8/27 dinner:
pasta aurora:
1 shallot, 3 cloves garlic coarsely chopped, sauteed with 1 diced red bell pepper in olive oil. i hate to admit my naivete, but the shallot was very strange inside the brown papery skin--soft and translucent lavender. chopped about 5 heirloom tomatoes (on the mushy side) from the farmer's market--green and yellow-striped zebras, a butter-yellow tomato with all its seeds in a small frog-spawn-like ball easily scooped out with my fingers, a flat, red, deeply ribbed costoluto, and a tomato the insane plastic yellow of a bell pepper. dropped them in the pan and reduced them at high heat until they turned into a thick red syrup. added fresh torn basil, dried oregano, salt, pepper, dried red chili pepper flakes, sugar, a splash of sherry, and finally some heavy whipping cream. added 1 can sliced black olives and 1 can mushroom stems and pieces. reduced the heat, reduced the sauce some more, and tossed with linguine.

it was good.