this and that and some oil packed dried tomatoes

This is my last week of holidays for the summer. After this, it’s suck it up and get your head back at work time. I’ll officially be out of holiday bank. Though I really liked having 5 weeks off this year. That means I’ve officially worked at the same place for much too long, when they give you 5 weeks.

We’ve had a little bit of rain almost every day for a week. Not all day, just enough to make my garden and the lawn grow some more. We’ve picked tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and zucchini again this week. The lettuce is ready and the beans are flowering, so we will be getting some of both soon. We have kohlrabi too, though I have never before cooked it. The melons are all doing well and should ripen soon, along with some squash. And the little bit of rain has made the late potatoes that we planted take off and start growing like crazy.

So far this week the girls and I have visited with friends, we’ve prepared peaches for the freezer, made marinara sauce for the freezer and made some more oven-dried tomatoes. This time I took the suggestion of Diane at Westlake Musings (who resides in a neighbouring county) and packed them in olive oil. I made two jars, one just straight dried tomatoes in oil – they’ll be great on pizzas and the flavoured oil should make some great salad dressings. In the second jar I packed in some basil leaves and hot pepper flakes. That jar will be used for pastas. I have plans to use some of it tonight with a either cream cheese or ricotta mixed in and some cooked chicken. I’m not sure how shelf stable the oil packed tomatoes are, so I will use them up quickly and the keep the rest in the fridge. The olive oil will get a little cloudy and thick in the fridge, but all you have to do is allow it to come to room temperature again before use and it will be back to normal.

Linked to Frugally Sustainable, A Delightful Home, Foy Update – Eat, Make, Grow, Simple Lives Thursday, Gastronomical Sovereignty

traditional housewarming gifts, revisited

I wrote about traditional housewarming gifts a while ago when we were visiting the city cousins in their new home and I wanted to take a housewarming gift along with us. I want to do something similar for my mom, who moved into a new home recently (ok, it was two and a half months ago, but better late than never, right?). She has unpacked, decorated, made curtains, dug a fish pond and flower gardens, screened in the back porch, carpeted the basement steps.. so yeah, I’m just a little bit behind. But I think she likes me, so she’ll probably forgive that.

Just for a refresher, here is the list of traditional gifts again and their meanings:

Bread	May those in your home never go hungry.
Broom	May your house always be clean and free of evil spirits.
Candles	May you always have light through the darkest times.
Coins	May you receive luck and good fortune.
Honey	May you always enjoy the sweetness of life.
Knives	May your home always be protected from intruders.
Olive Oil	May you be blessed with health and well-being.
Plants	May your home always have life.
Rice	May the love in your home multiply. (fertility)
Salt	May there always be flavor and spice in your life.
Wine	May you always have joy and never go thirsty.
Wood	May your home have stability, harmony, and peace.

The last time I included bread, salt, honey, candles and wine in my gift basket. My mom is a teetotaler who used to run a tea room, so I thought I’d give her something a little different. I made some cheddar chive beer bread to include in the basket for the bread portion (except this time I replaced the chives with fresh dill from my pots out on the deck). Instead of traditional salt, I made up some sore muscle soak bath salts to include – she and her partner are always on the go, working hard, so I know someone will be able to use them. I included the lavender beeswax candle in a tea-cup that I made on the weekend, because she loves anything to do with tea and tea cups, and it takes care of the candle portion nicely, and finally, I made some lemon-olive oil gardener’s hand scrub – once again, because I know it’ll get used, and it covers the olive oil portion.

I found the old Ball jars with the glass tops at a yard sale recently and knew they’d be nice for gift packaging. The basket (ahem) actually belongs to my mom, so we’ll just say that I’m returning it, though I’m not sure she even knew that I had it to begin with. There’s no hard and fast rules to the whole thing, you can get a little creative and make up a nice gift basket. I hope she likes it. Shh.. don’t tell her; I’m going to give it to her this morning when she comes to put the monsters kids on the bus.

Linked to Frugally Sustainable, A Pinch of Joy, Sorta Crunchy, Knick of Time Interiors