That was July that was

 I'm not going to lie, Georgian month wasn't a standout in the 2022 challenge I am still needlessly pursuing. Partly because I went on holiday in the middle of it (to Vienna, which was beautiful, and where I consumed almost nothing but Riesling, apricot products and yoghurt ice cream, to zero regrets). Partly because I had a cold (not covid, appaz) and coughed myself into vomiting several times, which makes one tender around the gag reflex and disinclined to fancy spicing. And partly because terrifying heatwave, the world is doomed etc. One day dinner was mostly just cherries straight from the fridge. It's the only rational approach at the moment. 

Okay not only apricot products. Open sandwiches takeaway was exciting

Tea, wine, apricot cake, bed. My kind of holiday

Luckily, Georgian cookery is a flexible thing and has plenty of summery options. The bits I cooked were largely splendid. 

The peach and gooseberry salad with tarragon dressing I think I've mentioned before, and it's coming out again next month even though it's far from Scandinavian. There's green tabbouleh on the plate with this, with avocado and herbs, very not Georgian but good along with it.

Tomato and raspberry salad, too: punchy dressing, plenty of fruit, ideal for July. 

Grilled courgettes with garlic dill mint yoghurt were as described and very tasty for it, if not beautiful.

 

Vegetarian week was the one where I was actually ill, and it was boiling hot. Various egg-based dishes either didn't happen or went unphotographed. Griddled watermelon with pistachio and feta became just watermelon, though with green cheese nut dressing as planned. 

When I came back from holiday, cooking was an unpleasant shock. Chicken week often isn't pretty, and this definitely wasn't. 

But lavash pie was good. A bunch of herbs, yoghurt, barberries and cooked chicken between layers of bread, given maybe 20 mins in the oven? Very tasty, very easy, pretty foolproof. Not that I had lavash, but split flatbreads with butter worked out okay.

There was a ludicrously unphotogentic leek pate, steamed leeks mixed with blitzed walnuts/blue fenugreek/coriander/marigold/garlic/salt plus some fried sprunions with fresh coriander. 

 Mid creation. Georgian cooking has so many walnuts and these are all the ones I used

 

Finished pate. Obvs.

It was delicious. Of course. The really ugly stuff always is. 

I made the summer stew too, and it was as good as ever.

And meat week. There were chicken livers with pomegranatey onions, also hideous but delicious.

Some tasty kebabi, drifting into Georgia from the south. Even quite nice in a lunch box, cold. 

And halloumi with herbs and sprunions and garlic. No it's not meaty, I don't care. It was a good Georgian dish. (I got most of these from Supra, a few from Kaukasis by Olia Hercules, whose Ukrainian books I will use later on. Both are worth your time, but I like Supra as it's meant to be a banqueting book but if you cook single things from it you get useful quantities for one.)

Peach and tomato salad on the side. Nothing nicer

So yes. I commend Georgian month to you. 

But I also commend Kaffee und Kuchen in the cafe at the Kunsthistorischesmuseum, where the aircon was just high enough to make cake feel like a plan. Wiener Melange and an Apricot-joghurt-toertchen, natch. I miss it already.