More About Food

What can I say. It's my life. Yesterday I took a gallon of milk and turned it into ricotta. 

For slightly under $4 I get three containers of ricotta and four of whey. The whey can be frozen for use in baking when the weather turns cool.

Why so much ricotta you may wonder. One reason is these lovely things are starting to become ready to pick. I will also make a ricotta cake and perhaps ricotta gnocchi. Mark had not eaten eggplant before knowing me, being open to trying anything, he found he really likes it. Eggplant involtini and parmesan are on the menu. Mark loves eggplant "meatballs" so....... I'll likely indulge him.

Monday I roasted a small baking sheet of tomatoes. Last evening we had them for dinner.

 That's the skinny from the worlds end.

Kitchen Tales

We are in the part of summer where an abundance of produce appears, either in your garden or farmer's market. I started paying attention to preserving the bounty from my then huge vegetable garden about 20 years ago. I got involved in canning for a few years, but I one year I asked myself, why? It is an effort. It's hot. I had always froze things like green beans and such, why not the rest of my bounty. So I started freezing whole tomatoes, roasting and then freezing tomatoes, making pesto, making basil cubes, all destined for the freezer. My produce now grows in four 200 gallon water tanks, tomatoes, eggplant, fennel. I also have accidental celery (it was in with the parsley) and multiple pots of herbs.

I shred zucchini, roast and freeze eggplant. Slice and freeze peppers. The zucchini and peppers are from Neighbor Bill, who was going to cut back but didn't. We also get cucumbers from him. And tomatoes. I can't remember the last time I bought a can of tomatoes.

Last week I brought one of my remaining bags of whole tomatoes up to thaw. I leave them in the refrigerator until thawed, then I pop the tomato out of the skin like a pit out of an olive. Voila! Tomatoes to become sauce. No making and then canning a sauce. I make it as I use it. Yes, I am brilliant.

Or......not.

 

Into the Depths of the Beast

My Thursday afternoon adventure. Spending ninety minutes in an MRI machine. Ninety excruciatingly painful minutes. I cannot lay on my back, my bulging spine screamed at me the entire time. I was about at the end of my rope when I heard the nice young man say it was finished. I really wanted the results, so I sucked it up. I think I deserved a ribbon around my neck. 

 

No, This is Not The Onion. Glorifying Misogyny

I don't know about you but I am not going back to this. 

 My friend, Lori, had the sense to add some info about this person. Which I have added.

Yenor has taught political science at Boise State University since 2000 and has been open about his opinion on social justice programs at universities. His antifeminist views, claiming career women, include referring to some as "medicated, meddlesome and quarrelsome", led to a Title IX investigation and his being charged with civil rights violations by Boise State. Yenor is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire and Loyola University Chicago.

Toil, Toil

A bit of morning light to brighten the day.

 

I spent three days clearing out the screened porch. It's too handy for stashing 'stuff'. It has been three years since we used it, mostly because it's too hot. I'm allowing the grape vine to crawl along the screen for some shade. It was a tragedy when the enormous tree with the wonderful canopy had to be felled. That south facing space became a sauna.

We had our first meal on the porch last evening. Nothing to write home about, just a thing taking very little effort. Tri Tip steak and a green salad for me. Grilled sweet corn for Mark. Boring but did its job.

I have the rest of today planned out but I will make an effort to pop in. I need to get going or I don't get going. Excitement here at the worlds end.

An Apple a Day They Say

Good Friday morning one and all. We are starting this day with a thunderstorm rolling it. It will supposedly be brief. We picked up an Aldi order yesterday so I am supplied with fruit for a while. Cosmic and Envy apples. They have rekindled my love of apples. Thank you to Boud for introducing me to Envy apples.

My appearance here may be sketchy for a few days. I'm on a roll in the catching up department around the old homestead and need to focus on that while I still have the oomph. Just to let you know if you don't see me commenting on your blogs. These bursts are rare, so I must grab them when they appear.

Sometimes the simple things turn out to be some of the best. A little bit of leftover pork chop, zucchini and peppers from Neighbor Bill and we had a simple, flavorful dinner at almost no cost. Can't beat that.

Tried Something New

Good Morning one and all. It's a pleasantly cool morning, something rather rare these days. Life has been quiet and uneventful, which isn't a bad thing. The produce is beginning to produce. Soon I will have tomatoes and eggplant. Fennel and the accidental celery. Herbs are in their glory and all is well. 

My good friend Lori posted a recipe I found unusual, so I had to give it a try. It turned out to be really good. 

I don't have biscuit mix so I put the dry ingredients together for biscuits. I used about half of that for this recipe. The oil threw me off but I gave it a go. It worked! I used olive oil as I haven't any vegetable oil. I used Gruyere and Pecorino Romano with some shredded mozzarella on top. I had to cook it 50 minutes. I think I had it in a smaller casserole dish which made it thicker. Thank you Lori. You got an A+ from Mark!

 

Winter is Coming Soon, Right?

I walked through a patch of catnip yesterday. The cats have been enthralled by my tennis shoes. They take turns.

Another, just like the others, hot and humid day ahead. The horses are doing well, handling this weather like the Arabians they are. They do remind me they are Minnesota Arabians. I'll be doing like Gatto and lay low.

Donating Gatto?

I took this photo of Gatto just now. The fellow has claimed this donation box as his own and that is that. There is no explaining them, so I don't try.

His Highness, McCool, has decided he is a house cat yet still enjoys a good lounge outside, so the deck is his outdoor version of the house. He rarely leaves it unless he decides to come inside.

 

Of course I have to comment on the weather. This morning the Twin  Cities had a dew point of 80 degrees. You know, that state the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon used for Frost Bite Falls (International Falls) where everything was frozen? Welcome to the jungle. We have condensation on the outside of every window. The old grey mare and her herd will be staying in for the day. Yes, I will too, but this referenced Babe. Horses that have been somewhat pampered don't need to struggle in their twilight years. That was the message left for me anyway. 

Quiet Day

Happy Saturday. 

The cats have the day off.

Birds on a Wire

 

*Matthew dislikes Leonard. When I asked him why he said because he thinks he's so cool. That's because he is said I.*