Had the people over for dinner last night.  The cherry tomatoes had one last magnificent hurrah and produced 60 more so I made easy tomato jam via the Suburban Soapbox.  I scaled the ingredients back a bit because I didn't have big tomatoes or as many as required.  The important part about making it is to let it boil a lot and make sure it is in a very non-stick pot.  It has to thicken up - the sugar has to candy a little and then it is done.

I paired it with goat cheese and thin crackers.  I got some port salut cheese as well - a soft cheese with a decent taste.  Both went over well.  Once you add the tomato jam, it is just the sweet topping to round it out perfectly.

I also made bread rolls, the main course was beef.  It's fall (y'all), so why not make it hearty?  These corn-fed midwesterners need their carbohydrates.  I found the recipe in a small cookbook from my mother, circa 1980.  I love her old cookbooks.  This one is English and was hard to translate.  The dough was too sticky, so I had to add more flour during the first kneading & set to rise a 2nd time for about 30 minutes.

I used a big bread bowl not pictured here to mix everything together and then transferred over to a glass bowl greased with olive oil.

Kneading post-2nd rise.  Do not over-knead it or they will be extra-crusty-tough.  Rolled into a long tube.  Cut sections.  Every place I have lived before my current house did not have a countertop I could use as a giant cutting board.  Now, I am a spoiled, American brat.  It is handy, but I still got a lot of flour on the floor (and me).

Had I been a more practiced bread-maker, I could have added a brushing of egg to make the tops golden.  I might have made them all the exact length and shape, too.  Again, do not let your inexperience concern you.  The point is, just make stuff.  Try things out.  I greased the pans with olive oil because it has a higher temp threshold before it turns everything black above it.

Right out of the oven, these were really good.  They were soft but very crusty (over-kneader!) at dinner.  Good yeasty character, but not overwhelmingly-so. 

​It's not my favorite version yet.  They pack well for reheating in the microwave for 8-10 seconds.  Hot butter to finish.

It was a bright day, perfect to try out more cyanotypes.  It took me an hour of painstaking knife cuts to get this just the way I wanted it.  The paper thickness was great.  The liquid was not fresh and did not produce the deep, vivid blueprint look I was aiming for.  I'm going to try it on cotton next chance I get.

Saturday: stood in the sun volunteering in the morning and felt a little touched in the head afterwards.  Later, the terrification of unregulated fairground rides with hot air balloons dotting the sky and a 14 year old screaming, "Let's ride the Scrambler!!!"  + something icy on rt. 66.

​Four hours of driving, one neighborly rescue when the tank desk, as it is aptly named became way too heavy to carry, and a lot of organization later, and here it is!  The chair and lamp were my grandfather's.  I have not turned on the light in 5 years.  It is still going strong after being on this earth since the 1960's.

Have you ever been so tired you washed the tomatoes you picked from the garden (in your pocket, in the washer).  That was last week.  Today, this is 90% of the remaining cherry tomatoes from the garden.  The summer is winding down, with great regret, I can tell.  She is holding on with blasts of heat and bouts of fitful rain and chill.  It'll be Halloween soon.  Yes, it takes 3 months to get the faux spiderwebs out of the bushes after application, but it's spooky and why be mundane?

I have a cold, and I feel like death.  This has not stopped me from cooking. 

Let's walk through what to do with a piece of beef that is nearing it's shelf life and a couple of potatoes.  Also, how about some peach cobbler?  The thought of peaches in any other form than cobbler reminds me of peach schnapps (and not positively-so, either), so if you hate peaches, just know you can sub with your favorite fruit.

Start with the ingredients.  Flour is not pictured here.  The butter was hard as a rock from the freezer, but a couple minutes in the microwave on soften will produce something you can work with.

To recap, you'll need: 

• 2 cans of peaches
• 1 stick of butter
• brown sugar
• ​cinnamon
• salt
• oats
• vanilla 
• flour
• ​small baking dish

I cut up the peaches after straining.  I forgot to grease the dish, but I did it belatedly.  Add the dry ingredients to a bowl.  How much, you ask?  One and a half good fists of brown sugar, about the same of flour, a sprinkle or 3 of cinnamon, a cup or two of oats, and a pinch of salt.  Add a teaspoon of vanilla and the butter.

If you're making this with apples, I usually peel them and add a bit of lemon, then toss them in a little flour, brown sugar and vanilla.  

Turn the dry ingredients into a kind of strudel topping by squeezing the ingredients together with your hands.  I used quick oats, but they are pretty hearty, so it will produce a granola-like topping, crunchy and sweet.  You could add a little honey and back off the brown sugar slightly, too.  

Once it's congealed together into crumb-like particles, with most of the butter incorporated (it can be a little buttery still), spread evenly across the peaches and pop into the oven for 35 minutes on 375 degrees F.

It should be golden (but not dark) brown with bubbly edges when the crumble is ready to exit the oven.  Let it stand for 20 minutes or so for it to get a caramel texture before serving.  Or eat it hot as hell!

When I put this together, I made the beef and potatoes first.  It is going to take 5 hours to finish.  I happen to love dessert over the main course, so you get what I like!

Wash the potatoes, and really get them clean with your fingers.  Now dice them, keeping the pieces pretty big. 

Let's make some bouillon.  I like the paste, but I have cubes and granules on hand, too.  1 tsp of paste to 1 1/2 - 2 cups of hot water, stir until combined.  Set the crock pot to high.

Add the bouillon and potatoes to the crock pot.  

Sprinkle your favorite beef seasoning on both sides of the meat, then chop into big pieces.

Place the beef on top of the potatoes.  Put the lid on and cook for 5 hours, or until the beef is separating from the chunks with a fork (like a pulled-meat, it should be tender).

Place into your favorite container and put it into the fridge overnight.  I would normally add some carrots to this recipe, but I didn't have any, and because I have a cold, I couldn't summon the strength to go to the store to get anything else.  When you heat this up the next day, it can be served as-is, or with some peas on the side.  In the winter, I would make some crusty french bread rolls to go with it, hot with butter being the optimal serving style.  

If you opt to make this using a much larger piece of beef, such as a small roast, add the carrots, potatoes and a little celery and a tiny bit of onion all to the bottom of the crock pot with some water, or bouillon, and let it cook overnight, at least 8 hours.  The house will smell delightful upon rising.  Unless you're a vegetarian, and then you've already switched off after the peach cobbler, so there we have it, and there we are!

Addendums....

​The tomatoes continue to grow throughout August.  The heat has been perfect for doing just that.  I usually harvest them when they are just beginning to get red, and let them complete their ripening on the counter top.  The skins are much softer that way.  

The rabbit sprang from the marigolds as I ventured down to the tomatoes this morning.  I hope they eat marigolds because they are not letting up, either.  Until next time...

​Up here on the window sill,
The city buzzes by, heavy and alight,
Like water in a balloon in a fight,
High up here, on the 14th floor,
Wide awake at night.

The river in the morning is to me the most beautiful. Sometimes the eagles swoop down coming across to the bluffs. The gentle flow with a fog just on the surface and the sparkle of the sun on the water is almost as perfect as the ocean.

The river in the evening is full with the orange sunset and shadows on the shore.

Got a bee sting while mowing the lawn. I don’t blame the bee. I crunched it in the crook of my arm. Terrible idea, followed by sharp pain and then a very thick application of baking soda and water. Lucky, all things told, I’m not going into shock. It’s just a little pain. There’s a gnat in my paste. Every flying insect lands on my body and if given the chance bites. In the sultry summer the bugs swarm. But I’m not allergic. It goes away. I might eat an ice pop.