cray cray
Wednesday, September 12th, 2012
Recipe: diced tomatoes (canning)
More tomatoes? Yes, yes dammit. MOAR TOMATOES. What on earth did you think was going to happen with 77 pounds of tomatoes? We’re not kidding around here, because you know… winter is coming.
rain, mist, and temps in the 40s off my deck
Reports began to stream in Wednesday morning from the local Colorado ski hills – snow. A lovely dusting of white on the high peaks in some places with up to ten inches predicted for other places. Of course, the sun will return and the air will warm again, but the skiers and riders and general winter enthusiasts are rejoicing and hoping for a good (read: powdery) winter. Meanwhile, my parents are preparing to migrate back to warmer climes soon, so we met up for a delightful dinner at The Kitchen Upstairs.
my parents dig the boulder food scene
what’s left of the appetizers, because we ate them up
black pepper gnocchi with prosciutto and roasted plums
lamb meatballs on creamy polenta
pappardelle with pork
Unlike some places that continue to act like summer well into autumn, Colorado understands that it is time to move on. The fall colors are rolling about a week ahead of schedule and it’s crunch time for me – trying to can as much of the remaining summer produce as possible before I hit the road for the fall shoot. I feel like one of those pika in the mountains, scurrying about gathering foods for the winter. Ever read the book Frederick by Leo Lionni? It’s about a little mouse who sits in the sun all day while the rest of the mice are busy building stores for winter. Everyone is like, “Dude, you so lazy!” But come winter, Frederick unleashes his talent for awesome and everyone is all, “I totally get why you were such a slacker this summer!” I am not Frederick. I’m the other mice.
mice activities
I met up with a couple of my gal pals, Wendy and Ellen of Helliemae’s Salt Caramels, for a massive tomato canning session at the Helliemae’s kitchen in Denver this week. You know you have good friends when they allow you to go all OCD on them in the kitchen. We processed almost 60 pounds of tomatoes for dice and sauce. So yeah, you get another tomato recipe because I’m seeing tomatoes in my sleep right now. It is tomato-fest. There will be more too, so if you’re a ‘mater-hater, then just come back on Monday…
organic slicing tomatoes (seconds)
some bottled lemon juice
and beautiful weck jars
**Jump for more butter**
