-making? Will I find him when I slice the squash? Just wondering because he seemed awfully sleepy in there.

Can't decide if I enjoy fried squash more than fried okra or not. They're both my favorites, I think.

My tomatoes aren't doing worth a darn. I have tons of Roma tomatoes but none of them are ripe yet and my other tomato plants just haven't done anything. I gave them all a big drink of water yesterday and fed them some Miracl Gro so here's hoping I at least get a few green tomatoes to fry up. That's another one of those "too good to miss" dishes. Oh, did I mention that you need bacon drippings not only for fried green tomatoes, but also okra? Don't even bother trying to fry it in something healthy. It just won't work out.