Well, it is raining here, as it is on most of the East Coast, so now seems as good a time as any to get blog-land up to speed. The weather is starting to cool off a tiny bit, so the garden tomatoes seemed to have petered out, but the beans are flowering up a storm of promised orange and purple blooms.
The farmer's market has also been quite generous with its tasty produce. In the last few weeks I've acquired nicely priced baskets of tomatoes, peaches and also a couple of the monster zucchinis one expects at this time of year. The tomatoes became over 12 pints of tasty salsa, with its heat coming from our garden chilies.
The peaches make us whole-heartedly appreciate living in the south because they are unmatched. They became a spectacular peach jam, spiced peach butter, canned for later pies etc. and even dried peaches. The toaster oven did a great job with slowly drying them out (until I can financially justify a dehydrator, that is!). We look forward to popping open fresh jars of summer flavor this winter. :)
One small portion of the baseball bat-sized zucchini became a couple loaves of whole wheat chocolate chip zucchini bread. The
King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking book is on my top 10 list for sure. If you're going to bake goodies, they should be whole wheat if at all possible, and this book makes it not only possible, but downright tasty! One loaf was shared among the coworkers, and the other is being quickly devoured at home.
The cats have been enjoying the season as well. As it cools off, there are more walks on the harness, and recently one realized that corn provides him with nature's string. He hoovered up the silks that fell on the ground, and even tried to eat some of the husk before I took it from him (not wanting to clean it up shortly after).
And because we cannot end on a cat barf note, here is my reblooming lilac, reblooming. It's a wonderful smell to be able to enjoy for most of the year!
