Hungry Times Two

My preciouses Can you tell what I've been up to in my first summer in Oregon? It turns out if you put 12+ tomato plants in your garden, you best be ready for the tomatoes. Despite a historically hot and dry Summer 2018 here in Multnomah County, our Early Girls, Oregon Springs and San Marzanos thrived. Being "job free" this summer had its perks. After breakfast and feeling fully caffeinated, every other morning I'd take my best garden assistant, Loretta the pup, for a walk to the community garden at Gresham City Hall. I'd tether her to a garden stake under a tree and give her a bucket of water, and she'd turn full Goat, nibbling at the weeds along the border of the nearby garden plots. While Loretta grazed and supervised as my personal Garden Security Guard, I'd water every plant twice, filling up the "dirt collars" Scott built around each plant, which served as nice trenches for water. Then I'd pick off the ripe or nearly ripe...

My favorite milk glass windowsill vases have been kicked to the side. They had such a good run early in the summer, holding herbs and flowers from our yard.  Instead, today we visited our community garden plots and HELLO LOVELIES. Our first two Brandywine tomatoes are nearly ripe and we found nearly 2 pounds of San Marzanos ready and waiting.  The windowsill is crammed today with these fruits. Yes, a tomato is a fruit. Tomorrow I'll find a small batch recipe for tomato sauce for the Marzanos. Food in Jars is typically a resource for that. This will be my first rodeo making sauce to can, so if anyone has tips, please share!

As I type, there's a very warm and furry canine snuggled to my left (she claims she can proofread) and an icy Campari and soda to my right. Oh, the contrast. Every summer we say "No more" to the Southern humidity, but here we are again, sweatin' and cussin' as we take turns watering the community garden plots in the mornings, and ducking in and out of the evening heat, the back screen door slamming, to take things on and off the grill. Scott is especially drawn to the west coast this time of year, or at the very least the high country areas of Western North Carolina, where the temps are 10+ degrees cooler than down here in the flatlands.  I wouldn't mind a little mountain getaway for this time of year. Normally Scott is the more sensitive one, but this weekend I nearly had a meltdown in all kinds of ways at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market . Too many people + 90 degrees by 10 am = one escalation of a situation for this crazed lady. Let's just s...

I spent two days in the rain at a music festival this weekend. My new sandals received a special spring initiation with a solid dunking in gooey mud. My "waterproof" parka proved to be not so much. My husband tried to convince me that our camp chairs made excellent umbrellas. But I didn't care. While the downpours kept coming, I thought numerous times, "HELL YES. We just put in our summer garden." Something in me has changed. I no longer scowl when I see those first drops of rain on the car windshield, when the first rumble of thunder clatters off in the distance, or I see "Chance of Rain" in the newspaper. I think I'm really a gardener now, y'all. Part of it stems from sheer laziness. Last summer in early June, Scott and I played "Rock Paper Scissors" nearly every morning to see which loser had to haul over to our community garden plots for watering. (He actually prefers the alternate version "Cat Microwave Tinfoil...

We planted three cherry tomato plants earlier in the season and being novices, we had no idea what that would yield. We also had no idea that our compost in our abandoned raised beds would spawn six or seven cherry tomato plants. Surprise, us! We now have what could be quantified as a shit-ton (a technical term, I hear) of these little delights. Today I took five seconds to pop a few cups of them in the broiler. Five minutes later -- a tasty something to toss into pasta or, as I am doing now, topping a taco in place of salsa. One of my fave things to do with broiled tomatoes - blend with cold butter. Easy, delicious and did I mention it's easy and delicious?  Hope you are enjoying tomatoes this summer!