Hello...My name is

Today at the post office my daughter walked up to the counter with me, looked at the woman waiting to help us and said,

"Hi, I'm Emma. I'm 4 years old. Almost 5. What's your name?"

The postmistress answered that her name was Liz. This started a nice little chat between all three of us. This was in sharp contrast to the woman earlier at the pizza place who ignored us until I had to ask her to help me buy 2 slices of pizza from her and even then, I could tell I was putting her out.

It got me thinking. A long time ago everyone knew everyone else. A really really long time ago people lived in tribes. Much of your survival was based on your relationship to the group. Even when people lived in small villages and towns this was the case, albeit survival meant something different than catching the big woolly mammoth. If you were an asshole maybe they forgot to tell you about the big hunt the next day.....

Today we are so well automated, so busy, and so insulated that we don't know the people we interact with, buy things from, spend time with on the playground.Most likely we will never see these people again, so why bother? Many times we never see or speak with people when going about our daily lives. You can 't do business with a nod and a handshake anymore because most likely, you don't even know that person.

The community, as a whole, is no longer a place we need in order to survive.

In places where I belong to a group like our wonderful pre-school community, my garden club, the library where they tell me I have books on the hold shelf before I even ask, and my wonderful friends with whom I have had dinner with every month for almost the last 10 years, I am part of something bigger. Part of a whole whose survival depends, in part, on me. (Strictly speaking, it's Bridgett's cooking that determines our dinner group's survival. And ok yes, the library would exist without me, however, the relationship that I have with the women there exists because we are interacting.)

Apparently I want to go where everybody knows my name.....

And I'm thinking the next time I'm in line at the pizza place or somewhere similar I may just say,

"Hi, My name is Christine, I'm 32 years old, almost 33..." ;-)

Genesee Country Village & Museum

Today, after eating at my favorite sandwich at the The Leaf & Bean coffee house & cafe with Deanna, I had planned on going to the Rochester Museum & Science Center to see the Titanic Artifact Exhibit.

After Deanna suggested that perhaps that exhibit would be a bit depressing, it hit me that I was only 15 minutes away from one of my happy places, The Genesee Country Village & Museum! One Pumpkin Spice Coffee later and I was on my way!

When I arrived I was dismayed to find that they had closed this past Sunday for the season. I brightened up a little when the woman at the store told me I could walk the village for a mere $5!!!! No buildings were open but really, that was ok. I just like being there.

I had the WHOLE village to MYSELF (with the exception of 3 people working on the grounds). This was completely awesome and what a feeling of abundance that was! I walked around a few times, (there are 68 buildings!) saw the animals, sat on many of the porches, peeked in windows and looked at the remainder of this season's gardens. I saw my pioneer cabin & oxen. I spent a little under 2 hours there soaking up the atmosphere. It was really peaceful & a perfect way to spend a nice fall afternoon alone. Sometimes I just sat on the porches and breathed deeply...

I have not enjoyed $5 so much in a long time!

*note-I forgot my camera today so the pictures are all from prior visits.

Tomato Bisque

Yesterday I was staring at 4lbs of tomatoes that ripened on my windowsill this past week. What to do?

Then I remembered my favorite tomato bisque and quickly set down to making it.

This is not your run of the mill Campbell's soup people. You don't even have to like that stuff to like this. It's SO good!

This recipe is perfect as is so you really don't have to make any adjustments to it at all. I however, did not have any beef bullion and used homemade chicken stock I had made a few days before. I just cooked it down longer. I also did not put the tomatoes through a food mill as after cooking for the longer time I just mashed them a little with a fork, I don't mind some chunks anyway. You could also use a hand blender if you wanted a smoother texture like the picture.

Also, I used the same amount of butter/half& half (that is what I had and you really don't need to use heavy cream) that one would use for 2 lbs of tomatoes for 4lbs of tomatoes. It's still really rich and you won't feel as naughty eating it. You can even used canned tomatoes for this, although I prefer fresh.

I used yellow and pinkish tomatoes so the color of this soup is a little like sunset.

Frost Warning

We have our first frost warning tonight so my girlie and I harvested the last of the summer vegetables. I still have turnips, chard & leeks out there as well as some perennial herbs. Aside from that, my growing season is pretty much over.

There were a lot of green tomatoes, 3 butternut squash, 6 heads of celery (I was right, no one needs this much celery) basil, and a bowl of various peppers, beans, tiny eggplant & zucchini and a few potatoes I left behind the other day.

Tonight I made one last batch of pesto to freeze, blanched the rest of the green beans for my bag in the freezer and currently I have a batch of Green Tomato & Jalapeno Jam simmering on the stove top. It's got quite a kick to it for only having 4 peppers in it!

Now I need to find a few more recipes for green tomatoes!

Everythings Amazing & Nobodys Happy

I should really save this for Monday. Who can't use a good laugh on Monday.

This is so very true though & I can't stop chuckling!

Up Close & Personal

Brandywine

Leek

Butternut

Mini

Rainbow Chard

Hiding

Bursting

Potato Harvest & Garlic Planting

Today my girl and I harvested the rest of the La Ratte Potatoes. We have been eating them all along but I need some time to cure the rest of them a little so they will keep longer.

It may be hard to tell but these are large bowls so we have quite a few of these lovely potatoes. These were my favorite crop this year and I will definitely grow potatoes again.

In their place I planted garlic. Being that the deer won't eat potatoes or garlic, a spot outside the fence was ideal. You should not plant the same crop in the same place each year so this was also my plan.

I planted about 50 cloves which should grow 50 heads. That may seem like a lot but I have used up quite a bit of my garlic this year on pesto that I have been freezing and as you can see, I don't have much left. And I didn't even give any away. Now I'm thinking I may need to plant a little more.

Included in the 50 heads is an Italian garlic from Jeannine (that I grown each year) & I ordered some Siberian Garlic From Seed Savers Exchange-The cloves are HUGE and gorgeous white & purple. Recently I picked up 2 heads at the Farmers Market-I wish I could remember the names though, I'm funny like that. I planted the Siberian separately so I can keep track of it.

You can also see the last of my onions here. I think I planted about 60 of those this past spring. I used most of them for Green Onions this spring and summer, which was my plan and just left a few in the ground to grow. (I actually prefer Mayan sweet onions or Vidalia which will not grow locally. Onions, you may not know, are fairly finicky. A Vidalia is considered a "short day" onion which will not grow in the north.)

Those little things to the right are shallots which were fun to grow because I love them but turned out very small. (I only got them at Home Depot and I'm not sure those plants are always right for my area) but I will use them anyway. Next year I may find a more reputable source for those but I almost wonder if they work the same as onions in terms of where they grow best (Must google this.)