• the quotidian (1.2.17)

    Quotidian: daily, usual or customary; 
    everyday; ordinary; commonplace 
    For a quadruple batch of revitalization soup: it lasted us from Solstice to New Year’s.
    I heart bread.

    Oh, nuts: an expensive flop.

    Learning to use silpats.

    To balance the sugar.

    It’s a love story.

    Nursing his audiobook addiction.

    Hair trim and blowout.

    Strep.

    Computer screen selfie.

    Wrapping polo wraps.

    Spike.

    Kindle magic: he picks it up and promptly forgets he has a family.

    The perks of travel: FOOD.
    New Year’s Eve glow run: i.e., the race in which I got passed by a gazillion little kids.

    Another “finally” project getting ticked off the list.

    This same time, years previous: 5-grain porridge with apples, the quotidian (1.2.12), loose ends, and lentil sausage soup.

  • 2016 garden stats and notes

    Talk about last minute, right?

    It was (another) low-key gardening year. A late frost eliminated peaches and nectarines, we decided we’re not eating much applesauce anymore, and I still have green beans from two years ago (they are severely freezer burned and, by this point, probably completely devoid of nutrients—plus, in order to make them palatable, they must be cooked for forever—but I don’t care because cooking them till kingdom come is easier than planting more).

    Stats:
    strawberries, frozen, sliced: 16 quarts
    sour cherries, frozen: 2 quarts
    pesto with walnuts and olive oil: 10 half-pints
    pumpkin seed pesto with butter: 3 half-pints
    pesto torte, two: 16 slices
    green peppers, sauteed and frozen: 6 half-pints
    salsa: 20 quarts and 1 pint
    canned tomatoes: 10 quarts and 2 pints
    corn, frozen: 20 quarts and 14 pints
    tomato juice, raw, canned: 15 quarts
    oven-roasted tomatoes: 3 quarts
    roasted tomato and garlic pizza sauce: 12 pints
    roasted tomato sauce: 19½ pints
    grape jelly: 9½ pints
    applesauce: 15 quarts

    Notes:
    *Just did one bushel of Gingergold apples. No sugar added. It’s a nice sauce.
    *I’m going through the green peppers pretty quickly.
    *There is no way we’re going to have enough salsa.
    *I missed nectarines. Hopefully next year….
    *The grape crop was piddly. We hand-picked individual grapes, just enough to make a couple batches of everyone’s favorite jelly.
    *No red raspberries worth speaking of. Perhaps I need to start a new patch?
    *We had lots of zucchini, rhubarb, asparagus, and lettuce for fresh eating.
    *I planted some fall lettuce. Not much came up, but what did lasted forever. I should try it again next year.
    *We seem to always have crazy-good crops of tomatoes. Not sure why this is because we don’t do anything and other gardeners (in our vicinity) seem to have trouble. Keeping my fingers crossed.
    *Dad hauled in many loads of horse manure, so next year’s garden should be lush.
    *I hate weeding the strawberries. HATE IT.

    PS. Those photos! That color! Suddenly I’m craving summer….

    This same time, years previous: old-fashioned sour cream cake donuts, 2015 book list, 2014 book list, the quotidian (12.23.13), cheese ball, hot buttered rolls, giant sausage and leek quiche, bacon jalapeno cheese ball, Christmas 2010, spaghetti carbonara, and windows at dusk-time.