The Usual

We're back to passing for normal around here. We briefly considered trying to fit in one more camping trip before the rain moves in for good, but then decided against it. I guess we're at home for the duration. The trailer is unpacked, and so I'm back to my usual day-to-day stuff. 

Our Sun Gold cherry tomato has been unbelievably prolific this year. First thing yesterday morning, I went out and harvested the most ripe tomatoes. I'll tell you what I did with these babies in just a minute. Aren't they pretty?

You might recall that some critter ate the poor plant down to a bloody stump shortly after I planted it last spring.

It's grown to immense proportions and is busily making tomatoes as if it didn't even notice what happened to it earlier in the year. Kinda makes you wonder, doesn't it? What if I planted them every spring and then immediately cut off everything it worked so hard to attain. Would it produce mountains of cherry tomatoes again?

After that, I was fresh out of slow stitching, and so I traced out the 8th of 12 of the Sundress blocks.

Now it's hooped up and waiting for me downstairs. You gotta love a design that fits in a single hoop. These stitch up pretty quick, except for those damnable tiny chain stitches. I usually work just one length of floss on those and then move on to something less tedious.

It awaits me downstairs, and so I'll work on that next.

When I had my housekeeping and gardening chores done, I went to work on September's Tuxedo's Tales block. It was fused, but I needed to add the top-stitching and embellishing. Now it's finished.

Here are the nine blocks I've finished so far.

As for those cherry tomatoes, I had plans for them. We're always looking for ways to use CSA veggies, and this recipe from Smitten Kitchen for Burst Tomato Galette with Corn and Zucchini was a great choice. Tomatoes, corn, and zucchini are always served up in abundance with our CSA shares this time of year. However, the veggies for this galette were mostly from our own plants. You saw the cherry tomatoes, and we have lots of zucchini. The corn from the CSA share never lasts more than a day or two, and so I used frozen. If memory serves, the scallions were from CSA.

It was a bit of a production to make, but not overly difficult. I first made the crust, which had to chill in the fridge for an hour. While that was chilling, I made the filling, (chilling and filling...pure poetry) and that needed some time to cool. And so with some planning, it turned into a nice dinner without a lot of fuss. The crust was a dream to work with. It was very flavorful, especially with those Sun Gold cherry tomatoes. I'd definitely do this again.

We have a small dinner get-together planned for this evening. Our neighbor is coming by and Matthew will be joining us. I made the stuffed pasta shells main course before we left on our camping trip, so I just need to make a salad and serve it all up with some crusty bread. We're also going to have some of those little plum shortcakes I made while we were camping.

Easy peasy. Plus...if we never had people over, when would the house get cleaned? It's a win-win, if you know what I mean.

So with that update, I'll get to work. It's a pretty day here. How's this new fall weather treating you?