Reflecting on this June now past, I keep thinking about the phrase "long June." How lovely it would sound in a poem with its two lethargic vowels, slow in the heat of this first summer month. How little time I have at present to write that poem.
The first of the month, my ninth grade English students took their final exam. The eleventh of the month, I wrapped up my school year. The weeks since then (crazy to think that it's not even been three full weeks) I have been feverishly writing my thesis, interrupted every few days with a stint at my old college retail job, which I have maintained solely for a reason to put on makeup and get out of the house.
Originally, I was supposed to complete my thesis by July 9th, finishing it during the first summer subterm rather than the second. Looking at my calendar on May 19th, the day I defended my thesis and the day I was supposed to begin that first summer subterm, I realized how little time that actually gave me, especially considering that I had barely half of the material I needed for my first chapter. So, in a moment of either uncharacteristic procrastination or realistic recalibration, I postponed to the second subterm, which officially started June 28th and concludes August 20th. I met my goal of having a complete first chapter to submit the day the class began. I suppose is why the month has felt long––its days have been so full for me.
Obviously, a lot of my reading and creating has been To Kill a Mockingbird-themed, but here's what I read, cooked, and created in the month of June.
What I Read
Scottsboro: A Tragedy of the American South, Dan T. Carter (★★★)
Alabama in the Twentieth Century, Wayne Flynt (★★★★★)
Mockingbird Songs: My Friendship with Harper Lee, Wayne Flynt (★★★★★)––reread
Politics, Society, and the Klan in Alabama, 1915-1949, Glenn Feldman (★★★★)
Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter Then, Now, and Forever, John McWhorter (★★★★)
Mockingbird, Charles Shields (★★★★)––reread
This Beautiful Truth: How God's Goodness Breaks Into Our Darkness, Sarah Clarkson (★★★★★)
If you want to hear the rationale behind my rating, head to my Goodreads for full reviews.
What I Cooked
Two of my favorite things as someone who loves to cook are reducing food waste and eating dips that require tortilla chips. A good hummus recipe checks both of those boxes. Since I often find myself with one or two extra chipotle peppers and extra cilantro since the grocery store sells obscenely large bunches.
I whipped a half batch of this up in the little food processor attachment that goes with my immersion blender (legitimately one of the best gifts my husband has ever gotten me), and I enjoyed it immensely. It kept in the fridge for over a week, and it made for a wholesome snack. I do not know what else I could ask from a hummus recipe.
I confess: I did not make this recipe correctly. I accidentally got evaporated milk instead of sweetened condensed milk; I added too much juice because I didn't read the recipe carefully; I am pretty sure I over-folded the puree into the cream. In light of this series of unfortunate events, I don't think I can give an accurate assessment of this recipe. I can, however, say that it was good frozen and also good topped with fresh strawberries, and I will be trying it again to see if I can make it work.
Since I enjoy a good frittata but only have one recipe, I thought I would broaden my repertoire with a meatless option to satisfy my personal goal of making one meatless meal a week. I firmly believe leeks are among the most underrated vegetables, so I was delighted to see a frittata that used them. I dislike goat cheese on principle, so I subbed in feta.
I'll be honest, this was an underwhelming recipe. The high water content in the leeks made the overall frittata rather moist, and the flavors were pretty subtle (that may be my fault for omitting the goat cheese, but I suppose I would rather have a subtle feta taste than an overwhelming goat cheese taste). That being said, I think it could be improved upon with a stronger cheese than Monterey jack––a white cheddar or a gruyere would probably add a little bit more flavor, and draining the leeks after sautéing them could help as well. I will probably give this recipe another try before giving up on it. Also, it was good leftover.
I proudly continued my tradition of making something new when having a friend over for dinner by trying this recipe. Surprisingly, this Half Baked Harvest recipe is fairly easy and contains no weird or superfluous ingredients. The chicken is so phenomenally flavorful that I made it a second time this month to top this salad (a new family favorite) since I didn't feel like buying a tub of pesto right before leaving for vacation. The feta sauce was good, and you can't go wrong with bacon or avocado. Pitas are probably the most inefficient method of eating this meal, and doing it as a salad or with naan instead of the pitas would help ensure that the eating experience is as fabulous as the actual food being eaten.
What I Created
Original blackout poem "An Ember Fading"
Unpublished, untitled original poem on spiritual warfare
Unpublished original poem "Internment"
Chapter 1 of my thesis
July tends to be my favorite month of the year since that's the month of our big summer road trip (which, as per our usual arrangement, I will be documenting on my Instagram story). I'm sure the month will feel short, and I want to stretch it out as long as I can.