Yesterday I cleaned out the garden, which meant picking what tomatoes remained on the vines (they are roasting in the oven as I speak, and will be puréed together with some pumpkin before the end of the day for some pumpkin soup) digging the carrots, and pulling up the beans. It's supposed to get frosty some nights this week for the first time.
A funny story. All summer, the neighbor beside the lower garden plot has been completely neglecting some 15 tomato plants, and a couple of pepper plants, leaving dozens to rot on the vine. This has irked me for weeks, but I have had neither the gumption to just help myself to his tomatoes without asking, nor the courage to go to the door and ask if he would mind if I used them as he clearly wasn't interested. So yesterday in the beautiful fall sunshine, he drove up while I was working in my garden, and hollered, "How are your tomatoes?"
"Pretty good," I said.
"Feel free to help yourself to whatever of these you want." He gestured carelessly to the neglected vines.
"Thanks."
So I promptly went home, got a banana box, and loaded it up with tomatoes in varying stages of ripeness. I hope to turn them into my mother's most delectable pizza sauce and preserve it for many a winter homemade pizza.
My only other culinary adventure of late that I managed to remember to photograph was a delicious recipe I found in the NY Times a couple of weeks ago, called Schiacciata con l'uva, a focaccia with concord grapes, rosemary, and pine nuts, sufficiently different that I managed to bring some home from coffee hour at church and enjoyed it for breakfast for several days. It's like a bread with a fresh baked jam all over it. I'll do it again, maybe when you come for a visit.
I have done a good bit of cooking and baking that I have neglected to photograph. For example, I baked an apple pie for a Jane Austen movie night with the girls the other night, inspired by Jane's comment to her sister Cassandra in 1815 that "Good apple pies are a considerable part of our domestic happiness." Indeed. Apples being as plentiful as they are around here, I decided to try a new chili recipe using chicken and apple sausage, apples and butternut squash instead of the usual ground beef and tomatoes. It's in the crockpot right now, so feel free to pop over for a Sunday night supper about seven. Should be tasty.
I hope your October is yummy, full of spices and warmth, a new recipe here and there just for fun, and plenty of friends to gather around your table.
2 comments:
That's a lot of tomatoes! I'd love to try the Schiacciata con l'uva.
That chili sounds interesting--I'd love to try it, along with the Schiacciata con l'uva. Thanks for sharing your culinary endeavors--even the ones without pictures!
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