When Jim left last Tuesday for a week at home, he left behind a bag of donated zucchini. Eat it! I don't want to see it when I come back, he said.

So here are 2.5 ways to prepare zucchini if you're not the greatest zucchini fan. All were shared with and approved by Winnie, so there is at least one other person who thinks they're good ideas.

Zucchini stir fry:
I used baby bok choy, a green pepper, snap peas, and zucchini. It was seasoned with soy and served with a little beef (cooked separately).

Zucchini with eggs (1):
I used a small zucchini and a tomato, pan-cooked together with a little olive oil, black pepper, and salt. Then I added eggs, scrambled everything together, and added some cheese at the last minute.

Zucchini omelette (2):
This is a variant on zucchini and eggs. I pan-cooked zucchini, tomato, red onion, and green pepper in olive oil for the filling, with basil, black pepper, and salt for seasoning. The omelette was an ordinary omelette, with the some mozarella and some Munster added just before putting in the veggies and folding the entire thing.

Zucchini salsa:
I finely diced a small zucchini, lots of garlic, some tomatoes, some red onion, and some green pepper. I sauteed the zucchini and garlic in olive oil, which I used more generously than I sometimes do, and added black pepper and salt. Then I added the red onion, green pepper, and tomato, and cooked it all a little more. I think it would taste good without the second cooking, too. I mixed in a healthy dose of lime juice and served with the end of a two-day old baguette, which I sliced into thin rounds and toasted. I put the salsa in a bowl and arranged the toast in a double ring around the outside. It looked colorful and elegant -- at least to my eye -- and surely was one of the more appealing ways I've used up a zucchini, a fading pepper, and a slightly stale baguette end.

• Currently drinking: Hot water with lime and honey