Finally . . . Tomatoes!

I finally have a few ripening tomatoes on the Babycakes Cherry Tomato plant.  It has zillions of green baby tomatoes on it, but until this morning I hadn't noticed any ripening.  Now they are starting to turn:

The one in the upper corner is starting to turn, and the left one if already fully orange!

All 9 of these are on one vine, like a cluster of grapes!

Little baby green bell peppers.  19 of them between the two plants.  Don't stuffed peppers sound good?  I will have to post a recipe for sodium-free stuffed peppers that were good enough to fool my office into eating them without adding unneccesary salt.

Thought I'd post some positive photos tonight, since yesterday's post was kind of a bummer one.  I'm thinking 'Salsa' sounds good.  I even have a sodium-free seasoning packet I found at Lynn's DakotaMart.  I love my DM and especially their pharmacy.  They still deliver for free!

It can only get better from here

What is on my mind? That the world's stupidest car thieves hit our parking lot last night. My car was locked but I'd left the front windows down a smidgen. Someone chose last night to go looking for what Officer Cole said was likely "money, electronics, that king of thing." HELLO! It's a 1988 Ford Taurus with more than a bit of road rust. The only things in it were scrapbooking stuff since I had planned to go to a crop last night but wasn't feeling up to it. Wound up with a very high fever, a little head haziness, and stomach spasms. Fine this morning, but was about to go ballistic on my neighbor Mary when she woke me up this morning to tell me what happened. Her can got hit, too.

So if you know of anyone whose car was broken into recently, make sure they notify the police. Officer Cole Martin was very nice (and cute).  If you park outside, make sure that your cars are locked with the windows all the way up.

This was not how I wanted to start my day after being miserable all night.  I slept for 12 hours.  100.6 fever finally broke at 2:40 this morning.  The fever wasn't the worst part--it was  the stomach spasms.  My stomach gets tight and I start arching.  Haven't done that for over a year. Not fun, but I knew they would stop if I got warm enough.  Went to bed at 7 PM and realized I had a fever.  Came out and took it and knew why I was burning up if I touched my skin.  I knew if I went to the hospital they would just shove an IV in my arm and send me  home after so I decided to skip that.  Felt totally fine when I got up about 7:30 this morning.  No traces of anything.  Temp is back at my normal 98.4.

Conrad's Clan Update

A week or so ago, I posted about Conrad's Clan, a community support group for cancer suffer Conrad Adam who will be a junior at Riggs High this year.  Here are a couple of pictures of his friends showing their support and solidarity for Conrad:

 The guys before their haircuts.

Notice anything other than the number of bald heads?  The guys all stod in the same places as the "before" shot.  Great job guys--everyone should be so lucky as to have friends like you!

Conrad's Clan

With my own health problems, I feel strongly about doing what I can to help others experiencing major health problems.  Especially if I "know" that person.  While I may not know Conrad Adam well, I do have a connection in that I once rented an apartment to Conrad's father Karl, and I now rent from Karl.  Recently Conrad was diagnosed with a form of cancer for which he must undergo 29 weeks of chemotherapy.  After 10 weeks, the tumor will be removed.  He has a long road to travel, but his wonderful friends have created Conrad's Clan.  They are selling t-shirts and wristbands.  Shirts are $15, and the wristbands are only $2.  ALL of the proceeds are being donated to the family.  Our office ordered the wristbands,  which are white with green lettering.  One side says "No One Fights  Alone" and the other says "Conrad's Clan."  They can be purchased by sending a Private Message (not a comment) to them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/#!/ConradsClan.  If you do not have Facebook, you can still order at conradsclan(at)gmail.com.  This is not a link, and the (at) should be replaced with the usual @ used in email addresses, but is not being shown that way to prevent web viruses from spamming their mailbox.

These are some seriously motivated kids helping to raise money for their friend's fight (they will be juniors this year at Riggs High).  They went so far to organize as an official non-profit agency 501(c)3.  If you are reading this, please spend the $2 to help support Conrad--a great kid from a good family who has quite a fight ahead of him.  Thanks!  And it you are interested in knowing how the organization of "Cupcakes for Conrad" is going, please leave a comment and we will update you as soon as we have approval from the family.

Blackhawk Down!

I will be taking about a week or two off from blogging as my rotator cuff heals.  I totally wrecked it yesterday throwing a tomato for a friend's dog to chase.  Turns out I'm no longer 13.  Anyway, since it is taking forever for me to type this, I will be back in touch soon.  In the mean time, you can contemplate how well you would like this:

Would you drink a cucumber soda?  I found this at the local grocery store, so I bought one for us to try.  At first it was hard to identify the actual flavor, other than all of us agreeing it was cool, light, and refreshing.  Plus it is all natural.  Not bad, but I wouldn't necessarily drink it on a regular basis.  If you are interested in trying it for yourself, it's next to the Jones Soda in the beverages aisle at Lynn's DakotaMart here in Pierre.  Just $1.09 a bottle.

It's all in a year . . .

I couldn't help feeling all day Wednesday that there was something I was supposed to remember.  Well I finally remembered it at 2 AM on Thursday, and now I can't sleep.  It was 8/8/11 when I returned to work after having been gone for about 2 months for hospitalizations and my transplant testing.  I made it 3 whole weeks before going back to the local hospital and then being transported by ambulance to Sioux Falls.  I'm still convinced that was brought on by an attack of colitis from eating WAY too much taco salad at the office potluck.  I'll take something much healthier to this week's.  I remember feeling fine until about 3 PM, when the office manager took me to the hospital.  She was familiar enough with me and my condition to rattle off what I was and wasn't doing, saying, and feeling.  So thanks, Ash, for taking such good care of me that day.  And may you never receive monkey parts for any illness,

Third Time Lucky @ RedRossa

I love bruschetta.  I always have.  I’m kind of a snob about it.  So when a bunch of friends and I went to the RedRossa here in town last week, and my bruschetta was basically just slices of their standard dipping bread with a couple of chopped tomatoes on top, I wasn’t happy.  I would have told our server to take it back, but she was obviously not suited to the profession of waitressing.  Unfortunately I’m unaware of any legal profession where women get paid for flirting with male customers.  None of us were happy with our food or service.  I believe the waitress received 2 cents as a tip, rather than the $25 she could have made as a tip from our table had we received proper service.  Admittedly, the sub-par food was not her fault.

So being the nag that I am, I contacted the corporate office and got a response quickly.  I also received an email from the manager.  Three nights later and we were back.  The food was better, if not quite on target, and our server Allie was awesome.  I don’t know what her total tip was, but the table spent about $175 on food and drinks.  OK, so mine was one iced tea since I don’t drink alcohol.

Last night was the third visit in a week.  Yes, even I am nearly bruschetta’d out.  But it was cheap burger night or cheap appetizers during happy hour, and my brother likes to eat cheap when he’s in town.  I did order the bruschetta again, and made sure to tell the server that I would like it prepared as the menu states, and their recipe and menu photo show with the bread lightly charred.  And that is exactly how I got it.  Right down to having garlic in the topping this time.  You could tell the topping had time to marinate before being put on the mozzarella.  Now if the bread had still been warm when the cheese was placed on it to allow a little melting or softening, it would have been perfect.  If they could prepare it that way, I’d eat it every night for dinner.

One of the reasons I was so tough on RedRossa is that I like their food.  It’s fresher than a lot of Italian places, and I don’t feel weighed down by it or as though I’d just eaten part of a salt lick.  So thank you, Kelsey and RedRossa, for addressing the problem and proving you can do it right.  And now I can have bruschetta anytime, thanks to finding their recipe on the Internet.  Ya just gotta love those “Interwebs” as one of my staff calls it.  Of course, she still uses a rotary dial telephone . . .  and of course I had to tweak it to add a bit more flavor.

Bruschetta with Balsamic Dressing

Ingredients: 
8 each - slices French or Italian bread, cut on slight bias
8 Round slices - of fresh mozzarella
8 Tablespoons - tomato bruschetta mix (recipe follows)
few drops - olive oil
Balsamic Reduction- Garnish (recipe follows)
Shredded or shaved Parmesan cheese- Garnish

 
Brush the bread with just a bit of olive oil and toast or char-grill the sliced French bread on both sides.  Cut mozzarella into slices approximately the size of the bread. Place on bread and top with tomato bruschetta mix.  Sprinkle Parmesan on top.  In a small mixing bowl toss mixed field greens with small amount of olive oil and toss.  On a large round plate drizzle with balsamic reduction.  Serve with additional olive oil and balsamic for dipping.
Tomato Bruschetta Mix
4 vine ripened tomatoes, chopped
2 ounces fresh basil sprigs
2 Tablespoon olive oil 
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh garlic2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
Pinch kosher salt

In small bowl combine all the bruschetta mix ingredients   Mix with spoon until well blended and set aside until ready to plate

Balsamic Reduction:
2 cups balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup granulated sugar

Place balsamic vinegar into a sauté' pan with sugar and turn on medium heat.  Bring to a medium simmer and continue to reduce by half the volume (5-7 minutes).  Cool down in an ice water bath (half water/half ice).

RedRossa bruschetta according to the photo on their menu and Facebook.

My bruschetta last night.  Finally, charred bread!

Little 'Mater finally ripened!  It's a real Roma tomato!  If I had a few more,  I'd have whipped up a batch of bruschetta tonight for dinner.  But instead I enjoyed the benefits of onions and peppers in my salsa.

Buy Fresh, Buy Local

Springerridge at Farmers' Market this past weekend.  Lots of awesome produce!  I'm going to try to go vegetarian this week to use up some of my produce in the refrigerator and what is coming in from the garden. 

Going to try mini pizzas on slices of grilled eggplant from Farmer Ralph (Ripley Gardens).  Here is my eggplant (closest to buckets), cucumbers, and Valiant grapes.  I love grapes, but not 5 quarts of them!

Hi Julie!  She's helping Ralph with the produce, and helps to make sure the weekly market emails go out.  Sign up to get them at www.capcitymarket.wordpress.com.

All Hail the Amazing Corndog!

When most people think of a corn dog, they think of a hot dog on a stick dipped in a cornmeal batter and deep fried.  Fair or festival food.  Gross  I read the package of hot dogs when I was 11 and haven't eaten one since.  Well, Shiloh can't read, and will do just about anything for fresh vegetables (especially raw potatoes and sweet potatoes.  And I must say, he does have impeccable manners while eating . . . are you ready?  Corn on the cob!  Dad eats almost all of the ear, leaving about half a dozen kernels on the cob for the little poop.

In his tribute to the English always raising one pinkie while drinking tea, Shiloh raises one paw as he nibbles 

Well, a thunder storm is coming through, the thunder rumbling nice and so it is time for me to head to bed.