Stars in the kitchen

I'd never bought fresh okra before, so I was delighted to discover that, when diced in preparation for freezing (which is in preparation for my roomie to make some gumbo this winter) it has the shape of perfect little stars! I bought the okra this weekend at the South Haven Farmers' Market, and the farmer said: "When I picked that I was wondering if it was going to be worth the effort." Sure enough, it was--I bought all he had.

I also bought a half-bushel of peaches this weekend, which I split with my mom, as well as two quarts of the last sweet cherries of the season. Purchasing so much fruit over the weekend has made for busy weeknights--I had big plans for this produce! I turned the peaches into freezer jam--an excellent way to preserve the taste of summer for the rest of the year. My new serrated Zyliss peeler made the usually-arduous peeling task quite easy.

And the cherries--well, I turned those into boozy, brandied cherries, using Melissa Clark's recipe featured in The New York Times a couple of weeks ago. They're absolutely delicious. I only need to macerate them for one more day before spooning them over pound cake or ice cream.