This was supposed to post yesterday, but I was distracted by the Daily Show coverage of the Republican convention. Please forgive me and just pretend it’s Friday as you read…

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Yesterday was one weird day in Los Angeles! I left my house in Pasadena in mid-afternoon pleased to see a very overcast sky (though the temperature was still in the upper 80s). My neighbor Dawn was waxing her car, and I thanked her for helping to assure that it WOULD rain. Just as I was done with my pedicure and heading out to my car, which I had left with the windows open a bit, it started not to rain but to pour! I made a dash for it and my seat was not too wet. I decided to go ahead and go to the South Pasadena farmers’ market; after all, how much could it rain in August in Southern California? It was the first time in over a decade that it had rained at all in August. By the time I had gone a couple of miles traffic was stopped in the direction I wanted to go – an indication of flooded intersections ahead. So, I went another way. Well, typical of SoCal (and especially after months of dry weather) the roads, oil slicked, were a mess. I was stuck on the freeway behind a 3-car accident for a good half hour (thankfully there were no injuries). By the time I made it to the farmers’ market the merchants were packed up due to a flash flood warning – IN AUGUST!!! Home again – produceless – I picked some shishito peppers and did a quick stir-fry. It was so good that I ate too much and have pledged a light day today.

Years ago Trader Joes stocked green garbanzo bean (in the freezer case). They didn’t catch on and so went the way of so many other products that they tried out. I rather liked them and last week I came across them at Whole Foods (their house 365 brand). So I picked up a bag and made a batch of lovely pale green hummus. I used my regular recipe but lightened up on everything but the tahini since the green garbanzos have a much more delicate flavor than the ubiquitous mature ones.

I stripped the kernels from a couple of ears of corn that I had roasted earlier in the week to play around with. Right about that time I got a text from a friend inviting me to join the Friday Al Fresco lunch crowd – all writers of one sort or another. We managed NOT to talk about Clint Eastwood. The special salad of the day was topped with cold fried chicken (a weak spot of mine) so there went the meatless day. Ah, well…

Back to the kitchen and the corn – I came up with “Corn Slaw”. Pretty and tasty too.

I’ll add a caprese and some other odds and ends of marinated vegetables that I’ve been making lately and call it dinner! I’m especially enjoying quick half-sour garlic dills.