We fly the planes ourselves

Due to our disdain for a) fireworks and b) drunk people, as well as our indifference to c) barbecue, my photo assistant and I have developed the perhaps-antisocial July 4 tradition of seeing three movies in the theater. Yesterday we were three for three, with Wanted, Get Smart, and Hancock all coming through with all the car chases, gunfights, explosions, special effects, pratfalls, and one-liners we hoped for. And what's more American than that?

Listen, fruit is less expensive than smoking, even in these quantities:
1/2 pt. raspberries
1 pt. Tristar strawberries
1 lb. peaches (!!!!)
2 1/2 lbs. cherries
5 Empire apples
1 1/2 lbs. rhubarb
3 lbs. zucchini
1 bunch carrots
1 bunch Swiss chard
1 1/2 lbs. shell peas
1 lb. "soft" discount tomatoes
1 head Rocambole garlic
Total spent: $57 (of which $20 was for cherries)
Today we're going to a friend's house upstate for a barbecue, so I made rhubarb bars again. This time, I used brown rice syrup, which definitely has a hearty and almost caramel-like taste, which added a nice quality to the rhubarb filling - thing is, I didn't use enough sweetener in the filling, nor sugar in the streusel, so they taste more like breakfast bars than sweet desserts. I also used whole wheat flour because I didn't think it would make a difference in a recipe that already called for oats. These bars are hearty and taste a bit healthy, but I hope folks will still like them. I'm also bringing Tofurkey sausage, cherries, and half a dozen little zucchini for the grill. Despite the rain, it promises to be a fun trip.

Today I passed up apricots and the season's first corn on the cob, because I was out of money and my shoulders hurt, but I may pick some corn up on Monday for dinner - I'm quite excited about it. Tomorrow night we'll have peas, and maybe peaches for dessert!