Laying Waste to Vegetables

The only sewing I had time for yesterday was my morning slow stitching. I gave myself a little bit of extra time too because I knew the day ahead would be a busy one. It's almost time to move my hoop.

Most of the day was spent on my feet. I first did some housekeeping chores because they were sort of "optional." I knew if I waited, they wouldn't get done. After that, I headed off to the grocery store for a quick trip. Then back home where I tackled this week's share of CSA veggies. I made a lasagna to freeze and take along. We'll have that our first night out with two small heads of romaine lettuce in a Caesar side salad. Then, I roasted and pureed some tomatillos. Those were measured into 3/4 cup portions and frozen for future Enchiladas Suizas...a favorite of Mike's.

Then I sliced up the six(!) cucumbers from last week's share. Four of those went into some refrigerator pickles. They'll keep for two months in the refrigerator, so they'll be good when we get back. It's another of Mike's favorites. For those, I used a recipe I've been making for decades. It first appeared in the Kerr Kitchen Cookbook, but it was published in our local newspaper. This was pre-internet (yeah, I'm really that old), but you can find the recipe in this very old blog post. The other two cucumbers were made into a salad for last night's dinner.

There was a pile of tomatoes to deal with. I've been wanting to try this recipe from Smitten Kitchen for Roasted Tomato Soup with Broiled Cheddar. I enjoy reading her blog. She makes good food, but she's also a good and humorous writer. As for this recipe, to quote her:

"I’ve spent a significant portion of the last year considering ways to merge grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup in a single vessel."

Sounds good, huh? Since I had so many tomatoes, I decided to make the soup ahead and freeze it for eating somewhere down the road. The tomatoes are first roasted, then pureed, then cooked down a little more on the stove top. I'll probably riff off of her method, but basically, it's like French onion soup with a crouton and Gruyere cheese floating on top. Mine will be a crouton with melted cheddar.

So all of that cooking took all afternoon, but I wasn't finished. Oh no. You didn't think I was going to do all that cooking without making dessert, did you? Well, did you? So, I went out and picked some plums from the plum tree for an Original Plum Torte. Yum.

If you click on that link I've given you, there's an interesting story about the evolution of this recipe. It's published annually by the New York Times.

When that was finished, I filled the bird feeders and watered the flower pots. The sunflower the squirrels left behind has put out a bunch more flowers. It's a small consolation after they ate all the others I planted. You can see that the first center flower has faded, but it's been replaced by several more.

With all the cooking yesterday, the kitties were kind of bored. They went charging around the house, first Smitty chasing Sadie. Then, they'd switch directions and Sadie chased Smitty. At one point she had the utter audacity to jump up on top of his sacred space, the china cabinet.

As you might imagine, this flummoxed Himself considerably.

Yeah...I'm up here...what are you going to do about it Big Boy?

Okay, and so I'm ending today with one more bit of transparency. I thought I'd be able to reveal the two remaining mystery projects today, but one has been delayed in delivery to its recipient. I'll have to hold off a day or two on that. For now, I can show you this little mug rug I made for Sue's birthday. We're getting together for breakfast this morning, and she won't see this blog post until tomorrow. Her birthday is next week, but we'll be gone, and so we're celebrating this morning with oatmeal at the South Store Cafe.

You might remember she brought back some bread mix from Erick Schat's Bakkery in Bishop, California. We travel through Bishop all the time when we head south and come back north, but we've never visited the "bakkery." Looks like we'll have to next time around because, apparently, it's a thing. 

The bread mix comes in a little muslin bag. After I made the bread, it seemed a shame not to do something with the little bag, and so I took it apart and made this mug rug.

Sue will get a kick out of it, I think. It's a little like regifting, and we're always regifting one another with our gift bags. Here's how it looks from the back.

I have something else for her too, but that will have to wait until October when we return. So now I've revealed 3 out of 4 of my mystery projects. I'm hoping the other will get delivered within a day or two and I can reveal it before we go.

On today's agenda, oatmeal and a walk. Then I'll roast and stuff some poblano peppers to eat down the road. Also, I'll make some croutons to have with salads. There's a little bit of housework to do. Let's see...what else? Packing, of course. I'm hoping to get all the food packed today. It's the biggest part of my job when we get ready for a trip. Oh yes, and I'm going to pick enough plums for barbecue sauce. My friend Gail suggested freezing them, and I don't know why I didn't think of that myself. I only need four pounds. I can pit and freeze them. When we get back, I'll cook them down into barbecue sauce, and no one will be the wiser.

Okay, so another busy day on my feet. Onward!