The Weekend Gathering No. 1
Pull up a chair for farm stand favorites, weekend menus, and a few quiet lessons from Nonna's kitchen.
The Jersey Nonna
Weekend Gathering No. 1
June 26–28, 2026
There’s a pitcher of sunflowers on my counter that has no business making me this happy. Pull up a chair. Let me tell you what I’ve been thinking about.
🌿 This Week at the Farm Stand
This is one of my favorite weekends of the year.
The strawberries are taking their final bow, the blueberries are just beginning to arrive, and every farm stand seems to have baskets overflowing with zucchini, cucumbers, leafy greens, and fragrant herbs. If you’re lucky, you may even spot the first truly vine-ripened Jersey tomatoes. They’re still a little scarce, and honestly, that’s as it should be. Some things are worth waiting for.
One of the quiet pleasures of shopping at a farm stand is learning patience. Nature has its own calendar, and it refuses to be rushed. When the tomatoes finally arrive in abundance, they’ll taste like sunshine — because they had time to become themselves.
This weekend, don’t overbuy. Choose only what you’ll enjoy over the next few days. Summer will be back next week with something new.
Into My Basket This Week
Fresh strawberries · Blueberries · Zucchini · Cucumbers · Leaf lettuce · Fresh basil · Parsley · Scallions · New potatoes · A bunch of sunflowers (because every kitchen deserves flowers)
🍽️ This Weekend’s Menu
Friday Evening
Nonna’s Breaded Chicken Cutlets with lemon
Parmesan zucchini ribbons · Warm Italian bread
Mixed garden salad
Fresh strawberries with lightly sweetened mascarpone
Saturday Morning
Blueberry pancakes · Real maple syrup
Good coffee enjoyed outside before the day begins
Saturday Lunch
Simple cucumber sandwiches with herb cream cheese
Fresh cherries · Iced tea
Saturday Evening
Grilled Italian sausage with peppers and onions
Roasted new potatoes · Garden salad
Vanilla ice cream topped with fresh blueberries
Sunday Morning
Garden herb frittata · Toast · Fresh berries
Sunday Supper
Classic Sunday meatballs
Slow-simmered tomato sauce · Rigatoni · Italian bread
A simple green salad
Because some traditions deserve to stay exactly as they are.
🍓 Featured Recipe
Nonna’s Breaded Chicken Cutlets
The one tip that changes everything
For years I made breaded chicken cutlets the same way I’d always made them — seasoned breadcrumbs, egg wash, same pan, same oil. They were fine. Sometimes great, sometimes hit or miss. The breading didn’t always stay as crisp as I wanted, and I couldn’t quite name what I was doing wrong.
Then my son gave me a tip that changed everything.
One step. After you bread the cutlets, put them in the refrigerator. Uncovered. Thirty minutes minimum, an hour if you have it. The breading dries just slightly — not so much that it hardens, but enough that when it hits the hot oil it seizes and sets immediately instead of absorbing and slipping. That’s why they come out crispy all the way to the table now, every single time.
That’s the whole secret.
Ingredients (serves 4)
4 boneless chicken breasts, pounded thin (about ¼ inch)
2 eggs, beaten with a splash of water
1½ cups Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
½ cup grated Pecorino Romano
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried parsley
Salt and pepper
Neutral oil for frying (about 1 inch in the pan)
Lemon wedges to serve
To Make
Mix breadcrumbs, cheese, garlic powder, parsley, salt, and pepper in a shallow dish. Beat eggs in a second dish. Dip each cutlet in egg, let the excess drip off, then press firmly into the breadcrumb mixture on both sides. Place on a sheet pan in a single layer.
Now stop. Refrigerate uncovered for 30 to 60 minutes. This is the step.
Heat oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high until shimmering. Cook cutlets 2 to 3 minutes per side until deeply golden. Do not crowd the pan. Drain on a wire rack — not paper towels — so air circulates underneath and the bottom stays crisp.
Serve immediately with lemon wedges.
Nonna Note: Pan-fry them. I know baking is tempting, but the cutlet sits in its own steam in the oven and you’ll never get the crust you’re after. A shallow fry, a wire rack, and that refrigerator rest — that’s the whole recipe.
The Strawberry Basil Sparkler — muddle 3–4 sliced strawberries with 2 torn basil leaves and the juice of half a lime. Add ice. Top with sparkling water. Make one before you start cooking. You’ve earned it.
📝 From Nonna’s Notebook
Why the First Tomato Matters
Every summer someone asks me why people in New Jersey get so excited about tomato season. After all, tomatoes are available all year long.
Yes. But not these tomatoes.
Not the ones that sat in warm sunshine instead of a truck. Not the ones that smell like a garden before you even slice them. Not the ones that need nothing more than a sprinkle of salt and a piece of good bread.
I remember the first summer I understood this. My next-door neighbor handed me a tomato warm from his backyard garden, said nothing, and watched me eat it over the kitchen sink like it was something precious. It was. I have been chasing that tomato ever since.
The first real Jersey tomato isn’t just another ingredient. It’s permission.
Permission to eat more slowly. Permission to stop saving the good olive oil. Permission to call a friend and say, “I’ve got tomatoes. Come over.”
Summer has a way of reminding us that abundance isn’t having everything. It’s recognizing enough when it’s sitting right in front of you.
🌼 Around the House
Buy yourself flowers.
Not because company is coming. Not because it’s a birthday. Not because the dining room needs decorating.
Just because it’s Saturday.
This week I tucked a handful of sunflowers into an old white pitcher that usually lives on the top shelf of my pantry. The whole kitchen looked happier.
Sometimes that’s reason enough.
🧺 Weekend Kitchen Planner
Friday
☐ Visit the farm stand
☐ Wash berries and lettuce
☐ Pound and bread chicken cutlets
☐ Rest cutlets in refrigerator (don’t skip this)
☐ Slice cucumbers · Put flowers in water
☐ Set the table before dinner — it takes five minutes and changes everything
Saturday
☐ Make pancakes slowly
☐ Eat outside if the weather cooperates
☐ Prep Sunday meatballs while you have the kitchen going
☐ Freeze any extra berries
Sunday
☐ Simmer the sauce early — let the whole house smell like Sunday
☐ Save enough leftovers for Monday
☐ Sit for ten quiet minutes before the weekend ends
This week’s standing invitation: call someone you’ve been meaning to have over. The tomatoes won’t wait forever. Neither will the people you love.
❤️ Before You Go...
I used to think hospitality meant preparing something extraordinary.
A spotless house. A table worthy of a magazine. Dessert made from scratch.
The older I’ve become, the more I’ve changed my mind.
Hospitality is really just making room.
Making room at the table. Making room in the conversation. Making room in your day for someone who needs a cup of coffee and twenty minutes of your attention.
The meal will be forgotten.
The feeling won’t.
That’s what I hope you carry into this weekend.
Until next Friday,
— Kathy
The Jersey Nonna