Best cucumber

This has to be the best cuke I have ever grown. I usually end up with cukes looking more like the lower one in the picture - except for when I grow Armenian which are lovely (but are a little behind this year). This year I have had several long smooth skinned ones like the top one. They are delicious with very small seeds and not at all bitter. Now, if I can just remember what kind they were.

Turkish orange eggplant

This is a Turkish orange eggplant. I was given the seed by a friend and it grew into this lovely thing. The eggplants are so pretty that I am not quite sure how I will eat them. They are only a little bigger than a golfball.
Aren't they gorgeous, Mary-Sue? Thank you. (I had to post some pictures so that I would be sure that you would get to see them)

Preserving stewed tomatoes

These last few days have been a flurry of preserving.

I can't say how pleased I am with the heirloom tomatoes this year. I think my favourite so far is the Franchi pear tomato...well, my favourite for canning, for eating my new favourite is the silvery fir.I got started on stocking up on stewed tomatoes. This is my favourite thing to have in the freezer and we simply cannot have enough of them. This year we have one large freezer which will be dedicated solely to stewed tomatoes. I use them in almost everything that I cook - soups, sauces, casseroles, etc. I cook up peppers, onions, garlic and zucchini from the garden while I skin the tomatoes. Add them together and cook for awhile. I usually add some parsley and salt to all and sometimes basil. If I was an organized sort of person I would mark some Italian and some Mexican and add the appropriate herbs - cilantro, basil, etc.- but, sadly, I'm not that sort of person. Although now that I've written that I am going to endeavor to be organized and do that because it sounds like a really good sort of idea.Here is the first batch ready for the freezer. They are frozen in plastic yogurt tubs. Last year in an anti-plastic fit I started off freezing them in glass jars and quickly realized that they take a lot more room that way so I went back to yogurt tubs. The other thing I learned was that with the glass jars I had to take them out ahead of time to thaw (like I said, I am not that organized, dinner time would often find me stabbing at the frozen contents of a jar trying to break chunks off to thaw more quickly) whereas with the plastic containers I can run them under hot water and pop the frozen lump into a pan. I also fill plastic freezer bags and then freeze them flat on a cookie sheet. That way I can stack loads of them in the freezer.

I really recommend doing this if you have the time. The taste of this garden ripe goodness is what makes our meals.

Things are just peachy

E and I were out picking peaches off of our tree the other day. We stopped to take some pictures because the colours of ripe peaches are just so beautiful; they make me think of sunrise and sunset.I asked him if he could think of a good, simple recipe that he could make for dessert. Of course he took this to mean that he should invent a recipe of his own.He immediately had an idea. We should take a peach, take the pit out, fill the pit hole with chocolate and then roast it until the chocolate melted (I think he had roasting over a fire in mind but since we had the oven going to cook our first squash of the season we just popped them in there for 10 minutes or so).

Well...what can I say? My son is brilliant. They were simple and delicious.Look out Jamie Oliver!

Salsa season

It is the beginning of salsa season here. We made the first little batch on Wednesday and it was delicious. Throughout the years of canning while I've had children they have mostly just gone and played out of the way so I could get on with it. I've had them help by bringing jars or lids to me; picking produce from the garden; transferring jars down to the coldroom and sorting and organizing the coldroom shelves but not much with the actual prep and canning.This year I asked W for more help. I admit to an ulterior motive or two. I want them to know how to preserve, partly for their own good (I consider it an important life skill) but also to be able to carry on certain recipes that I always make - my aunt's pickles, my mom's antipasto, my salsa. My other motive was that I recalled reading, in The Shelter of Each Other, that all family members used to gather in the kitchen to help with the yearly food preservation (out of necessity) and that some women found it a time when they really connected with their older sons. I had read that the monotony of the prep. work and the time it took could really bring out a space and the time for good conversation between mothers and their adolescent sons.W and I have always enjoyed an easy, open relationship but I often feel as he gets a bit older and has more of his own interests that we don't spend the same amount of time together and just don't have as much one-on-one time to really connect. It takes time to get to deeper conversations...and it takes time to prepare produce for canning. So, I got busy scalding tomatoes and peaches for the salsa and he prepped and chopped onions, peppers and garlic. And I waited...and he talked...and I listened. I love hearing about what is important to him and how he shares it.And I am so glad that we love salsa and that we will need to make lots more before the Summer is over.

Can't get enough of the fruit...

What is it in me that just can't resist a bargain? Yesterday we stopped at the packing house to get some new crop apples and possibly some more blueberries. We ended up getting a box of cherries, and two boxes of peaches as well. The peaches were at the back of the store and marked 29 cents a pound. I figured they were bruised, very ripe or damaged somehow and would make great peach butter so, for that price, I brought two boxes home with me. I have this weird thing where I don't like leaving "damaged" fruit or veg at the store - it's like I feel sorry for it. You'd think it was an abandoned puppy or something.This morning I opened up the boxes and had a look and found them barely marked. I've just talked to my husband to see if he can pick up some more. I keep looking out the kitchen window at my tree loaded with peaches and wondering why I feel I need more but I just can't resist.

I also can't help wondering why this fruit is priced so low. The orchardists must be losing money on these and there is really nothing wrong with them other than some small discolouration (hail damage??) on the skin that doesn't even go through to the flesh. I find it hard to believe that people would turn their noses up at these or even think that they shouldn't be paying full price for them. I wonder why our standard here for "perfect" fruit is the way it is. So, even though I am quite pleased to come by this fruit for such a good price I still find it very sad that it is this price.

Abundance

I love this time of year so much. Our yard is just full of abundance...and my stomach is also very full of abundance. I feel as though we just feast all day. This is our Santa Rosa plum tree. We love these for fresh eating but I freeze some too as we usually can't eat them fast enough before they start falling off the tree. They make a great addition to winter smoothies.

I love the colours of them and think they're gorgeous, they are a little tart if you pick them early (which I do) but also incredible sweet and juicy.

And just when we are done feasting on those...these will be ripe. Peaches, peach crisp, peach pie, peaches on ice cream, peach smoothies, peach waffles...