Mad Scientist

Hold up… do Ted Cruz and I agree on something?

Cruz called the FCC chairman’s threats to media outlets “dangerous as hell.” Yep, Ted has gotten it right for once. ABC can do whatever it wants as far as Jimmy Kimmel is concerned, but the FCC has zero business getting involved. So zip it, Brendan Carr.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming. [RIMSHOT]

The tomato tsunami has crested. There’s still plenty growing out there, but we’re past the point where every surface in the kitchen is covered by them. I roasted two more trays of them on Tuesday night, and this weekend I made tomato paste, for the first time. Guess what? It takes a crap ton of tomatoes to make a little bit of paste. I knew that, logically, but it’s another thing to see it happen, to take five pounds of tomatoes and end up with a cup of paste.

You start by coring and slicing them, then boiling them for 30 minutes. Next they go through the mill; then the puree gets spread on a cookie sheet and baked for three hours.

In the midst of the process, I caught T laughing at me. “What?” I demanded. “Nothing,” he said, “it’s just you’re like this… tomato scientist.”

It’s true that at the same time, I had a jar of seeds, scooped out from said tomatoes, sitting on the counter fermenting. The fermentation process gets rid of the gel that the seeds are encased in to prevent them from sprouting within the tomato.

So by 4 pm Saturday, the paste was finished. I gave it to my dad, since he’s been experimenting with tomatoes too lately, as a belated birthday present. That’s olive oil on the top, which just helps to keep it fresh.

I don’t know if making paste is the best use of my time and my tomaters. Probably best to just make sauce. But it was fun to try it.

I realized I have something new to worry about: losing power and losing all the tomato sauce in the downstairs freezer. Yay.

Soon it will be time to total up everything I’ve grown this season (I keep daily totals). I feel like this must be the most tomatoes I’ve ever grown.

The broccoli and Brussels sprouts have been getting decimated by cabbage worms. I thought it wasn’t too bad and then all of a sudden it was very bad. So I started inspecting them multiple times a day, picking off the little green worms and wiping off anything that looks like an egg. Next time I will put insect barrier fabric on them from the jump to avoid all this.

I planted the rest of those seedlings yesterday so I have 11 brassicas in total.

Yesterday was a perfect early fall Saturday. In between working on the paste, I was out in the garden, in gorgeous weather; doing wash; and cleaning. Then I took a picturesque drive down Kresson Road and Evesham Road into Marlton to pick up a used desk chair for my home office, listening to the XPN festival on the radio. Once again, grateful for the space of the CR-V and that I have a car at all, since Tom was away for the weekend. Capped off the day with dinner at my parents’ for my sister’s birthday. Rocco got to play with his cousin Piper and thoroughly wore himself out. Back at home I snuck in some more gardening before the sun went down, transplanting the brassicas and also finally transplanting the creeping thyme into a big crack in the concrete. Hoping it will establish itself there and keep the weeds out.

I noticed caterpillars on the parsley so maybe we will eventually see some black swallowtail butterflies. I ran out just now and picked a ton of parsley (and sage and marjoram) to make sure I get some before they start eating.

Green beans tend to camouflage well in the maze of tomato vines and bean vines out there. One pod went unnoticed so long that it completely dried up, and I popped it open to find black bean seeds.

So I’ll let them dry out a little more and save them for next year to plant, though I’ll have to look at the packet and see if they are heirloom or hybrid. Can’t remember.

Meals this week:

Sunday: salsa chicken in the Instant Pot using my homemade salsa; also some Costco appetizers like Brazi Bites and pigs in a blanket (F wanted to have an all-appetizer dinner)

Monday: pork chops, mashed potatoes, sauteed green beans, corn. (There weren’t that many green beans.)

Tuesday: Tom made grilled chicken with a mystery white sauce, corn on the cob and garlic Rice a Roni.

Wednesday: Turkey sandwich with avocado and some Brazi Bites.

Thursday: Red Robin. Tom ended up feeling really ill afterward. I guess that’s what we get for going to a chain restaurant.

Friday: Ellio’s pizza and sauteed green beans.

I should note that a lot of the time, I’m just recording my own meals. I was all alone on Friday for instance, with N and F with friends/at volleyball and Tom down the shore for Irish Weekend. T did show up afterward, having gotten a ride home from school.

Lunches: leftovers twice; bought once.

Today: Would like to cook something for dinner involving carrots as a side, as I have a lot (both mine and market-bought). I might take a stroll at the Clover Market (a craft fair in town today) mainly because the weather is so nice again. I also have some apples and yogurt I’d like to turn into a bread or cake. I’m still on the hunt for more used tall planters to expand my planting space, but nothing so far on Marketplace. And at some point, T needs a ride back to school.

Looking back at my purchases this week, the only problematic one was the insect barrier (from Gurney’s). Only because I’ve since read that cheap tulle works just as well. But otherwise, no unnecessary purchases!