tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81333412011-04-21T11:25:11.000-07:00Raineyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12999360315050687588noreply@blogger.comBlogger261100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133341.post-72617803723150022422007-02-09T12:08:00.000-08:002007-02-09T12:20:12.261-08:00

Omigod! How could I have been so stoopid or deluded? Work is scheduled to get started on my new kitchen on Monday and all this time that I've waited (since before Thanksgiving) I simply thought "I'll just empty the cabinets." What was going on in my addled brain that I didn't realize that means the equivalent of moving?! I knew the cabinets are packed to within an inch of their lives. Where

Raineyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12999360315050687588noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133341.post-1130014287787602732005-10-22T13:26:00.000-07:002005-10-22T13:51:27.836-07:00

...or at least she's sleeping on it. ::groan::

Raineyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12999360315050687588noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133341.post-1129413004141361622005-10-15T13:16:00.000-07:002005-10-15T20:50:55.206-07:00

Yesterday the letter carrier came to my door with a wonderful surprise. It only took me a minute to remember that I had signed up for Blogging by Mail 2 at The Samantha File . The concept of reaching out to some unknown person in the bloggesphere with something as tangible and reassuring as homemade goodies sounded like fun when I first learned about the opportunity too late for the first round

Raineyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12999360315050687588noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133341.post-1123969241684610602005-08-13T13:55:00.001-07:002005-08-13T14:46:16.226-07:00

I am trying to put a dent in my tomato supply by working my way through Joanne Weir's cookbook you say tomato. A couple recipes seem very promising but the one I selected to start with is Tomato Galette. My Le Petit Larousse Illustré describes a galette as something round and flat based on wheat flour and oven baked. That definition would fit this recipe, except for the fact that the

Raineyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12999360315050687588noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133341.post-1123617694721633002005-08-09T12:10:00.000-07:002005-08-09T13:41:06.946-07:00

It makes me sad to bump that beautiful flower and tomato arrangement from the top spot my my blog. But time moves on and so must I...I've had some pretty wonderful tomato things lately. I did roasted cherry tomatoes with an assortment of red Stupice, orange Sungold and deep maroon/purple Black Cherries. It was wonderful — easy as can be to just roast unattended for 2 hours or more in a warm

Raineyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12999360315050687588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133341.post-1123438114444289002005-08-07T09:14:00.002-07:002005-08-09T19:49:10.123-07:00

Yesterday Plant-A-Porter held their annual tomato tasting TomatoMania at the nearby commnity gardens in Encino. They've held a number of these things but this is the first one I've been able to make. It's a great oppor-tunity to sample things you haven't grown yet to see what you might want to include in the future. Soooo, what follows probably falls into the cate-gory of "Too Much Information

Raineyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12999360315050687588noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133341.post-1123392715337604392005-08-06T21:32:00.000-07:002005-08-07T13:06:07.900-07:00

Why, yes, since that's about what's left in my burned out garden. Besides, they're pretty damned good and the time when there won't be tasty, fresh tomatoes will come too fast for me! So, I've been having them a couple times a day. Good thing I've got several different varieties, no? Here's one of the things I look forward to all those barren months of canned tomatoes — pasta alla vodka.

Raineyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12999360315050687588noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133341.post-1122831443459445772005-07-31T10:17:00.000-07:002005-07-31T11:13:45.620-07:00

Moving along with the tomatoes-are-too-perfect-by-themselves-to-mess-with theme, I put a few other nearly perfect foods together for a recent breakfast. This is one of my Noire Charbonneuse tomatoes sliced on a breakfast plate with some prosciutto, a bit of goat's milk cheese called nevat, some basil and a roll made from chiabatta dough. The prosciutto and cheese were salty enough that I didn't

Raineyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12999360315050687588noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133341.post-1122744964121649622005-07-30T08:11:00.000-07:002005-07-31T10:56:03.696-07:00

The first tomato must be eaten as plain as possible to just savor the long-awaited flavor of its ripeness. Here is my Kellogg's Breakfast opened up for my and your pleasure. Can you see its juiciness? No, not really. The picture is really not doing it justice. ...and I'm not just talking my delirium over the first one. It really was all glistening with juiciness even though this is a

Raineyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12999360315050687588noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133341.post-1122677429037839312005-07-29T15:47:00.000-07:002005-07-31T17:37:23.506-07:00

We have had a Perfect Gardening Storm at my house: triple digit temperatures, broken irrigation sprinklers and a new lawn service that couldn't cope with it. That left my lovely garden a crispy shade of brown and my heart broken. But I'm happy to say that my tomatoes made it through and are finally pumping out fruit. YAY!!!This is the oddest year! We should have been picking tomatoes for 6-8

Raineyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12999360315050687588noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133341.post-1119369142837016222005-06-21T08:49:00.000-07:002005-06-21T08:52:22.843-07:00

Hooray! She's growing again. It's not as vigorously as the early Spring, but there are a few small blossoms on the vines now and a number of buds indicating there will be more. Unfortunately, there are no pics once again. I tore my cornea yesterday and my eyes are about useless at the moment. But I'll take some reference photos as soon as I can.

Raineyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12999360315050687588noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133341.post-1118955272589624862005-06-16T13:39:00.000-07:002005-06-16T16:44:36.790-07:00

The last couple days have been rough ones. So, today the remedy seemed to be a more ambitious lunch than I'm used to having. I had some leftover chicken that I was looking forward to and a sole volunteer chard plant in the garden that could never feed more than one anyway. The chicken was from slow smoking on the gas grill suggested by Dr. Biggles of MeatHenge and it was super TWICE! Still

Raineyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12999360315050687588noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133341.post-1118879351095322842005-06-15T16:31:00.000-07:002005-06-15T22:09:29.136-07:00

From one kind of over abundance to another. Some people are always whining about something...This used to be a perfectly lovely bougainvillea. If you like bougainvillea (I, personally, DON'T but I'd still rather have a healthy, upright plant than one that's collapsed under the weight of a broken trellis). I took this picture after I'd cleaned it up and lightened it as much as I dared. I

Raineyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12999360315050687588noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133341.post-1118783942758009922005-06-14T14:18:00.000-07:002005-06-14T19:00:44.436-07:00

The plums are falling from the branches of my tree. Twice a day I can go out and gather a small armload of them. We've had them fresh until we can't eat another one. We've sent baskets to friends and to my husband's office. I've given almost 5 pounds of them to a local Food Bank (more about that in a separate post) and this weekend I finally got culinary with 'em. Not that I minded walking

Raineyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12999360315050687588noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133341.post-1118775345828278832005-06-14T10:45:00.000-07:002005-06-14T17:41:37.536-07:00

The good people of the Garden Writers Association know that when we plant our gardens, even though everything may not succeed, we get more of some things than we can use. I, personally, choose indeterminate varieties of everything. Even so, I've always got stuff to give away. So, they decided to put gardeners in touch with Food Banks who are distributing food to people in need. If you've got

Raineyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12999360315050687588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133341.post-1118255621798790742005-06-08T11:11:00.000-07:002005-06-08T11:36:11.566-07:00

Alas! No pics because when Ramona was in bloom I wasn't actively blogging but, still, I want to keep the record of what I see happening so I can refer back to it. I planted my clematis (variety Ramona) 3 or 4 years ago from seedlings around the base of a massive Aleppo pine. They barely limped along for several years. I congratulated myself that I'd gotten them through a single Summer but,

Raineyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12999360315050687588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133341.post-1117588871414959252005-05-31T18:16:00.000-07:002005-05-31T18:27:07.893-07:00

The pea vines are already beginning to brown at the bottom and I'm just getting the first picking. =o Next year I definitely need to plant at least twice as much. Other things are just beginning to be ready for picking too so it's a bit of this and a bit of that for dinner tonight. I'll cut that Eight Ball squash and the carrots into generous chunks and steam and then shock them. By that

Raineyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12999360315050687588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133341.post-1117511100025421492005-05-30T20:32:00.000-07:002005-06-02T10:05:22.030-07:00

I haven't been able to catch my kitties in the garden yet but here they are chez eux just for Debbie to enjoy. Here is Templeton at leisure. His little buddy Sylvester is practicing his bedroom eyes. Ain't he sexy though! Maggie is Sylvester's littermate. She did not want her picture taken but she did consent to play with the dangling camera strap while I made an ass of myself chasing her

Raineyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12999360315050687588noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133341.post-1117510209460792532005-05-30T20:21:00.000-07:002005-05-31T13:19:53.680-07:00

I dunno but mabbee I'm actually becoming a blogger (of however dubious quality) because tonight when I went to pick beans for dinner (impulsive little beast that I am) I stopped and thought "Wait! I must take some photos first!"! So, here they are:Purple beans are soooo easy to pick. Thank god 'cause I'll soon be picking them every 3 or 4 days. However clearly the stark contrast announces

Raineyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12999360315050687588noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133341.post-1116885937597474602005-05-23T14:52:00.000-07:002005-05-23T16:22:12.823-07:00

Sadly, my Stupice continues to have more and more foliage involved in whatever blight it has. I can't say how painful it is to pinch off the affected leaves, further defoliating my plant. This is the only plant I have that's anywhere near producing a tomato. And this particular plant is just loaded with immature fruit. Merde! I sprayed it again this morning and then put in a thick mulch of

Raineyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12999360315050687588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133341.post-1116795251415785842005-05-22T13:34:00.000-07:002005-05-22T18:24:10.210-07:00

Summer came upon us as suddenly and definitively as ever in SoCal. It's a little late this unusual rainy year, but now it's here. We had a long stretch of pleasant days and cool nights and now we have the pleasant mornings and evenings but midday is approaching killer. Because that's the way it's been for several days, I finally watered my tomatoes and the other plants in the enclosure.

Raineyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12999360315050687588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133341.post-1116620691074128042005-05-21T13:06:00.000-07:002005-06-02T10:09:04.046-07:00

The story continues.Beets:The beets are planted in the tomato enclosure beneath the peach and the fruit salad trees. I hoped the bit of shade would help them compensate for the high temperatures at this time of year. So far I have put in about 2' in two different plantings. The first ones have their first true leaves and the second planting has it's cotyledons. I haven't thinned the second

Raineyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12999360315050687588noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133341.post-1116610960366680962005-05-20T10:02:00.000-07:002005-05-21T13:42:52.843-07:00

I have decided to post progress reports for the mid point and end of each month. I'm hoping this will help me keep track of what's working and what's not. Tomatoes:Stupice (55-60 days) - Stupice is growing in a pot on my patio. It's the first time I've tried to grow a full-size tomato in the pot. In previous years, cherry tomatoes have done well and kept going through the summer. The Stupice

Raineyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12999360315050687588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133341.post-1116176050342819682005-05-15T09:44:00.000-07:002005-05-15T16:36:06.610-07:00

I have been noodling about with a garden since we moved into this house 7 or 8 years ago. Some years I've had very nice yields. Others I've barely gotten anything. But I've learned all the way along. One of the things I've learned is that I might as well take the time and effort to set it up well instead of just plunking things in the ground and salivating until I can pick. This year I

Raineyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12999360315050687588noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133341.post-1096059134587317842004-09-26T13:49:00.000-07:002005-05-15T16:30:39.193-07:00

Today I made dirt. Of all the things I do, dirt may be the thing I'm best at. That may have something to do with the fact that it happens pretty much on its own -- even breaking down hulking tree stumps effortlessly. Whether Mother Nature gets the credit or I steal a bit of it for myself, it's very satisfying to do and I get a very powerful feeling from being part of the process of turning

Raineyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12999360315050687588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8133341.post-1096051135898439302004-09-24T11:16:00.000-07:002005-05-21T13:48:16.900-07:00

This is a beginning for me. I have only just discovered blogs but the first one I encountered was so delightful (Chocolate & Zucchini) that I knew I wanted to give it a whirl even if I am computer illiterate. So, I hope to learn by doing it and, perhaps, some theme will emerge. Right now I can simply say that I'm a 57 year old woman who lives in the somewhat more suburban outlying area of Los

Raineyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12999360315050687588noreply@blogger.com2