It’s beet season! Honestly, as a root vegetable, beets are almost always in season, but supposedly they are at their best from June to October, so get on it.

My dad and I procured some lovely beets from our local small town farmer’s market recently and decided to pickle them. It was a good decision. In my opinion sweet vegetables, like sweet potatoes and acorn squash and (duh) beets, are made to be eaten with goat cheese. Something about the earthy sweetness of the vegetables with the creamy, salty tang of goat cheese is just so right.  So, I whipped some goat cheese up with herbs and cream until it was spreadable and made a “napoleon” (a French layered dish…usually a dessert) with thin-sliced fresh onions and some of the pickled beets.

This combination packs a tangy punch, but I happen to like that kind of thing. After I dropped what was on the fork in the picture below on the left, I found out Murdock likes that kind of thing too.

Here’s the recipe I used to pickle the beets:

(adapted from this recipe)

Ingredients:

4-5 medium beets

olive oil

1 onion, sliced

1 cup tarragon vinegar

2 tsp salt

1/3 cup sugar

1 cup water

Directions:

Coat beets in olive oil and roast at 400 degrees for 40-45 minutes, or until a knife can be inserted with a bit of resistance. (It won’t feel like a baked potato when it’s done, it will be quite a bit firmer.) Allow beets to rest until they are cool enough to handle.

Remove skins from beets and slice. Arrange in clean glass jars (I ended up with two full jars) alternating layers with sliced onion.

Combine vinegar, water, salt and sugar in a small pot and bring to a boil. Pour over beets and put the lids on while the liquid is still warm. Allow jars to cool for a few minutes on the counter, then move to the fridge for 3-7 days before eating. The longer they sit, the stronger they get. They will last at least 3 weeks in the fridge.

Now here is a “recipe” for the goat cheese:

Ingredients:

one of those little logs of goat cheese (4 oz or 6 oz…can’t remember/doesn’t matter)

1/4-1/2 cup of cream or half and half, depending on how spready you want it

1-2 tablespoons of fresh herbs, minced (i used chives, dill, and basil)

salt and pepper

Directions:

Mix until smooth, then eat.

In my opinion, this would make a lovely appetizer or, if you deconstructed it and threw it on top of some greens, a very fine salad. Serve it with toasted, crusty bread and hello lunch.

So, summer – happened. Oh, and spring. I got swept up in working and planning and going on trips and not blogging. But I did manage to get a few photos, so here’s a quick rundown to bring everyone up to speed.

I went to the Air Force museum in Dayton Ohio with family, where my grandpa’s Vietnam-era helicopter has finally been retired and put on display.

I saw a few of the movies I’d previously expressed interest in: namely The Hunger Games and Snow White and the Huntsman. Both were decent, and the latter quite visually striking, but neither were mind-blowing. I decided after seeing the Dark Shadows preview a few times that I won’t see it, and I haven’t had time to see Moonrise Kingdom, as it wasn’t released at any theaters near my house. Boo.

I also saw The Dark Knight Rises. I went in with almost no expectations and came away incredibly satisfied. That whole trilogy came full-circle in the most fabulous way, metaphorically too! It may have had a few predictable turns, but I do not care.

Then, my sister and her husband (and their miniature Chihuahua, Bandit) moved from Utah to the DC area, which has made my life a lot more fun. During our adventures together I acquired a pair of Madewell shoes (the very shoes pictured above!) for thirty dollars which, as most Madewell fans know, is un-heard of and worthy of mention. Bandit also established his dominance over my 60 pound wimp-dog Murdock and peed on Cody’s foot. We are all friends now.

We also went to Arlington for some Peruvian chicken at El Pollo Rico, on what was probably the most face-meltingly hot day of the year. But the chicken was delicious and worth the sweat.

In further culinary adventures, I took a step toward beginning to understand the art of making delicious, fluffy hummus with my friend Caitlin. We made an afternoon of hummus experimentation with her puppies there to supervise (that’s Desi below on the right). I will never go back to store-bought hummus again.

And I ate a lot of tomatoes, as I am wont to do in the summer. I also discovered that mozzarella di bufala really has a rich, distinctive buffalo-ey flavor that works very well in caprese. I recommend it.