Musings

Cranberry sauce was one of the good-if-I-got-this-done items on my to-do list. I bought organic berries—from Wisconsin, as it turns out—and one had an insect hole and one was a bit (only a bit) soft…so almost the total 24 ounces of usable cranberries…meaning great quality cranberry sauce for our table tomorrow. Usually I have to toss a dozen or more per 12-oz bag. Great omen!

I successfully worked through my must-do list, and most of my good-if-I-got-this-done list by day’s end. Yay!

Among other things, I made a huge batch of pimiento cheese for tomorrow’s app, which we used some of for our evening meal. Yum.

Posted at 9:29 PM | Comments Off on Chores, with payoff

We wandered off to one of the super-fine markets with international clientele and international foods this morning. To get international foods like carrots, mushrooms, and parsley. We skipped the potato leaf, but did get white potatoes.

And, late in the day, no surprise, I found shadows. I think I got my fifteen minutes of sunshine. Stretch; yawn.

Posted at 7:41 PM | Comments Off on I am a solar cat

Precooked shrimp skewers as floral display….

Also unpurchased: ancho chile liqueur. (Gee, why?)

Very realistic in life, these waterlilies, but somehow the camera captured them as…impressionistic.

There’s a short story or novella in each image in this trio.

Posted at 8:17 PM | Comments Off on Story lines

Turns out the Thai basil survives (whew!), and soon I shall make some Thai curry, which is very yumm-i-fied with fresh Tb.

Posted at 9:26 PM | Comments Off on Garden check

Our big activity today: squeezing apples aka cider-making. Which is far more than that.

The neighbors have a magic hand-operated machine that chips up the apples (circular motion, like a steering wheel), collects the chips in a cylindrical barrel lined with a stout, fabric filter. Then, with another circular motion on a different plane, we cranked down the press, squeezing the juice out through the cracks in the barrel, into the tray, and out the V-cut into the pan below. (I’m not sure why this particular batch was so foamy-bubbly.)

That brings in the next phase: filter and final bottling. We have special fabric filters (old sheeting) stretched across large funnels, and anchored with clothes pins. We pour the fresh juice through, which involves some fussing to get it all through (sediment blocks the filters, sl-o-w-ing the flow), and into a glass gallon jug. We transfer from that through the funnel (without the filter) to the final vessels, plastic jugs suitable for freezing. Long winters you know.

Use the hose outdoors to clean the fabric, wring, and reset on the funnels.

I was on the pouring operation. The Guru ended up on the apple loading and cranking and squeezing part of the operations.

Since it was raining, we did this in the commodious garage. Since it was cool, we didn’t have to watch out for busy and sometimes sated yellow jackets.

We took a break about two-thirds of the way through to have home-made potato soup and pasta (separately), topped off by home-made caramel corn. Living large!

What I didn’t mention was the prep work: collecting the apples, washing them. The apple-loaders picked through them, and selected from the various containers to make the blend.

Now, through the long winter, these households will have some fresh cider as a pick-me-up. We took a quart; it may last a few hundred miles.

Posted at 8:05 PM | Comments Off on No cabernet

The Guru guruized at the neighbors’…they do some tech stuff…but they specialize in hands-on activities. I think these are decorative lures…and the tiniest trap I’ve ever seen…a charm? Forgot to ask. Anyway, the Guru helped decommission an old PC, stripping it of personal info so it can be put on CraigsList.

In the garden, despite a light-heavy frost last night (the year’s hardest frost so far), we found peppers of many kinds, cabbage, cilantro, some barely surviving cakes, and a few flowers. I think this is a decorative sunflower, not a seed-sunflower…. I even found a violet (!!) in a protected spot (not the garden).

I forgot to ask about these leaves…a brilliant red kale? Not sure….

Posted at 5:48 PM | Comments Off on Colors that catch the eye

All good things must come to an end…says a cynic-pessimist. I say: let’s not look for ends, but instead for continuity.

In the continuity vein, we made a transition. And while airborne, I created my own Delta-bar. The Guru conjured up drink tickets, so I had a little pseudo-gimlet to accompany my standard-issue pretzels.

And, I report the usual combo: very good and slightly bittersweet to be home….

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Whatta week

Went over the top at the meat counter today, and got spectacularly tasty lamb chops (organic, halal—the latter just happened—I found it on the label when I unwrapped them). To go with the glorious fresh mint I got the other day….

Probably should be a knife to pair with the meat-photo…however, this is what I have.

Posted at 8:20 PM | Comments Off on Celebrating early

I’ve been on a pasta kick lately, especially these mini-raviolis, here with bacon, arugula, fresh basil, and leftover broccoli florets.

Posted at 9:26 PM | Comments Off on Remanufactured?

They’re both Ocimum basilicum, but their flavors differ greatly.

This is Thai basil…we ate some tonight.

This is Genovese basil. It’s more basil-y, IMHO. We’ll have some of it later this week.

Given that we’ve been gone a while (so the plants have a long opportunity to grow), and it rained overnight (so weeds are easier to pull and get most of the roots), the weeding I did today was teed up.

Ummmmm for both.

Posted at 7:22 PM | Comments Off on Harvest report, early September