To celebrate our long weekend, Sal and I decided that we were going to do nothing - absolutely nothing....which of course blossomed into three days of doing all kinds of work around the house. It was a good kind of work though, the kind where you feel productive, but not overstressed and resentful.
We started off Saturday with our trip to the Farmers' Market downtown - stocked up on some essentials and picked up some treats for an end of summer celebration. Sal also bought a 1/2 gallon jug of Organic Lager from Front Street Brewery which turned out to be lovely - and refillable to boot. Sweet.
We then ventured up to Swart's in Castle Hayne because we heard word that they were selling tomatoes for $1.25 a pound. True, true, so we got 25 pounds to make up for the sauce disaster of August '07. We also found beautiful garlic there from Boone, as well as muscadine grapes, which are destined for jelly.
The rest of the weekend had us trimming back plants, transplanting herbs and generally preparing the garden for some winter veggies. We also managed to make some tomato sauce with great success. Bless that food mill.
For our end of summer grill out session, Sal opted for Tarheel Beef burgers on my homemade hamburger buns, topped with my pickles and mixed peppers, with a side of fries cut from Pridgen's potatoes. I opted for a fried green tomato from Hanchey's for my sandwich, which was maddeningly delicious. We were so stuffed after that we didn't even get to our seedless watermelon from Mr. Gilbert, but we're on assignment to taste it before Saturday to give him a quality report.
All in all it was a yummy, busy weekend. I hope yours was as well.
I was the only one taking photos of beer in Front Street Brewery. Strange.
Our super-efficient tomato sauce making set up. I really did help, I swear.
4 comments:
What a great blog this is! It made me hungry looking at all the good food and remembering my own attempts at canning and pickling - some successful and some not so much! It was always a great source of pleasure to hear that pop of jars of freshly canned tomatoes and sauces...and oh how I miss my own home grown organic apples, green beans, tomatoes, lettuce and strawberries! And the local Amish veggies too - so inexpensive and so good! I wish you all the best on your adventure and can't wait to taste some of your locally grown and canned goodies!
Thanks, Victoria! ;) Yeah, I wish I would have paid more attention to gardening skills and canning strategies growing up. It's definitely something my friends and I agree we all took for granted. I guess the best thing to do is to try to learn now - with an on the "try" part. We'll save you some of the better specimens!
I'm trying to spread the FSB Growler gospel. Locally brewed in a refillable container. Can't go wrong...
For real - we're hooked. You know, after you said that, I went back and read your post on Scottish Ale and realized your photo was of a growler - I had mistaken it for a regular bottle, which was what inspired us to ask FSB if they sell 6 packs. I need to pay better attention...
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