by Christine | Cooking
…Leads to Dried Tomatoes
At least, at my house this weekend, it did! There are, after all, only so many tomato salads you can eat without getting burnout. I’m not thrilled with canning in this heat, and while it may seem that having the oven on in the heat is the same as canning, let me say that an oven at 250 degrees is not as bad as bending over a hot, boiling pot of tomatoes and canning water.
So – dried tomatoes.
Fresh tomatoes, still warm from the sun. Picked 8/25/13.
I looked for recipes online, but a lot of them seemed like a lot of work. Well, okay – they called for scraping out seeds and pulp, leaving just the rind and the flesh attached. I like my dried tomatoes with heft, and I didn’t want to do the scraping. So I kept looking for a recipe that would suit me.
The sun-dried tomato recipe looked interesting, but I didn’t have screens I could use, didn’t want to worry about bugs, and didn’t want to be drying tomatoes all week. I had just the weekend.
Martha Stewart to the Rescue!
I found the recipe I was looking for at a Martha Stewart site. Not only did it explain how to make the tomatoes, but it also showed how to store them – in a jar, with olive oil and herbs. (I didn’t have any fresh basil, though – mine is all too little. So I used dried basil.)
So, I picked tomatoes, washed them, dried them, cut them in half (large cherry tomatoes, mostly, and then lots of tiny cherry tomatoes). Then I sprinkled sugar, dried basil, pepper and salt over them, popped them in the oven, and let them do their drying-out thing.
Ready for the oven! These are the bigger tomatoes, not the cherry tomatoes. Pretty, aren’t they?
As the afternoon went on, my house started smelling like yummy, professionally-made tomato soup. Rich and meaty and tomatoey – oh my! Totally delightful. After several hours – 5 or 6, I don’t remember – I took the trays out. They were browned on the edges, but ooh – tasted like a blast of tomato in the mouth and a little crunchy. Totally addicting. I believe the hubs ate a full quarter of the smaller cherry tomatoes that I’d done.
Not as pretty afterwards…I decided I’ll never dry the bright green tomatoes again. Red is so much prettier! These are sliced, by the way, not halved.
I did two – or heck, maybe three? – batches yesterday, and I’ve done one batch so far today (with the other batch still in the oven). I’ve got four jars of tomatoes put up, with more to come. And LOTS more tomatoes still on the vine!
Baby tomatoes in pint jar, waiting for its fellows.
Considering how expensive sun-dried tomatoes are in the store, I think I know what I’ll be doing every summer that we grow tomatoes.
On one of the sites I checked on yesterday (I think it was the Martha site, not sure) a commenter said they let the tomatoes cool, then froze them on the tray singly before putting the frozen tomatoes in a zip lock baggie. She said they were great to use in stews and sauces (plus you don’t get the oily taste if that’s not what you want). But the hubs wanted that olive oil. I used a Mediterranean mixed olive oil that’s available at Costco – we buy it by the gallon I think, so I have a lot of it, and it’s not super expensive. But I’m willing to bet that after several months, the oil will taste divine, with tomato, pepper, and basil flavors. A terrific base for a salad dressing.
My jars of tomatoes. I’ll be getting two more jars done tonight before I sleep.
But now, after so many dried tomatoes, I feel the need for something fresh. Like a tomato tart. So as the sun goes down, I’m off to the store for some puff pastry – because that’s something I doubt I’ll ever have the patience to make at home.
~oOo~
Do you like sun-dried tomatoes? Have you ever made your own? What is the most yummy thing you have ever made with tomatoes?
Until next time, cheers – and be good to one another!
by Christine | Life, Observations, Writing
The lovely wahine, Jill Marie Landis
I met the award-winning, bestselling author of historical and contemporary romance and mystery novels, Jill Marie Landis, almost ten years ago, just the once. I doubt she remembers me, but she did me a kindness I have never forgotten.
She spoke to the Los Angeles Romance Authors in 2004; I’d been writing for a grand total of three years at that point. I’d come close with Harlequin, but had gotten rejected. Three times. Always with an offer to resubmit something else, but still. Rejected. So I was feeling very down.
I’m sure I have my notes from her talk that meeting – I keep all my notebooks (not in very good order, but there you go). But it wasn’t her talk that touched me, per se. Afterwards, she was mobbed (we were at our meeting place in Barnes and Noble in Sherman Oaks). I waited until almost everyone was gone, and finally approached her with tears in my eyes. I don’t remember what I said at that point, but she let me cry on her shoulder and she told me to not give up, to keep at it.
I bought her book, Lover’s Lane, went home and read it and a month or so later (since I’m guessing she
had a spot in the front where you could write to her if you wanted), I wrote her a note telling her how much I enjoyed the book. I must have thanked her for the words of encouragement as well, and also bemoaned my lack of success in writing for Harlequin (again), because she sent me a lovely card back.
She didn’t tell me I had a lot more writing (or rewriting) to do. She didn’t tell me I hadn’t put in my time, to work harder and write more. No. She told me that, maybe, I’d enjoy writing bigger books, and maybe I should try one. “Stretch that story out – add layers – enjoy.” Enjoy. What a concept!
Jill also said the main thing was to find the joy in writing again – and that “we all get this way”.
I’ve kept that card up, with her writing showing, on my bulletin board since the day I received it. When I’ve been discouraged, I glanced at it and took her wisdom to heart – maybe I needed to try something different. Find the joy in writing again.
It’s advice I go back to, time and time again.
Now, being kind, she said to keep in touch and let her know how it’s going. She even left me her email address – but I was shy (I can TOO be shy!), too star-struck to take her up on her offer.
Today, as I was cleaning up my office, I panicked to realize her card was no longer on my bulletin board. I finally found it, layered between letters from my great aunt and my grandmother to my mother, all dated 1966. I, of course, had put it with items that meant a lot to me.
I shall re-pin that card on my bulletin board for encouragement. For courage. And to remind myself that when talking to new authors, it never hurts to be encouraging rather than critical. I’ve developed a very critical mind (due in main to the company I kept in my late teens – early 20s) and I need to learn that criticism is rarely wanted, or needed, unless asked for. That a kind word at the right time can be the fertilizer that makes people blossom.
Jill Marie Landis is Awesome. And I owe her a lot. So go buy her books.
~oOo~
Thanks for stopping by! What good book have you read lately?
by Christine | Life, Observations
For several years in a row, our summer vacation involved camping up at Mammoth Lakes. Ten days of living in a pop-up trailer with the boys in a tent. Ten days of cooking outside, watching for bears, wading in the creek, reading, hiking, playing poker and sitting around the campfire.
But the last two years, our schedules have precluded the long camp vacation. I’m feeling nostalgic, so here are some of my favorite memories.
Our camp kitchen, and the back end of the pop-up trailer.
I miss it.
Activities include creek sculpture – hit and run art, so to speak, lol!
Wading in the creek was a great way to cool down from a hike. Then again, the hammocks were also a great way to cool down – to read, or sneak a nap.
Pre-nap, post reading, camera at the ready.
We had three hammocks, strategically placed around the campsite. Marvelous! But one of the best parts of camping was wandering along the creek, and finding pockets of enchantment, like this one.
The Creek
I can’t show you the part that I love about camping, which is all the stars at night. So here’s a picture of the campfire, and how we spent hours. I am the acknowledged Fire Maven, and fiddling with the fire is my specialty.
Tim’s reading, Tom’s playing guitar, Chet’s off camera also reading, and I’m taking photos. All’s well.
Here’s the interior of the pop-up. Tim’s reading again, naturally. I think this summer we were into the Robert Jordan series of books.
The pop-up was great when the kids were small, but once they got bigger than me, we kicked them out to the tent to sleep.
But the best part of camping? I didn’t care how I looked. As long as I was cool enough/warm enough, I was all shades of happy.
Christine, in the wild. August 2011.
Quick weekend retreats to the boat in San Diego are totally awesome and they do the job of recharging my spirit, but oh, I do miss the mountains.
What’s your favorite vacation spot that you’ve been to? Where would you like to go but haven’t been yet?
~oOo~
Until the next time, cheers!
by Christine | Life, Observations
This time, we left on Friday afternoon. After way too much traffic, we finally pulled in, got the key to the boat, and headed straight to Filippi’s. Here’s a photo of the cool wine glasses…
The glasses hold roughly 4 ounces.
After pizza and salad and wine, we headed to the boat and collapsed. No, we hung out on deck for a bit, and THEN collapsed, lol.
Where we collapsed. No, we didn’t leave it wide open all night.
The next morning, the hubs had work to do on the boat and I went to see my dad. We had a lovely time, sitting and talking and picking lemons and tomatoes and just in general enjoying each other’s company. He’s feeling MUCH better – had a lung x-ray on Friday to make sure the pneumonia is all gone. We talked, laughed, had lunch together, and I fixed his signature lines on his email. Then he seemed tired, so I went to Starcrafts to spend time with Teresa and her sis, Donna. Spent a couple hours there (and had to buy stuff, seriously that shop is FUN) and had some time with Teresa that kind of blew my mind. She’s a spirit medium, you see, and – well, I’ll keep it to myself. But if you ever need to see a spirit medium, I highly recommend her.
So, I finally get back to the boat, change clothes and head up top with a small glass of wine. I hear such a ruckus that Tom passes me my camera, and I spend the next – gee, almost an hour – taking photos. Here’s why…
This guy was cleaning fish. Then tossing the offal into the water.
The guys on this boat caught 13 yellowtail. BIG fish.
The seagulls caught on…
Seagulls fighting over a slab of mostly yellowtail tuna skin with a bit of flesh on it.
And then another player came into the game.
The seal takes charge.
The seal would grab the slab of fish and dive with it. The birds would mill around for a bit, and without warning the seal would come up and fling it a good ten feet away – the birds would swarm, grab it, tear it, and the seal would come up from underneath them and scare them away – which enabled him to bring it up and fling it again. Was he playing with the seagulls? It certainly looked that way!
Until a no-nonsense bird landed, and decided to take over at the source.
The boss flew in to make sure he was doing it right.
Needless to say, this bird got his food.
Taking it from the seal…
Then it became a free-for-all, with the birds and the seal playing catch (or was that hide n’ seek?) – fun stuff!
Playing hide n’ seek…
But the seal tended to win…
The seal won this round…until he flung this piece of fish to the birds.
…unless the pelican did.
Pelican for the win! The seal did NOT get this piece of fish back.
So I basked in the frolicking of nature (with a helping hand from man, flinging yellowtail into the water) and took over 400 photos. I was also lucky enough to get splashed by the seal! Or maybe it was another seal…there were two there, by the end of the evening. My guess is the seal had hidden some fish bits down toward the bottom, where the seabirds would not go.
All in all, it was a wonderful ending to an amazingly emotional day. Here’s another cool photo…
Dinosaur? Or…
Tom and I ate, and drank wine, and at the end of our day, we were greeted with this lovely creature. Luckily we had the camera with us, which is NOT normal…
The Great Blue Heron. They like to haunt the piers around Shelter Cove Marina – there are four or five of them who are there before full sunrise, and always after sunset.
So even though the drive back took us almost as long as the drive there, I feel refreshed. I needed this break, and thanks to our lovely friend and my lovely husband, I got it.
May you take a break in your daily routine when you really need it. And maybe when you don’t. Sending love and hugs out to the Universe! What an amazing planet we live on!
~oOo~
by Christine | Cooking, My Garden
So, this past week I did not go to RWA National Conference. Nope. I didn’t stay up too late, drink too much, have great meals with wonderful friends, hug people I don’t see often enough. I didn’t pitch novels or jump up and down with glee with friends that had successful pitches, and I didn’t get to applaud the Rita and Golden Heart winners or console the losers.
Instead, I made tomato jam and applesauce and wrote my fingers off. It doesn’t seem to be a fair trade until I realize how happy my credit card is that I didn’t go!
So, it starts with tomato plants. The 20 plants I have in my yard yielded this:
Picked July 20, 2013
(and there is plenty more where that came from) This is only 3 pounds; I had to go out and pick more. So after my post last week about tomato recipes, the hubby says well, when are we making tomato jam? And so…this weekend it was time.
After roughly chopping tomatoes (no need to skin them, thank goodness), they all went into the pot, along with chopped onion, finely chopped green apple, cumin, coriander, salt, half cup of brown sugar and one and a half cups white sugar.
Everything in the pot, all stirred up. Let’s call it pre-jam…
As it cooked down, it tasted really yummy – hint of spice plus a hint of sweet. I was excited – there were so many possibilities with this tomato mixture. You could put it on nachos, spread it on sandwiches, use it with cheese and crackers…I wondered how many jars I’d get out of the deal. I had twelve 8 ounce jars in the canner, boiling. I’d have enough to give away to friends and family, and still have some left for us. I daydreamed as the mixture cooked down.
Finally, after two hours and change and lots of stirring so it wouldn’t stick to the bottom, we had jam.
It’s jam!
I prepped the jars, filled them, wiped the rims…then put them in the canner and followed directions.
5 jars of jam!
After fifteen minutes, I pulled out the jars and wiped them before setting them on the towel-covered counter. It wasn’t the twelve jars I was hoping for, but five jars is better than none. Next time I’ll chop seven pounds of tomatoes instead of 3.5 pounds.
Note: We had some this morning with breakfast. And I was a bit disappointed in how sweet it was (well, hello 2 cups of sugar). Next time I’ll back off on the sugar, and maybe add another onion. Or some chili pepper, for an extra kick. I’ll still use what I have on nachos and etc, as the jam is definitely tomato-y and not strawberry-e, but I’m going to go for something a little spicier.
As for the applesauce? Four pounds of apples. 2 pints of sauce (cinnamon, no sugar). Here’s the proof.
It’s a darn good thing we have more apples on the tree…
So, while I didn’t get to run myself ragged for a week in Atlanta with a whole bunch of old friends and new friends and friends I’ve yet to meet, I did soothe my inner farmer gal by harvesting what we’ve grown, and saving it for another day. Seems a fair enough trade.
~oOo~
Thanks so much for stopping by. Until next time, cheers!
