The past weekend was supposed to be relatively quiet one devoted to housework and gardening, with very little cooking. The only dish I was going to make was a rice and cabbage minestrone to use up one of our lovely savoy cabbages from the garden. We had almost everything we needed from the store on hand, and just needed to pick up a few things.
Everything changed rapidly when we got to one of our two grocery stores and discovered they were having a Hatch chili extravaganza and were roasting the peppers right there in the parking lot. The smell was wonderful, and, of course, we had to get some of the freshly roasted medium hot peppers. Husband started feverishly thinking about cooking with them, and by the time we got into the store he decided we were going to make roasted tomato and tomatillo salsa. Since he was going to fire up his grill to roast the veggies, he figured he might as well get a rack of baby back ribs and some of the Hatch chili brats. He insisted that we had to get the tomatillos at the Mexican grocery store downtown. Once we got to the Mexican store, I realized that I had left my debit card at the first grocery store, so we had to drive back out to get it. We drove home after that.
Husband got more tomatillos than he needed for the salsa, so I decided that I would make some Texas green sauce with the leftovers. My recipe called for six Serrano peppers, which we didn’t have, so I ran to another grocery store to get them and some more limes. When I got back home, I couldn’t find the Serranos I had purchased, so I drove back to the grocery store to get more. I must have dropped the first ones in the parking lot. Husband roasted all the veggies and meat, and we ended up with three pints of Texas Green sauce and seven pints of salsa, and they are all in the freezer. It was rather exhausting running to various grocery stores five times in one day. We also planted a late crop of cold hardy spinach and fenced it in to keep bunnies out. Sunday we slept in. I never did get the minestrone started.
What are your biggest distractions that get you off task? What fresh produce are you enjoying now?
Trail Baboon 
Right now we have a lot of cantaloupe – Husband bought a couple of sets in the spring, and they are coming fast and furious. We’re regularly making a chilled Cantaloupe Mint Soup (has yogurt and buttermilk), which is nice with the hot temps…
Biggest distractions lately are lots of meetings, kind of gumming up the works. We’re at last half of August, and the UU summer hiatus has pretty much ended.
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Our hand bell choir starts up next week.
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Ours are still getting ripe.
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I have a lot of Brandywine tomatoes right now. My one Brandywine tomato plant has provided 22+ tomatoes for me. The foliage looked terrible so I trimmed it back quite a bit. Now it looks like a Charlie Brown Christmas tree with a dozen tomatoes ripening in different stages. I also have a lot of basil. You reminded me to pick up some spinach seeds.
Those roasted peppers on the grill sound delicious.
Lately the hummingbirds are distracting me. I had three or four of them coming to the feeders for most of the summer. Now there are dozens. They bicker and screech at each other. They are so charming and wonderful. I enjoy them immensely. I stop whatever I’m doing to watch them hover and chase each other away from the feeders. I wish I could tell them that each feeder has four portals. Eight hummingbirds could sip at the same time if they would just practice a little tolerance. They’re so tiny and feisty.
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Hummiingbirds are a cheerful distraction. And charming.
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They roast the Hatch chilis in a tumbling basket over very hot fire in large batches.
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What do they smell like?
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Pungent and smokey sweet.
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Sounds wonderful!
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Rise and Shine, Baboons,
Right now the big distraction is tomatoes. Lots and lots of them. We have had a YUGE crop this year and every time I peak at my kitchen counter it is populated with them, and then I must do something with them. So far I have frozen 3.5 gallons for tomato basil soup that I can later. I have also frozen 5 pints of Italian sauce. Last Sunday I hosted an Art Friends Potluck at which I served sauce on pasta. That took 2 gallons of ripe tomatoes that cooked down to about 1 gallon. Tomorrow that will be on the stove again with the tomatoes and basil waiting now.
I have also been distracted by sleep and recovery, if that can be called a distraction. Since mid to late-June when my mother died, then my retirement 4 weeks later I have been so exhausted physically and emotionally. The first 2 weeks following seeing clients for the last time I just slept all the time. I would get up from a nap, write down an item on my list of ToDos, pick veggies from the garden, then eat something and go back to sleep. That was apparently beneficial. I am noticing I feel better and I am not sleeping so much. My body does not hurt all the time.
PJ, sending you warm vibes for healing.
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I do think there’s a process you go through, a transition from one mode of existence to the next.
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Thanks so much, Jacque.
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The neighbors next door gave us two reasonably sized zucchini, and now Husband is delaying the minestrone to make grilled zucchini with a fancy dressing. He was so thrilled I found these foil veggie grilling trays at Ace Hardware (yet another stop we made Saturday) he couldn’t stop thanking me.
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Lots of zucchini here, too. They grill nicely.
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I cut up a watermelon into chunks last night and commented to Kelly how nice it is to have fresh fruits and vegetables this time of year. Sweet corn, apples right off the tree, kohlrabi, STRAWBERRIES, ect.
Distractions; boy, there’ just so many things I feel like I’m supposed to be doing.
Check Alexa and see how mom did overnight and text the rest of the family, work emails, regular emails, homework now and the online portal for that, Oh, there’s a funny post on FB and check my subscriptions on YouTube for new content.
I have a real hard time focusing on any one thing.
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Everyone must be in their gardens!
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Yes, it’s the only day this week that will be cool enough. We’re going to dig the potatoes (there aren’t that many).
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The Internet is a distraction. The MSN pages hook me constantly. I’ve become a sucker for polls.
I put broccoli in the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.
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Well, and for some of us there’s Facebook… at least I take occasional days off…
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I’m probably my own worst distraction. My brain just keeps pulling me this way and that. And it is worse when I have a laptop or a phone close by. I wonder if so-and-so replied to my e-mail and let me see if they filled my prescription yet and I thought there was something going on at the library today and that reminds me I was going to look up that author of that book that they talked about on weekend edition and let’s see what the Caribou Coffee trivia question is today and mmmm…coffee. What was I doing?
Had a nice gift of a bounty of cherry tomatoes from my neighbor recently. So good.
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Yes, exactly! One of the things keeping me from getting a smart phone…
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Oooh, I wish you all could taste our Sungold (cherry-size) tomatoes.
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my distraction is the steering wheel
it keeps telling me to pay attention and my brain gets off into lalaland and the two duke it out
tomato and basil are all that for planted this year basil is fine tomato is tough
store has lots but i seldom get to prep
i’m a driving fool
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my distraction is the steering wheel
it keeps telling me to pay attention and my brain gets off into lalaland and the two duke it out
tomato and basil are all that for planted this year basil is fine tomato is tough
store has lots but i seldom get to prep
i’m a driving fool
glad to hear they’re moving you pj
implied progress
keep it up
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