Last year, I was looking for a way to process my garden tomatoes for sauce. I didn’t have any luck last season, but I found this cool attachment for my KitchenAid mixer in the fall, so I grabbed it up and have been patiently waiting to use it ever since. Before Hurricane Ernsto blew through over the weekend, I picked all of the ripe tomatoes from my garden. I didn’t have quite as much as I normally use for sauce, but I thought it would do for a test. So, I attached the fruit and vegetable strainer to my mixer and started to process the tomatoes. It worked like a charm. The good stuff came out of one end of the strainer and the seeds and skins out of the other. My sauce turned out a little thinner than I like, but that happens to me every time I make sauce from fresh tomatoes. Next year (or if I get really lucky with my crop, next month), I’ll have to try cooking it longer to thicken it up. But, I do think this is the permanent solution for my tomato problem.
the aristocrats
We watched this movie last night while munching on black bean dip and sipping Margaritas. This was a documentary about a joke whose punchline is “The Aristocrats”. This joke has been used as an exercise by comics since the beginning of comedy. It’s premise is to tell this obscene story and be funny about it. As a joke, it’s not really all that funny. They talked to countless comedians who told their version of the joke. Most were just disgusting, though there were a couple of really funny ones in there. The joke was probably told close to 100 times during the course of the documentary (it seemed like it, anyway), so it was surprising that it kept our interest for the full 90 minutes of the film.
I haven’t watched stand up comedy for a while, so it was interesting to see how all of the comics have aged over the years. And it was fun trying to recall their names. So, if you’re into stand up, you might like this–unless you are easily offended, then you might as well forget about it.
karma
It’ll bite you in the ass every time.
Today, we had to go to a hearing for the guy who caused the accident we were in last month. We were witnesses in said hearing. It was interesting on an intellectual level because I’ve never been to anything like that before. It was in front of a district magistrate, so it was pretty laid back. Fortunately, the magistrate wasn’t buying the guy’s story and his citation stands. Actually, the outcome of the hearing wasn’t going to affect my life one way or the other but my annoyance factor over this whole situation has been elevated lately, so I was hoping he’d get yelled at by the magistrate (I heard they do that sometimes), and I was not disappointed. The State Trooper who was in charge of the prosecution thinks that this guy might appeal the verdict and we’ll have to do this again in a month or two at the county courthouse. Terrific. Brian and I actually don’t believe he will appeal, but maybe that’s just wishful thinking. Stay tuned for more information next month.
In even better news, his insurance company called me last week to tell me that they were accepting responsibility for the accident. We’ve already received our “lost wages” check from them for the sick day we took after the accident. Now, I’m just waiting on our insurance company to refund my deductible and at least the insurance part of this situation will be done with.
more cherry?
But, we haven’t even used the last pile yet!
Brian got a line on some 6/4 cherry (that’s 1 1/2 inch thick for you non lumberjacks out there). Since thicker wood is necessary in furniture building, we opted to buy this because all of our other stuff is 4/4 (1 inch thick) and I have a long list of cherry furniture that Brian needs to make. Unfortunately, he has not had much time to work in his woodshop since he finished the bathroom vanity a while ago. Maybe next year…
I don’t know where we’re going to put all of this wood. I guess it will go in the shed with some of the other wood we’re storing. But the shed pile was supposed to be moved to the woodshop this year. So much for that happening anytime soon.
On the other hand, there’s going to be one hell of an auction here someday.
better than a tea party
Last night, my in-laws hosted a wine-tasting party. These wine-tasting parties are quickly becoming my favorite way to socialize. This party featured Shiraz. We got to try eight types of Shiraz (amazingly no one brought the same stuff). A bonus feature of focusing on one type of wine is that you can prepare food that goes with the wine. There is nothing better than drinking wine that goes well with your food. If you don’t agree–you’re not drinking the right stuff.
Anyway, we had a great time and I’m already looking forward to the next wine-tasting party. I think it might be our turn to have one.