Aren't there enough Crittiers?

Seriously! Do I not have enough troubles protecting my tomatoes and other vegetables from deer, rabbits, caterpillars and hornworms? I guess not. Now it seems that the squirrels are stealing the tomatoes, both red and green, going up into a particular tree, eating half of it and dropping the rest on the floor to taunt me.

Its a wonder I can successfully grow and actually eat myself, anything in this place. That being said, I currently have 10 lbs of tomatoes sitting on my counter top waiting to be eaten! 10 lbs! Danny keeps asking me what Im going to do with them all, and I have no idea! I have honestly never had such a bountiful crop of tomatoes! Yeay for composting and leaf mulching! The extra work is worth it I guess! I know for sure I want to show my mum and Dave next week so that they can be impressed with my gardening skills. Ill probably oven dry some as Danny keeps asking for those. Other than that, I continue to have either tomato and cheese sandwiches for lunch or scrambled eggs and fried tomatoes for a late breakfast. I even supplemented my piece of pizza dinner last night with sliced sauted zucchini and squash and a tomato, far far better than the piece of pizza, for which the crust didnt seem to rise like normal for some strange reason. Please don't tell me Im losing my cooking skills too, that would just be too much for me to cope with.

No hornworm deaths this morning, which could either be good that I got so many yesterday, or more likely, bad that I didn't look hard enough and they are out there feasting on my tender new tomato shoots now.

40 weeks 1 day. No baby on the outside. Did a little weeding and trimming of bushes out back. Actually took a shower today as Im leaving the house! Celebrations! Think I might go to the grocery store now and then to the pool, then for Ice Cream on the square with the girlies! What a little socialite I am! So exciting!

With one victory, comes a loss...

I know, bad form to post twice in one day, but there was a loss today far far greater than the PetSmart victory. The battle of Lauren Vs the Hornworm has begun for 2010. Current death toll, 17. I am so distraught right now, as I just know that the carnage out there cannot have been created by a mere 17 hornworms, but my eyes hurt so much from staring, I had to give up.

Then there is the problem of going into the hospital for a couple of days.

Therefore I have a very serious and time consuming favour to ask. This favour is very very important to me. Very important. So please consider whether you are willing to take up the responsibility, because I really do need commitment.

My vegetables will not need watering after just two days, but I will need someone to come over each evening to cut up unsuspecting hornworms. An evening death toll really will improve my mood of being stuck in the hospital. This seemingly short time period is long enough for an army of hornworms to totally decimate a tomato patch as beautiful as mine. The biggest problem is the sheer number and density of my tomato plants. You almost have to pick up each branch, or even each leaf, to study its underside closely. This is not an easy task, so really, think very hard before agreeing to it. If you feel that you can commit about 30 minutes each evening to this very worthy task, or if you could just take one evening, that would be great since any defense is better than none. If you are up to the challenge, please come over Thursday or Friday evening to learn how to spot the crafty buggers. It is really hard to spot them as they are the exact same colour as the plant, but there are tell-tale signs to learn.

I dont ask this lightly, as I know how busy everyone is with their own lives, but this is really really important to me. If I dont go into labour until after Sunday, its not a big deal as my parents will be here and Im sure my mother will happily chop the horrid creatures in half for me. I do not anticipate going into labour before then, but you really have no clue what's going on in there and I have to take every precaution to protect my beauties that I have put so much effort into already.

I can pay you in tomatoes or with dinner, and you know I am good to my word.

Please, please help me.

In your debt

Lauren

PS just went back out there and killed 5 more, so feeling a little more positive about it all...

W O W !!!

I know, Im a little slack about blogging lately... working really hard, since its only another week!

I just had to tell you how delicious my lunch is today! Its simple, so don't get excited about a new recipe or anything... an open faced tomato mozzarella multi-grain bagel, and I didn't even make the bagel. But that's not what is exciting... proudly placed atop the cheese are three slices of the largest, most delicious tomato ever to have been born of my sweat and soil. I cannot believe I grew that tomato (I say that, as it is now no more, mmmmm!).

Talk about sneaky!

So I do believe there is a rabbit sneaking into my back yard at night, when the dogs are safely asleep in the house. I was starting to wonder why I hadn't had hardly any lily blooms this year and was beginning to worry that they were not getting enough light. This is worrying as it is my understanding that lilies don't especially like to be moved. But no! This is not the reason! I found several lily stalks (good, strong, thick stalks) that had been bitten off about 8-10 inches from the ground, then the heads eaten off the lilies themselves and the stalks left lying on the ground. No caterpillar or slug has that kind of skill! I cant get down low enough to get under the hydrangea and see if in fact the critter is living under its canopy, but when that man of mine gets back, his primary job (after giving me a cuddle and telling me how much he missed me, of course) is to seek out this darned lily predator and secure my lilies! Interestingly, it is choosing not to eat the many many hostas that look so beautiful in my back yard.

Two more grape tomatoes are ready to pick! Now my tomato vines are taller than the stakes that support them, so Im a little stumped. It was suggested to me today at work that you just loop them round and let them grow down the other side, so I guess Ill be giving that a go. There are also lots of flowers on the speckled butter bean vines, however the pole beans don't seem to be making it thanks to a combination of rabbits and caterpillars, and don't even get me started on my inability to keep soy beans from getting eaten! Megan suggested Critter Ridder yesterday, so I guess a trip to Home Depot is in order here shortly, that is if we want edamame this year!

Thoroughly enjoyed a lunchtime swim at the outdoor pool today, and getting quite the little tanned and freckly face! Hoping for a photoshoot when that man gets home as its been a while. Poor guy is run ragged. I wonder if he reaslises he needs his rest for the arrival of the little one too... hmmmmm. I wonder why said little one feels the need to sleep with its legs straight out? I look very square with a butt out one side of my tummy and feet out the other.

Broccoli saviour

I am pleased to announce that spraying a diluted environmentally friendly washing up liquid (or dish liquid for you Americans) does in fact kill the little tiny caterpillars that were eating my broccoli down to its skeleton. And it doesnt seem to have had any effect on the head itself. I did have to do a second application today, for new caterpillars, but saw the remains of the old ones.

Spraying both front and back of each and every broccoli leaf did make me think about how hard it must be for organic or pesticide free farmers. I have less than a dozen broccoli plants and it still took some love to spend my lunch hour spraying the leaves.

Weekend rain: day one

Well, remember that I was going to get some much needed couch time this weekend?

hmmmm. Yes. Quite!

I cleaned the house, though this was rather satisfactory. Doing all sorts of unusual jobs such as washing the dogs beds. I actually have yet to stuff the cushions back in the covers. I did sit on the floor with the dogs for two hours through a particularly heavy burst of rain and thunder as they really do get scared. Then all of a sudden, the sun just came out! So of course I went straight outside and weeded my vegetable patch, though it desperately needed it, so that was good. Then inspired, I popped to the store for marigolds (stops the slugs), basil (stops the deer, apparently, and helps with fertilisation) and zinnia seeds (just plain beautiful!). Then I planted all of these. Oh, and bought an ice cream sandwich on the way home!

But now, at 6pm, I promise to sit down here soon! Ive just got to stuff those dog beds and make my dinner! Which I am particularly excited about (dinner, not dog beds) because they had some more of that buttery delicious broccoli at the farmers market this morning.

Parsnip and carrot salad

Not much going on here at the ranch. Danny left me for the West Coast, so Im on my own again. The man down the street brought me some fresh eggs, so that was very nice of him. Need to make him some bread now.

When Danny is away, I like to make food every few days and just be able to eat off of it for a while, so that I don't have to cook every night. So Sunday I made breakfast muffins for my 10am snacks, salmon and veggie pasta for 3 night's worth of dinners and parsnip and carrot salad to snack on during the day. Its such a delicious, yet simple salad, I just had to share! Its also a whiz with a food processor and almost better the next day too!

Parsnip and Carrot Salad

Shred one large parsnip and two carrots.

Mix together with the following;

Raisins

Parsley

Black pepper

Lemon juice

Orange juice

Apple cider vinegar

My garden is looking beautiful. My clematis have never had so many flowers and every year I seem to have a bigger and more bountiful crop of irises. I love the fact that I have all different kinds too, so that the blooming period is prolonged. I have a full vase of purple irises in my living room and you cant even tell Ive cut any! I also seem to have alliums in bloom, which were a new additive this year. Though the coreopsis has not bloomed this year, so Im wondering if it is a biennial and the ones for next year just arent ready yet.

Could I be slowing down?

I knew I would have to slow down at some point in this pregnancy... I didnt expect it to come this soon though, I must say. For the second consecutive week, I did not want to go to the gym yesterday, and shockingly, I didnt go.

When I got home last night I walked my dogs for an hour and ended up with a sore lower back, of course. We had a delicious salad for dinner (boiled eggs, romaine lettuce, roasted red bell peppers, steamed chopped asparagus and broccoli, a few garlic stuffed olives, mini pickles, apple and sunflower seeds) and I collapsed to the sofa to work a few rows on my baby blanket for an hour and dip a few ginger snaps in some lemon curd! Managed some stretching and squats before bed and was out cold!

So I guess I cant do as much as I could. What a realisation at 26 weeks pregnant!

Another crazy weekend!

I wonder if 'nesting' has set in just a little too early. I say 'too early' because I just cant carry on like this! Not for four more months! Im a hard working fool.

Friday we had our 22 week doctors visit, which I will post about tomorrow after I have scanned in the Ultrasound pictures. Then I grocery shopped, hitting up three different stores, as usual, and easily sinking $200. Dont worry though, Im more like a bi-monthly shopper, so next week Ill just buy milk and eggs, it doesn't cost me that much every week! Walked the dogs, of course. Fertilised my vegetable patch, potted up some seeds, cleaned out my car, took a nap, then went to Taylor Catfish with the Klimetz' for some fried fish, how very Southern of me!

Saturday started out with crepes and stewed fruit, I think Im addicted! Danny painted the new lounge/office so I took myself outside to clear leaves. I cleared leaves like nobody's business! My daffodils are starting to open and I just wanted to be able to see them rather than having to hunt out little specks of yellow in the multitude of ugly brown dried up leaves. Ended up wearing myself out though and sat on a paving stone hoping Danny would come looking for me. Hooray, he did, so I got some help up, thankfully! Had some shut eye with Mojo on the outdoor love-seat, then showered up and took a nap in bed. Made a yummy lasagna for dinner and one for the freezer too.

Sunday was equally active, this time I woke up at 6am, cleared a few buckets of leaves I hadnt managed the day before, cleaned the kitchen and started some bread. All before I got Danny up at 9am! I scrubbed the windows, something I dont do nearly often enough. We moved the furniture into the new lounge/office, dusting as we went, and even vowed to throw some stuff away. Have to get a desk, but other than that, its a beautiful, warm and inviting room that we now both want to spend time in, rather than somewhere we dump stuff we dont know what to do with. Fantastic. Give it another month and we can start on the baby's room!

I cannot believe we organised the whole room in a weekend! I then took a nap with Tux on the outdoor love seat (got to appear fair!) and Danny rode at the trails, although how he had the energy for this, I dont know.

For dinner Sunday, I made Danny's favourite, for working so hard. I opened up a pork loin and stuffed it with fried apples, walnuts and raisins (seasoned with cinnamon, nutmeg, fresh ginger and lemon juice, then added some cumin spiced bread crumbs). I breaded the meat and roasted it alongside carrots, parsnips and leeks, glazed with a mix of pineapple juice, lemon juice, honey and rice vinegar. We had this accompanied with sweet potato mash, then Danny had corn and I had collard greens (sauted in the same mix as the roasted veggies with raisins). Oh and dont forget the freshly baked bread. I then found room for a scoop of ice cream later in the evening!

What a weekend!

Does this mean its Spring?

Does it mean its officially Spring if my first daffodil has bloomed?

I would take a picture of the cute little fellow (I think it might be stunted by the cold weather) but I have temporarily misplaced my mini-camera and the photographer is in Sacramento. My Hellebore (Lenton Rose) is also looking most beautiful. It makes me sad that is off in one corner of the garden, so I think I shall have to get some more. hmmmm. Perhaps a trip to the garden center friday?

I spent a busy Sunday raking leaves and mulching flower beds, only to go inside and sweep, vacuum and do laundry. Still managed to sit down with my knitting by 4pm and eat the most incredible dinner ever. I just love Spaghetti squash! Its the easiest dinner ever!


Baked spaghetti squash

(2-3 servings)

Spaghetti squash
Lemon juice
Butter
Seasoning

Marinara sauce
Pesto
Chopped olives
Frozen spinach

Cut squash in half length ways, scrape out seeds and innards. Set on baking dish cut side up. Pour in some lemon juice, water (so liquid is about a centimeter deep in center of squash), a knob of butter and season heavily (ie. salt, pepper, rosemary, parsley etc). Bake at about 400F for approximately 1 hour. Stab with knife to see if its cooked (soft).

Leave squash to cool briefly. While squash is cooling, in a small bowl place sufficient marinara and frozen spinach for two. Microwave 4 minutes. Mix marinara, spinach, pesto and olives together.

Shred squash flesh from the outside in. Mix with sauce and enjoy the healthiest dinner you could create with almost no effort!

Stay away... I smell

Well, our water went out again sometime during the night Saturday. Thankfully we had a saucepan of water from Saturday evening which Danny collected before cleaning the carpets. This was very useful as we had about ten people for roast dinner and games Sunday night. The saucepan of water was enough to par-boil my potatoes, boil my carrots and steam my broccoli. I carefully drained the potato water into another saucepan and re-used this water to cook the cabbage. I have kept this water again and will use it to boil my turkey left-overs this evening to make a stock. Now that's resourceful!

I have to say, the turkey was delicious! Thanks Mr Brandon at Zion Farms, Pontotoc, for the free-range beauty! And thanks mum for the Delia Smith baking directions. Oh and thanks Danny for the meat thermometer I got for Christmas. You all helped me bake the most delicious, moist turkey I have ever eaten! I was quite chuffed with myself actually (seriously, who says chuffed in this day and age!), because other than the turkey and the gravy, everything else in my meal was vegan. We had roasted potatoes and parsnips, carrots and broccoli, cabbage, stuffing and Hubbard squash bake. mmmmmm! Thanks to Kevser and Megan for bringing a dessert, I just didnt have that in me! The only hard thing about not having water, was that when I took the turkey out of its bag I got raw poultry juices all over my hands; so I had to use drinking water in a little bowl to clean my hands. Oh and shaping the stuffing balls left my hands kinda sticky too! Thanks also to those that brought water over. Its funny the little things that you dont think about, like drinking water for the dogs; those guys went through almost two of the soda sized bottles of water that Megan brought over. And then there is water for after dinner tea. All in all, we have done well though, to have survived pretty well on just a few gallons of water since saturday!

Today it should get up to 43F, so hopefully there will be water dripping out of our taps when we go home for lunch! With temperatures that warm, I was even able to put the dogs outside as they were getting pretty stir crazy sitting in the house.

Mr Mojo is feeling a little better. Enough to play and use his leg, unless he feels that Tux is getting more attention than him, then he comes hobbling over to me. Seriously, how do dogs learn to play up to their mummy like that!

Easiest thanksgiving take along

Well, predictably enough, my attempt at practicing relaxation didnt go accord to plan yesterday. But, on the positive side, I did manage to clean my kitchen so that it was spotless!

Today is going to be a more successful day at relaxation, since Im worn out from yesterday! I made walnut and cinnamon English muffins for breakfast, delicious with honey. I went to the grocery store and now Im going to sit down whilst my bagels go through their first proofing.

I have a little bone to pick with the permanent farmers market on old 7. I have been buying my dried goods there for some time, such as brown rice, 12-grain, bulgur wheat and such. I have a terrible infestation of moths and its only in those items. Or at least I thought it was. So I ordered some 10-grain online, yesterday I threw everything away and today I bought all new tuperware and washed it thoroughly. I poured my cornmeal (not bought at the farmers market but stored in the same cupboard) into the new tub and wasnt sure, but thought there were little black specks in there. hmmmm. Went to pour the Rye flour (also from the supermarket) into its new tub and low and behold, definite black spots and moths. ugh. So I then had to throw both of those away and re-wash the tuperwares. Luckily bagels only require bread flour, which I know is good since I just opened a new packet (from the supermarket), but I have people that want bread so I have to go back to the store to replenish my cornmeal and rye flour stocks. ugh. I cant bare going to the store twice in one week. Thats why I make lists. Anyways, so this morning when I went to the farmers market, dont worry, only for vegetables, I told the staff there that I believed that they had moths in their dried goods because I had some sealed ziplock bags that contained goods bought at their store and they had moths in them, well she said, I wouldnt be surprised, its hard to keep them out of there. ugh. They know they have moths yet they do nothing about it. Disgusting. Now Im not one to say bad things about the farmers market, because I tend to love it, but that is disgusting behaviour. I wish the owner had been there. Hopefully I am now moth free as I have thrown everything away and bought new containers that I have washed and have stopped buying dried goods there. Fingers crossed eh.

On a more positive note (as I hate to finish on a downer) I made myself the best dinner ever yesterday! I was just sad I got full so quickly and couldnt have seconds! Dont get mad at me, I used a packet mix of something, but it was so easy and so tasty, its hard in these busy holiday times, justifying making it yourself (says she who is currently waiting on bagel dough!).

Butternut squash stuffing bake

1 medium butternut squash, peeled (potato peeler works great) and cubed (approximately 1 cm cubes)

1 lg bag frozen spinach (again, not me to go for the convenient option but is clean and pre-chopped), defrosted but undrained

2 packets low-sodium stuffing (butter is optional)

Oil

orange juice

lemon juice

black pepper

Place butternut squash cubes in your chosen baking dish (chose a large, deep one), toss squash in a few glugs of vegetable/canola oil and pour in some orange juice. Bake at 400 F for about 15-20 minutes.

In the mean time mix up the second packet of stuffing (I used the butter, but I dont really have fat in my diet so figured it was ok).

Remove from oven and mix with one packet of stuffing, the spinach, a few splashes of lemon juice and a sprinkling of black pepper in a large mixing bowl. I wouldnt add salt, the stuffing has lots in it.

Squish mix back into baking dish. Top with pre-prepared stuffing.

Bake at 400F until crusty on top and steaming on the inside.

I cooked mine for 20 minutes on the second bake and it was warm enough to eat if you were starvin marvin (which of course, I was), but I would probably bake for 30-40 minutes to get it piping hot, especially if you are taking it to someone else's house.

There are lots of fun things you can do with this should you have the inclination. You could add fresh cranberries to the mix, but my wonderful husband refuses to eat cranberries. You could make your own stuffing and add chopped walnuts or other favourite dried fruits. One thing I might do thursday (as this is what I am taking to family potluck thanksgiving) is pre-cook some breakfast sausage and mix it in also, give it some kick. A chopped sautéed onion would be yummy in there or your favourite winter squash. The possibilities for an easy dinner or accompaniment, are endless!

This year I give thanks for my wonderful, caring, generous, hardworking, selfless, and most importantly very handsome husband!

What a fun packed saturday!

Even I cannot sometimes believe how much I fit into one day, and its only early evening still!

Another good reason for getting up early!

My day began with an hour long phone call to my mummy whilst I ate my toast and drank my tea. I then made a second cup of tea and took it up to the end of the driveway where I cleaned up my flower bed by the road. Removed some straggly annuals, chopped up some rowdy perennials, cleared all of the leaves even though I know there is more to come and pulled up weeds. Looks much better. Then I set to planting the remainder of my new bulbs for this year. I have gone kinda light on the new bulbs this year, partly because Im kinda running out of room for bulbs ( I figure I have somewhere in the 2-3000 range hiding underneath the surface of my garden); 150 daffodils, 75 tulips (I still hate that these are annuals in the South), 24 alliums, 5 new day lilies and 3 moved from another area, 3 trout lilies (which I am intrigued about as I have never grown before), 40 spider lilies and 3 colossal blue hostas.

I then ate my lunch on my beautiful back deck, following which I had to rest my eyes from the sun and fell asleep for just a short while! Long enough to get a numb botty though!

I begun the immense task of clearing the leaves on our property. Before you say get a leaf blower, I have a leaf blower, and in places I use it. But there is something so very therapeutic about raking leaves for me, and I like getting down and dirty in my flower beds so that I can see all the new naughty weeds poking through. The weeds are reasonably thin thanks to my July blitz and thick layer of mulch, so that was a pleasant surprise. I moved two new baby rose of sharon hibiscus that were growing in odd places and gave them some prime real-estate. I obviously did not clear all of the leaves but I can see the ground in several flower beds so that makes me happy! Unlike most (my husband being one of them), I really like clearing leaves. I have to be careful when I do it though, do it too early and you will have to do it many many times over. Do it too late and the many bulbs are already popping up and you end up being unable not to step on some and squish them. Leave it even longer and the tiny snails contingency strengthens their numbers ready for the spring on-slaught. Another reason I like being out in the garden at this time of year is that the birds are migrating and swath into the trees in huge numbers, squawking all day long. Not to mention that it is just beautiful in my backyard!

Tired of being outside I began to clean the kitchen so that I could mess it up! I made short crust pastry which became the ugliest mince pies you have ever seen in your life! I roasted some root vegetables and made myself a delicious vegetable dip for my mid-morning snacks at work. If you ever think you need to just work some veggies into your diet, try this as a dipping snack - you can even dip it with carrots and sugar snaps (my current favourite snack!) to add more veggies.

Beet Vegetable Dip

2 medium beets

2 carrots

1 potato (sweet or baking)

1 bulb of garlic

1 onion

Any other winter veggies you fancy - winter squash, rutabaga/swede, parsnips ...

Wrap in foil and bake at 400F until soft and tender, about one hour. I tend to wrap the big things separately and the little things together.

Broccoli florets

Im sure any greens would be fine too, just cook til tender.

Place all of your veggies in the food processor (squeezing garlic out of skins and peeling the beets) with a glug each of olive oil, lemon juice and orange juice. Add some seasoning; this time I used italian herbs, salt and pepper but another good choice would be fresh rosemary and thyme, mint and lime or if you are so inclined you could add hot sauce. I also added two large pinches of cumin, I think this is essential to deepen the flavours.

This is the crucial point in this dip... taste! I dipped with chips but I think carrots or veggie sticks would be awesome too. Then adjust whatever you need to your liking. I like lots of black pepper, so I added more. Its delicious warm but great cold too, an awesome snack to take to work or to a party with some pita chips.

So where were we, back to what else I did with my day. Since I still have lots of jacket (baked) potatoes left over from fake bonfire night, I made some gnocchi. First time ever, and I have to say, I was a little nervous but it was so stinking easy! I havent tasted it yet, so Im not going to give you the recipe, but when I eat it later and its delicious, I will post the altered Epicurious recipe.

While shaping my mince pies, I talked to Danny's grandmother on the phone, but no, I do not think this is why they are so ugly. I think I just got lazy and wanted to eat the mince meat. Thankfully there were a few teaspoons too many in the jar, which of course needed to go into the dishwasher so I had to eat them!

Now that I have taste tested my veggie dip, eaten the left over mince meat in the jar, and checked a couple of the mince pies once they came out of the oven, Im not sure Im going to be able to eat dinner when Danny gets home! Its late anyways, maybe I can just make him some soup! Good thing you can freeze gnocchi!

Anyways, that's what I did with my saturday. I wonder what sunday has install! I guess Ill need some sleep to recover!

Photo Update

One day we decided to visit the beach and Banburgh Castle. Of course, it was raining, but isn't that the only way to do the British Seaside! There was an ice cream van in the car park (behind mum) and we vowed to get an ice cream on our return to the car, but of course, the van had gone by then. So we back tracked all the way to another town, just to find a 99! And find one we did!

Another day I took a walk along the river with some random old folks (or perhaps they are my parents!).

I skinned 28 lbs of tomatoes this morning with India Arie, then made 8 quarts of marinara sauce. We had some for dinner, delicious! Very simple but huge quantities of everything (28 lbs tomatoes, 3 large onions, 3 large bell peppers, 3 garlic bulbs - apparently I like things in threes! - oregano, parsley, lemon juice, red wine, balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar, honey and salt and pepper) and hey presto, sauce 'til next summer! It probably works out a little more expensive than store bought canned marinara but it is preservative free and most ingredients were locally grown. I have recently been discovering how easy life can be with the right equipment, and today gives another example, or two. Danny bought me a woosher. You know, a little hand help food processor you lower down into the sauce pan (although make sure its submerged because hot marinara scalds, believe me, I know!). It made life a lot easier today, and I didn't get any burns on my hands as my mummy bought me the best oven gloves ever from John Lewis. I must be the only girl in Oxford, MS with British made, John Lewis oven gloves!

I then attempted to make french baguettes, which was going rather well, at least until just before I was supposed to put the bread in the oven (after 24 hours of babying these things). I don't have a linen couche, obviously, so I nestled my baguettes on some wax proof paper (parchment paper) on a tea towel, and fabricated a couche as suggested in the recipe. Well, then to bake the baguettes I obviously had to remove the tea towel and as I pulled it out, oh so gently, the beautifully lofty baguettes just kinda went, pllllhhhhh and sunk into shriveled little things that looked like gathered up skin on a really old person. They rose again a little in the oven but then stuck to the wax paper (I mean, what is that stuff good for!) so if you ignored the fact that the bread had wrinkles in both its own skin and its papery outer layer, it was tasty bread. Back to practicing on the french baguettes for me, the nice thing is even the disasters are still tasty!

Also today, as if that wasnt enough for one day, I beat Danny at Cribbage this morning over coffee and a brioche at the Bottle tree (although I have to say, he made a good come back and I barely won) and then this afternoon we painted our bedroom. When we get all the stuff back in there Ill take some pictures but Im not convinced any one other than me will like the colours; well, hopefully Danny doesn't mind them, but its probably a good thing dogs are colour blind! The colours are all based on the bed sheets I recently purchased from Anthropologie. I am not the kind of person to make rash decisions when it comes to parting with vast quantities of my hard earned cash so I coveted these bed sheets for months. I looked at them in two different stores, making the girl in the shop re-make the demonstration bed with the linens I was considering, before finally purchasing them. I loved this bedding! Then as part of the re-decorating of the bedroom I decided to wash everything; curtains, bedding, baseboards, windows, you name it, we cleaned it this weekend. Well, last night I decided to do something Ive never done before either, I ironed my new bedding so that it would look beautiful on my bed in my freshly painted, spotlessly clean bedroom (if only for a short while). I chose this bedding because the colours were so bold and vibrant and guess what... they faded with the first wash! I followed the washing label and everything. So Anthropologie will be getting a phone call from a very disappointed little British girl tomorrow. Bad news is, they don't even sell this bedding anymore so they will not be able to send me a replacement. I have based the colour scheme in my bedroom on bedding that is no longer bright and cheery! Grrrrr! That being said, you can imagine the colours of the walls! The back wall is Mulberry pink and the three other walls are powdery blue! I LOVE IT! We shall see just how awful the faded bed sheets look up against the bright pink wall when we get all the furniture back in there tomorrow, but Anthropologie better be either sending me a refund or a fresh set of bed sheets!

So much to do and only 6 days 'til we leave for New Zealand!

So little time!

Im desperately trying to organise and get ready to leave again!

I spent an hour tonight scrubbing the outdoor cushions as they are rather dirty; seems you need a cover over them. hmmmm. I only got finished with two cushions. We have eight chairs. I had hoped to finish this, and many other jobs, before Danny got back. I think its safe to say, it ain't gonna happen.

Made some bread though, so thats good. The bread is for this lovely old guy at work who brings me an entire bag of butternut squash every autumn as he knows how much I love them! Thanks John Milam! In fact, I received the bag today and already ate one for dinner, thats how much I love butternut squash! I peeled it (the wormies love butternut squash for some reason!) and cut it into small pieces, just under a centimeter, then tossed it in oil, lime juice and honey and baked it on 400F for about 40 minutes, adding chopped red onions with 20 minutes to go. Meanwhile boiling the speckled butter beans and green beans from my garden and adding in some chopped garden fresh tomatoes. Tossed it all with olive oil and brown rice; a most delicious dinner!

Im never going to do all the stuff on my list, its almost bed time and I only have two more nights to go!!! Meanwhile Danny is helicoptering to Mount St Helens to look for survey pins all day. I dont know! Not a very equal distribution of responsibility here is there! At least Im still at home!

I went to visit my good friend Megan and her 3 week old daughter, Harper. Squirmy little things, babies, but pretty cute! We shall be having lunch again together tomorrow, infact Megan, we will be eating left over dinner, if thats alright with you! Harper can have milk again, gosh, what a boring diet!

11 days 'til we leave for New Zealand!

Home at last!

After three weeks on the road, we are home at last! Gosh, I cannot describe to you how good it feels to be in your own space. Surprisingly, my home feels quite alien to me, but Im sure a little dusting here and vacuuming there and it will feel like home again in no time.

A cursory glance at the vegetable garden brings mixed news. The tomatoes took the brunt of the mixed part of the news, Im afraid. For the most part they look good, but any part of the vines that protruded out beyond the safety of the temporary fence were munched by bambi. Even though people came by to pick during our stint away, there were still many rotten tomatoes on the ground and I still managed to pick myself a bushel this morning of lemon plums, cherokee purples and better boys. There are many green tomatoes on the vine still to come, so hopefully they will ripen before I leave again in two weeks. Exciting news is that out of nowhere we have a single squash that looks beautiful. Im not totally sure of the variety but I think it may be French, the first inch of the neck is yellow and the rest light green. The cucumber vines have died off for the most part with these giant orange cucumbers swelling until they burst. Other exciting news is that unexpectedly the soy bean bushes are covered in soy beans!!! They are a little small right now, but we will probably be harvesting our first crop of edamame next week! Oh and more great news, the green bean vines went crazy! I have an entire colander of green beans! Some of them are a little large and might have to be boiled but still, very excited about the prospect of fresh green beans all week. Oh, and another handful of speckled butter beans, so perhaps Ill have to make a soup of some kind.

Things to change next year regarding my vegetable garden: Do not have a bean trellis made of chicken wire as I did this year, as I cannot get underneath it to see what is down there; I love having the marigolds along the edge, its pretty and shades the base of the tomatoes and prevents weeds (they are about 2 ft tall!); dont grow the kind of cucumbers I grew this year, no body seems to like being given an orange cucumber, I wonder why! Shade all the base of the tomato vine, especially when it is young. Most definitely get the cherokee purples again next year, they are not only huge and beautiful but full of delicious deep purple flesh! If you learnt anything new from your garden this year, please pass it along...

While we were gone, we made new plans for the back yard. I know we decided not to start any new projects, but it sometimes feel like we started something in the back that we didnt finish and believe it or not, this was not my idea. So we are extending the deck out to the first terrace, getting rid of all of the grass to the side of the house and putting in raised raised beds for raspberries, blackberries and vegetables. The patch that I usually keep for vegetables to the other side of the house will be leveled again and raised and we will put blueberry bushes in there. My new effort is to get chickens in the woods, but if we are going to spend tons of money making gravel paths around our new raised beds, I guess I will have to wait for a chicken pen, as its going to be huge. I cant have truly free-range eggs because of the packs of ranging dogs in our neighbourhood but if I can give them a 20 m square pen, they should be happy! Danny is onboard already, so now we just have to save up and have time at home to get a pen built!

The most saddest news in the garden is that my potted wisteria that Danny bought me for my birthday 3 years ago, the one that bloomed for the first time this year... it looks like it may have died of thirst. So sad, we will just have to see if it comes back next year. One of my back yard hydrangeas seems to have taken a turn for the worst but everything else out back seems to have survived the three week drought well.

Sometimes I consider my freezer hoarding of food a little obsessive, however it is really nice to be able to come home from three weeks away and not have to go to the supermarket if you dont want to. We can have a fresh summer vegetable pasta for dinner, and even have frozen fruit crumble for dessert if we want and know that the only thing that ever originated in the supermarket is the pasta, black pepper and olive oil. We had cinnamon rolls from the freezer for breakfast and could have zucchini bread as a snack and tomato sandwiches for lunch if we so chose, although considering its already lunchtime and we just ate, I doubt we will eat again before tonight! It takes a lot of up front work, but I love being prepared!

Ive been inside too long now, back to tidying up that vegetable patch so that I can move onto another flower bed!

Quick weeknight dinner (and its vegan)

I haven't really felt like cooking much this week, but we still need to eat. Im also trying to get our food stock down to nothing by Saturday when I leave, so Im all about throwing stuff together.

Whenever we have rice for dinner, I always make sure I cook way too much for one meal. So I decided to use it up last night! These are the veggies I used because its what I have to use up, but you can use whatever you have in your fridge or freezer; peas, carrots, corn, cabbage, whatever you want, just make it colourful! I often also use fresh ginger and garlic, but didn't have any and couldn't be bothered to chop, respectively!


Fast Fried Rice

Ingredients:
a good lug of vegetable oil
1-2 c pre-cooked brown rice (seriously, whole grain products are so much better for you!)
1/4 onion, chopped into small pieces
1 small zucchini/courgette, chopped into small pieces
1 small red bell pepper
two handfuls of green beans, chopped into small pieces
one handful of cashews or your favourite cooking nuts
Lemon juice
Your favourite Asian stir-fry sauce, just a few lugs as you have other liquids in here also
Soy Sauce
Rice Vinegar
Sesame seeds to serve


1. Microwave rice for 3 or 4 minutes.

2. Heat oil in pain on almost the highest setting. Stir fry onions until translucent, about 2 minutes.

3. Add other veggies and stir fry another minute. Add all liquids and stir fry another minute.

4. Add rice and stir around until everything is mixed together. Add nuts. Adjust sauce levels so that everything gets covered well. Might want to take off heat at this point so that rice doesn't stick to pan.

5. Sprinkle with sesame seeds once in bowls.


Dinner in 15 minutes, start to finish!

Sunday slow-down

Today seemed much more relaxed than yesterday, though I still seemed to achieve a lot, oh and Im quitting early!

I did not feel like cycling, so I did skip that, which gave me an extra two hours. Oh and I didnt sleep in since Danny and Timmy came home at 830am, so I got up and talked to them before they went to sleep!

Mostly spent the day weeding in the back, though I did manage to make 2 zucchini bread loaves and two rosemary garlic focaccia, which look irresistible! Im quitting now, at 4pm, to chill with my book for an hour or so. I would work some more in the garden, but I split a chili with my finger nails earlier to put in the bread for some kick and now my fingers are really sore! Wimp, I know.

Zucchini Bread

2 tea loaves or reduce baking time and use mini-loaf pans and give as gifts

Ingredients:

2-2 1/2 c shredded zucchini, 2 medium zucs

3 c flour

1 3/4 c sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp each cinnamon, nutmeg and powdered ginger

3/4 c apple sauce

2-3 eggs, depending on size

2 tbs ground flax

1/3 c vegetable oil

1 tbs vanilla

1 c raisins

1 c walnuts

1 c multi-grain cereal (oats, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds etc)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray two loaf pans with oil.

2. Combine egg, oil, apple sauce, vanilla and flax and whisk.

3. Gradually add spices and sugar, continually whisking. Fold in flour and multi-grain cereal.

4. Mix in zucchini, raisins and nuts.

5. Distribute mixture evenly between loaf pans. Bake 1 hr 5 mins.

Cool in pans

This is a great breakfast when smeared with cream cheese! It freezes fantastically; I usually chose to slice then freeze. Enjoy!

Saturday Salsa Queen

Well, I kinda disobeyed my promise. Not Kinda, I did. I promised to make another (better) tomato soup today, but I haven't. I thought there was not much point since I have a delicious looking one made by she who is formerly known as Ms. Ermin, so I thought I would eat that later. Instead I made salsa with my 10 lbs of tomatoes from the farmers market. Ive provided the recipe below, before I forget it! It might just be the best salsa to date. I was rather worried about making salsa since I didnt write the recipe down last year, but it worked out wonderfully, with some minor tweaking, so I thoroughly recommend it. I would also like to point out that the whole process took just 2 hours, compared to last year when each batch of salsa would take me an entire afternoon. The reason why, now I have a fantastic food processor. So please, if you dont have one, make sure you put it on your birthday list (thats how I got mine!) it has saved me hours and hours of tedious chopping and shredding this harvesting season. I have the largest Kitchen Aid food processor there is, and I recommend it to everyone!

Before you get distressed that I used a canned good in my salsa, I have not done this before but was worried about my onion to tomato ratio, if you dont want to use anything canned (as I usually dont) then please half the amount of onions suggested. Last year I did not use hot peppers, but I have tons from Summer's Grandfathers pepper plant so I thought I'd throw them in! Summer lovingly grew it from a seed from one of his peppers and gave that seedling to me, so now I lovingly feed and water it each year, its like a little bush now!

Awesomeness Fresh Tomato Salsa

Ingredients:

Approximately 10 lbs fresh tomatoes

1 1/2 large onions

2 green bell peppers

6 cloves of garlic (increase or decrease depending on your tastes)

3 hot peppers (optional and amount negotiable!)

1/2 c dried Parsley ( if you want to use fresh, you will just have to use twice as much)

Lemon juice

Lime juice

Apple Cider Vinegar

6oz can of tomato paste

Cumin

Salt

Black Pepper

1. Place jars and lids in water bath canner and fill with water until jars are covered. Set on highest temperature, your aim is to boil the jars at least 10 minutes before filling and it takes a really long time to boil that much water!

2. Skin the tomatoes; if you want to blanch them, thats fine, but I find that takes forever and this method is much more time efficient.

Cut all tomatoes in half, through stem. Place cut side down on baking dish and grill (English), broil (American), for 8 minutes. Tops of tomato skins should turn black. Remove tomatoes from tray and fill tray with next lot of tomato halves. When tomatoes have cooled, skins should peel off easily.

3. Remove outer layer from onions and inner layer of bell peppers, chop into quarters. Using shredder applicator of food processor, shred onions and green peppers in a matter of seconds. Failing this, spend the next 15 minutes chopping the onions and peppers into little tiny pieces. Place in large, heavy bottom saucepan.

4. Remove skins from garlic cloves and seeds from hot peppers and whiz around food processor with blade applicator. Failing this, don rubber gloves and chop garlic and hot peppers into little tiny pieces. Add to saucepan with onions and green peppers.

5. Place skinned tomato halves in food processor a few at a time and pulse with blade. Failing this, chop tomatoes into small cubes and get tomato juice all of you, your work surface and the floor. Dont worry, the dogs will probably lick it up. Add to saucepan.

Time to date, if you have a food processor: 30-45 minutes

Time to date, if you do not have a food processor: 1.5-2 hours

Go buy a food processor!

6. Add remaining ingredients to saucepan. By now you are probably cursing me for forgetting to type how much of all the liquids and spices I used. Well I didn't exactly forgot to type it in, I just forgot to pay attention to how much I used. So here are some estimates, but just remember that you should keep a bag of chips handy at all times for continual taste testing!

1/2 c lime juice

1/2-1 c lemon juice (concentrate)

1 c apple cider vinegar

I shook the tub of salt over the pan three times distributing salt, maybe adding a tablespoon or so each time.

2 tbs black pepper, although this is definitely a preference thing

2 tbs cumin, but that really is a guess, sorry!

Bring to the boil and simmer. The length of time you simmer will depend on a) how thick you want your salsa b) how much tweaking of spice and liquid quantities you have to do and c) how much time you spend eating it out of the pan! I would say I probably simmered it about 20-30 minutes from start to finish, but I added the tomatoes a bit at a time as I whizzed them round my hand-dandy food processor! Shame Im not sponsored by Kitchen Aid really, although I totally could be, I love their products!

Since it was really hot, we ended up putting a spoonful into a bowl and letting it cool down before we could taste it, which is probably why I simmered it so long. That and I was doing the washing up in between so that there wouldn't be that much mess at the end!

7. Having boiled jars and lids for at least 10 minutes, remove from water bath canner and stand mouth side down for a minute to make sure all of the water is out. Then put 1/2 to 1 tsp of lemon juice in each jar. Fill jars with salsa, leaving at least 0.5 inches head room (I probably left a little more than this). Wipe jar mouth clean and firmly place lids on jars. Immerse jars in water bath canner ensuring 2 inches of water above jars (its ok to lay them down if you have room and dont want to use as much water). Boil for 40 minutes.

8. Remove jars of salsa from canner and check seals. Leave to cool, returning to check they have all 'popped'. If not, this just means you have some eating to do! Salsa in jars that have not popped need to be refrigerated (when cool) and eaten within the week. Label them up and put them in the pantry for your next party!

Since I have a fantastic food processor, I was not making salsa all day! I also walked my dogs at 630am, went to the farmers market for a mooch around (didnt really need any food since we go away next weekend). Went for tea with my girlies. Did the grocery shopping. Picked up my dry cleaning that I dropped off in June and forgot about. Went to the pool with my wonderful husband, read my book and swam 30 laps. Got ice cream at Sonic. Shaved the dogs, again. Cleaned the kitchen and mopped the floor. You know you have a sad existence when the highlight of your saturday night is changing out the mop head for a new one. c'est la vie.

So that was my saturday!

I have been wondering lately, why I have been so incredibly tired. But when you write down everything you do in a day and it takes an entire paragraph to include achievements prior to 7pm, I suppose its no wonder that you might be exhausted on a regular basis!

My most handsome husband is out shooting a wedding this evening and is then taking himself off 'to the boats', which translates into, "Im going to go waste a bunch of money at a casino". The conversation was rather funny actually:

"Honey, Timmy says Amanda wants to go to the casinos for her birthday tonight"

"Yes dear, why are you telling me this?"

"Well, what do you think?"

"Let me ask you this; will you be able to have a good time without me? Will you feel like Im abandoning you if I don't come? Is it rude for me not to come out for Amanda's birthday?"

"Well, I could probably have fun if you weren't there, even though Id like it if you were, and no, I don't think it would be rude for you not to come. But would you mind terribly if I did go without you?"

"My love, you will be leaving town at 10pm, arriving at the casinos close to midnight, I will stand behind you not speaking to you, since you will be focusing on the card game, you will be increasingly aware of my tired eyes despite me not showing you how tired I really am, and eventually you will feel so guilty that we will come home, even though you will want to stay. The alternative to that is that I sit here and watch tv, do a little ironing or crocheting and go to bed around 10pm. Which do you think sounds like my preferred option!?"

Needless to say, Im going to have a wonderful night in with the pups and go to bed early! Then Ill probably get up early and go out on my bike whilst he sleeps of his sleep hangover! I think Ill be waking him up by 1pm though, mark my words!

How did your tomato soup making antics go?

Have you an answer to the question; what is the difference between marinara and tomato soup?

Easy weeknight dinners

I love running, I love that time alone, the pounding of your feet, listening to pumping music for an hour, being alone with ones thoughts or without any thoughts at all, but gees, running does something to my body that no other exercise can do! I am so exhausted today after a 6 mile run yesterday, having not run in a while! I had a wonderful evening of laundry and ironing ahead of me. I wanted to re-hem my linen pants too. But instead I came home from work a little early and laid on the futon. Couldnt sleep because all I could think about was eating so got up and had a piece of avocado on bread then tried laying down again. I was out cold until just now when the dogs got up because Danny came home, almost three hours after he left! Needless to say, Im not a napper, so now I feel all groggy and am even less inspired to do my ironing and chores than before. Another night will go by that Im not organising stuff. ugh. Danny says thats what the weekend is for, but I dont want to be doing this stuff on my weekend, I want to be going to the farmers market and weeding and canning salsa. I guess Ill just have to squeeze in laundry and dusting too, somehow!

We have had some good dinners this week, and quick to prepare...

Monday I made this mammoth sandwich. If you and your significant other like different fillings you could try what I do - make all the different sandwich fillings and set them on a plate, just providing the bread! We used this amazing french country bread I made at the weekend as a starting point. I would give you the recipe, but it was such a mission, Im pretty sure none of you would try making it, so Ill save myself the typing! Our topping options were herbed chicken, avocado, roasted red bell pepper, dry pan-friend zucchini and tomato slices, marinated artichoke hearts, marinara sauce, pesto and cheese (cheddar and mozzy). Since I had everything except pesto and cheese, my sandwich was aout 4 inches tall! I took three full bites before it fell apart onto my plate! But never panic, I ate it as two halves, a roasted vegetable marinara half and an avocado chicken half! Still delicious! Danny somehow kept his together til the end.

Tuesday I made Cookbooks 101 Summer Squash Gratin with a slight modification - I used sweet potatoes for half the potatoes. I actually sliced the squash all up sunday with the food processor, and tossed in it lemon juice so when it came to cooking tuesday night, all I did was blend the fresh herbs and toss it all with cheese (I used feta) and the potatoes, pour it in to the baking dish and top with french country bread cubes. This was accompanied with home grown greens beans and pork chops (not home reared!).

Wednesday I made an attempt at tomato soup with grilled cheeses (actually used up the last of the french country bread which was rather hard by now, but decent if sprayed with some olive oil, filled with cheese and squished in the George Foreman Grill - the perfect, evenly cooked grilled cheese). My tomato soup was less than perfect and in fact, according to Danny resembled marinara sauce more than soup. I skinned some tomatoes, I used all different coloured hierlooms, because thats what I had. I sauted some onions, garlic and fresh oregano and parsley, added the tomatoes having blended them with a sprinkling of salt and pepper, red wine, balsamic vinegar and a tiny dash of hot sauce. A totally unplanned additive was a cup of shredded zucchini because I ended up having to shred another one for my cupcakes and had some left over. I thought it was yummy, would have been better blended more but my blender has a crack in it so I avoid using it. Still trying to decide if I want to replace it with another cheapy one or get the super impressive one Meg has.

So this leads me to the question:

What is the difference between marinara sauce and tomato soup?

Please help me out with this seemingly unanswerable problem.

Tonight I am not cooking. I havent the energy. Left over gratin sounds pretty darn good right now, for my second dinner of the day!