Tomater Mitigation

We've had to made a few changes to the tomatoes. One of the hanging ones was accidentally crushed by my 5 yr old while he was carrying it outside. It was replaced on Sunday with a giant cherry tomato plant. But both plants are now living in our entry since the weather is going downhill.


And Rich constructed a small little plastic greenhouse for the tomatoes in the grow box. It was so breezy, and the weather was getting colder, I didn't think they were going to last out there on their own. I have the *house* barricaded against the window on the deck so the wind won't take it away.

But those fresh Danmark cherry tomatoes I picked up at the store are soooo tasty...I wonder why we're bothering with this.


We made yet another high roast chicken this weekend. We ate the legs and thighs 'as cooked' on Saturday. On Sunday I used one half of the leftover bird and made spinach spatzel with chicken, veggies, and a white cream sauce. And last night the remaining part of the bird was added to a brown rice and spinach bake. The rice bake recipe was modified from my Better Homes and Gardens Vegetarian Recipes Cooking for Today cookbook. I have a good number of 'nice' vegetarian cookbooks (like Beyond the Moon), but I end up making the recipes from the home and garden book the most. Probably because it has good pictures, and the recipes use the ingredients that I usually have on hand.


One of may favorite meals to make however is salad with warms toppers. I don't know why, but doing it this way is quite filling, and still fresh. I start with the cold stuff - lettuce, carrot, cucumber, tomato, hard boiled egg, cheese, sunflower seeds - and then I top it with broiled cauliflower or sauteed leeks and mushrooms. I've even tried warm brown rice (and got a thumbs-up from the hub). This weeks warm ingredients were baked salmon and sauteed leeks & mushrooms. Oh yeah - and cheesy bread since the oven was on, and the bread needed to be eaten.


Last week was also a good week for reading. So good in fact, that the selected books didn't even make it to may sidebar list. And funny enough all three were from my *stash*. My stash books are wild cards. When it was a sure thing that we were moving to DK, I started going bi-weekly to the book store in our library. They circulate books monthly, selling hardcovers for $1, and paperbacks for $0.50. I bought anything that got good reviews, was written by a recognizable author or had a reading group guide, or just felt right. I picked out some duds, but the three listed below were good reading.

The Lightkeeper's Daughter by Iain Lawrence. Teen fiction and very nice.

The Alphonse Courrier Affair by Marta Morazzoni. Although I liked this book a lot, I didn't care for the ending. I get the reason for the ending, but I wish it could have been different (how exactly - I don't know).

Ain't She Sweet? by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Romantic comedy. Cheesy but entertaining. This book is perfect for reading on the beach.