Tuesday, September 9, 2008

FREEZING FOOD FOR WINTER

The phone rings and it is my vegetable man saying he has some errands in town and will bring my vegetable and fruit order. A mid April frost this year brought only enough apricots for his own family. No carrots or beets for me either. He can bring 40 pounds of pears, 20 of peaches, a dozen or so tomatoes (since he knows I like only the vine ripened ones) and some squash. The peaches are unusually small this year he says, so he sells them for 75 cents a pound and the pears, squash and tomatoes 50 cents a pound. Apparently the bees had to flee back to their hives to fan their queen to keep her alive during the unusual frosty nights. Cherries and some of the other fruits succumbed to the vagrancies of this year's unusual weather patterns.

The clock reminds me that my computer Word Pad is waiting for me to finish up an item for the Grandkid's Gazette. It requires some poetry so it wants two hours of my time. A tap on my head (more like a bang) reminds me that it's time to fix lunch, I'm nearly an hour late. It reminds me that I am out of brain fuel. I chop up some mixed vegetables for a stir fry, open a can of Clover Leaf Wild Pacific salmon, add some quinoa (left over from the extra cooked at breakfast) call the recipe Salmon Bisque and fix a large salad. Yogurt with pineapple squares soaked overnight make a nice dressing.

The peaches demand immediate attention. Some are suffering from bird pecks and need extra work. The afternoon finds them being washed - so ripe the skins slide off quite easily - bathe them with a sprinkle of fruit fresh, blanched to help them hold their color, drained and placed in squares, layered with parchment paper (some call it patapar paper) and into the freezer they go. The paper makes it easy to separate out just what is needed for that day. The pears were still quite green yesterday but today are turning gold. I may not be publishing a post tomorrow. Looks like they are very anxious to join the pears for the winter. I'm so glad to have them delivered instead of having to carry them up my steep hill. He has a lovely wife that we met when picking raspberries a year or so ago and had a short visit at their busy little farm.

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