A Time To Remember

Melanie always gives me food for thought...sometimes it's bitter herbs, and others it's not. This week has been a sad time, a time of remembering the heady glory-days of growing up and being a part of the anti-war movement, of watching and hoping as two brothers attempted to change the world, only to have it take them from us most rudely, and a third brother step up to take their place. That brother is lost to us now as well, but thankfully after a long life of consequence. I'm particularly grateful for Ted Kennedy's support for the disability community (but then that's my work-world focus).

Anyway, Melanie posted the lyrics to this song, and they didn't, at first, ring a bell with me. Till I went off to search for the song itself, and discovered this:


Oh my, the glory days, indeed...I feel as if I should head off to search the boxes in the basement for my headband, my flowers to put in my hair, and my black armband...the memories of my youth.

(and I'm not being funny at all...)

(Or maybe I'll just head over to the used record store after work and see if I can find a "greatest" album of Laura Nyro? Kinda sounds like a great way to spend my Friday night)

Thanks, Melanie!

Local Summer Week #?

I'm behind. Way, way behind. But I wanted to post a photo of the dinner I made with my CSA share this week, and for the first time? It's completely from veggies from that (except for the olive oil). I was so surprised when I opened the bag and saw that virtually everything in the bag (ok, there was a small head of lettuce and some beets which I did not add) was perfect for ...
Ratatouille! I make it the fast and furious way (since I admit I am not a cook).

I chop everything up: fresh tomatoes (yellow AND red - and I blanched them to skin them more easily), carrots, eggplant, onion (yes!), celery, garlic, green pepper, zuccini, basil, curly parsely. I toss them all in my big casserole dish, toss on some olive oil (oh, hmm..I did add salt & freshly cracked pepper, and also some dried oregano - not from the CSA share!).

The photo above is after two days in the fridge. I ate it for those two days, and I froze the rest. I'll enjoy it later on, perhaps with brown rice! It was, as I'm sure you can imagine, yummy!

And apparently, the gardens have been hit by the tomato blight - we've been told not to expect any more..
(Sob!)

The Garden Is Bursting!

Back from vacation and what met me at my door?
A mini bumper crop of yellow pear tomatoes! My urns on either side of the front door are full, most of them are still green, but I was delighted that the treatments for the blossom end rot have apparently worked!

Then the next night it was time to stop at the co-op and pick up my CSA half-share:
Tomatoes (both yellow and red, and most are now frozen, with a few left for eating raw - yumm!)
and hot peppers! Aren't they pretty? I haven't done anything with them, but found an interesting stir-fry recipe today that I want to try.
I told them I loved eggplant, so there were more in this bag this week. Most will be roasted and frozen for ratatouille this fall and winter.

I did have a local meal (okay, mostly local) on Tuesday - I bought a loaf of On The Rise's sourdough bread and chopped up some of the basil with tomatoes to make brushetta. But I didn't stop there. Another slice I topped with Cabot Vermont cheddar cheese and broiled it a bit. Now in another life, that Cabot cheese WAS local, so I have a hard time thinking of it as not. And I'll admit:
the calamata olives aren't a bit local. Still it was a wonderful meal, just the thing after my first day back at work after vacation. The only thing better would have been a glass of Chateau Morrisette (yes, local) merlot, but I didn't have any here...hmm. I think I'll put that on my shopping list for this weekend!