Monday, July 16, 2007

Bounty

I feel like life has lately become a blur of staying late at work and playing with dirt, seeds, and weeds.
Some highlights of the last couple weeks:

Fried Green Tomatoes


I accidentally snipped the wrong branch off one of my tomato plants, leaving me with 2 very large, green tomatoes. Not one to throw food away, I figured I should try my hand at fried green tomatoes. I never would have really considered it if it weren't for some recent inspiration. I read online that you can either use breadcrumbs or cornmeal. I chose the latter and used it as a topper on an english muffin with fresh mozzarella. It was awesome. Now I sort of get what all the fuss was about - I'm converted.

Zucchini update: the whole thing went to zucchini bread. 4 loaves to be exact.

Knitting - no knitting update because I am sneaky and like secrets. But here is some crafty eye candy just because.

A friend of ours had a going away party before she left for law school in Chicago. I etched these glasses to help her remember where we all live, so there's no excuse for not coming back to visit. Well, I might accept the excuse that law school is sucking her soul and she needs to use all free time for catching up on weeks of lost sleep.
While we're on the subject, I'd like to declare a moratorium on friends signing up for law school. It's a little passé. And its making me feel like I'm missing out on some awesome sale or something.

More food-from-the-garden update:


(Wow, this post is really poorly organized.)

So, on Friday I was excited to get to the garden cuz a little birdie told me that she had noticed one of my tomatoes getting red. Yay! First tomatoes of the season. And even better - my first homegrown tomatoes ever!

Unfortunately, my plot had some unwelcome guests before I could get to the garden. The first red tomatoes - all 4 of them - had to be thrown on the compost pile because they were all half-eaten. I assumed it was the work of rats but several neighbors told me that the birds start attacking the tomatoes as soon as they turn red. My favorite neighbor-gardener, Juan, recommended I pick all the orange tomatoes and let them ripen at home. This is very anticlimactic after putting so much work into the plants. I want to just pick the fully ripened fruit off the stem and be able to eat it on the spot! But it may be the only solution to beating the birds because I just can't get to the garden every day to pick them as soon as they turn red. By the end of the evening I got over my disappointment and even managed to scrounge up a mostly-red tomato which we sliced up for burgers that night. Delish!

And in case you like this kind of detail: the varieties that are ready for picking are the Old Time Tasty and the Better Boy. I'm still waiting on the Big Boy, Golden Boy, and Beefmaster. What's up with all these male-centric names?

The End.

No comments: