Archive for ‘May, 2011’

My $4.49 tomato

These heirloom tomatoes (the one on the left) are grown locally and hydroponically in Mountainview Gardens. As written in my Wednesday post, I paid $8.98 for two of them…somewhat unknowingly as I didn’t pay close attention when I put them in my cart nor when they were rung up.

They are over a pound each and about the size of 2 1/2 of the largest hot house tomatoes now available.

I followed suggestions and made a variation of a BLT…I made BST – bacon, sprouts and tomato – on one of my homemade English Muffins …except I made the muffins giant sized to fit the tomatoes :)!

These tomatoes are worth every penny! They taste like real tomatoes…very close to fresh out of the garden. I’ve had 4 sandwiches from 1 tomato and I ate the equivalent of another slice for taste testing purposes.

Bottom line: I’m not regretting my $4.49 each tomatoes :)!

Is it Wednesday already???

So…yesterday had a lot going on. Fred and his helper and 2 of Fred’s dogs and 1 of his helper’s dogs, showed up as promised at 9:30 a.m. to work in the woods. Fred was here late last Summer and did a lot of cleanup and firewood splitting and stacking. When I called him for this round, I let him know he could bring his dogs…in fact I kind of pleaded with him to bring his dogs.

Two of the chores were in close proximity: a nice larch that was too crowded where it stood, but great firewood for Winter 2012-13 was marked to come down and the slash pile right next to it needed to be burned.

Fred felled the larch right onto the slash pile making in quite convenient as he limbed the larch…

After the larch was limbed and cut to lengths…and the lengths moved away, the slash pile was lit. The dogs supervised and/or just had fun.

I LOVED that the dogs were here. They were all happy, happy, joy, joy and it was good for me to just be able to love them.

And I loved that Fred and his helper were here to burn that humongous slash pile. They hosed down the nearby trees and kept an eye on the first big flames, controlling them so that there was no heat damage to those close trees – excellent !

When the fire needed less of their attention, they turned to splitting and stacking…

And the larch plus a bit of a tree from last year are staged to dry for future.

This morning, the slash pile was just a pile of smoldering ash. It will smolder, sputter, flame a bit and repeat for 10-14 days probably. I like this part as I can go out in the early morning or late evening and sit and watch and listen to the fire.

And then…today, Wednesday, I needed to run to town and stopped for a few items. Tomatoes were on my list. I saw these that were labeled Heirloom tomatoes. They look funny and interesting and so I bought some. And I wasn’t really paying attention to the price…until I got home and looked at my receipt… $3.98 per pound …total for 2 tomatoes was $8.98. I REALLY hope these are good… Anybody have any suggestions about what I should do with tomotoes that cost $4.49 each ???

Meanwhile, it is 72F…on the front porch.

It’s greening up

It rained most of Saturday, but the sun came out late afternoon and suddenly everything seemed much greener than just the day before.

The larch pine were sprouting their new needles…

And I saw my first lupin – 3 tiny ones…the largest only slightly larger than my thumb nail. And each holding a drop of rainwater.

It’s greening up.

For Mother’s Day

First…Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers, but an extra special one to my own Mama who has been doing “yeoman duty” these past weeks…especially considering I am 55…racing toward 56 so in theory have been a grown up for awhile…

Oh, and Happy Birthday to my “little” brother who is 54!!! today :)!

I made a special breakfast today, even though my Mama is not at my house to share it…but just in honor of the day. And I ate it on the china from my grandmother Ruthie, my Mama’s mama. And lifted a coffee cup to my grandmother HaHa (Helen), my Papa’s mama.

Today’s fun actually started last weekend with the making of citrus cranberry marmalade.

This is only my second marmalade experience, but having discovered how easy, how much fun and how nice to make it myself, it is not going to be my last. This round, I had proper tools so even easier than my test run several months ago. And such satisfaction in seeing all of those pretty little jars of marmalade.

Although, the primary intended use is for english muffins and toast, I also like to heat a bit of marmalade with a bit of maple syrup to make a fruit syrup for pancakes or waffles…

Then…

I saw a recipe this week for Lemon Ricotta Souffle Pancake – perfect! The blog post that the link takes you to shows both a berry and a walnut variation. I thought WALNUT!!! – with citrus marmalade syrup and that’s what I did.

And yesterday, I made ricotta…yes MADE it. Another of those things that is so easy and fun.

The recipe link: Homemade Ricotta Cheese , but … it is 1 part buttermilk to 4 parts whole milk. Heat the combo over med-high heat until curds form. Remove from heat and scoop the curds into cheese cloth. Wrap the cheese cloth and let it drain for 15 minutes…drain less for creamier ricotta, more for drier ricotta.

Ricotta cheese! I used 1 cup buttermilk, 4 cups whole milk to yield 1 cup of Ricotta and about 4 cups of whey. I saved the whey and am using it in the protein smoothies I make. This whole thing took me maybe 30 minutes start to finish.

So…this morning…the souffle pancake…

Yum! A fluffy, pan cake – lightly lemon with walnuts and turbinado sugar making a slightly crunchy top and the citrus marmalade syrup providing just enough fruity sweetness.

I made bacon and it made me cry…because there was bacon left and Karl not there to share it. As reader Lou said in a comment… “the little things” – when you least expect them. But, the tears can be good and they are of short duration and replaced quickly by a joyful memory and a laugh…

…and a walk in the woods at sunrise, the snow topped mountains through the trees and dew on the greening woods grasses.

For Mother’s Day.

***the next day…the leftover “pancake” is good cold or warmed up. I ate it like coffee cake :)!