Tomatoes Three Ways

 The pile of ripe tomatoes stare at me from the window sill. The only way the patient eats fresh tomato is on a BLT. Not me, I love them in just about anything. I have cherry tomatoes still setting blooms in my garden. When I pick them, I usually just pop them in my mouth. I don't use chemicals, so I am not afraid to eat them straight from the vine. 

One can only eat so many tomatoes, though and now I am faced with having to use them or lose them. I thought about roasting them all in the oven, but when you live in a small space, such as mine, you think twice before turning the oven on. It will heat the entire house. If you do decide to turn it on, you want to cook as many things as you can in the hot house.

Salsa would be an option, but who wants a gallon of the stuff. There are only two of us and it would go bad before using it all. I does not freeze well and thus far, I have lived without a canner. That could change, though. I don't feel like shopping and if I order one, there is the shipping time.

I turned to Pinterest and discovered the wild world of tomatoes! I called out suggestions to The Patient as I discovered the recipes. Tomato Jam? He wrinkled his nose. Tomato Confit? He just looked blankly at me. Where is his sense of adventure, you might be asking? He lacks one when it comes to food. I still remember the Beet Brownies. I didn't tell him there were beets in the batter ..... maybe I should have.

He took a huge bite of the chocolate chunk of brownie and spit it out. Too earthy? They really were! I like beets and I will eat a brownie if there is no other option in the way of sweets. I gave them to a camper who ate the entire pan with his grandsons. At least someone liked them and I didn't have to toss them.

I suppose I can make tomato sauce and salsa. The tomato sauce will freeze and the salsa will be eaten by The Patient and his wife. Apparently, I am lacking a sense of adventure, too.

I wanted to work outside in the lovely weather, but I am too dizzy today. Easy to be dizzy inside, since there is nowhere in my living quarters that is wide open and I have plenty to grab if I start to lose my balance. I hiked up to the She Shed earlier and it was hard enough to get up the slope, but when I tried to step over the ditch and onto my steps, everything was spinning. I had to walk all the way to the top of the drive where everything levels out and then down the sloping lawn and garden to my shed.

After that, I was afraid to walk on the outside of the fence to tend the garden that faces the ravine. Who knows how long it would take The Patient to look for me. I have stopped taking my phone everywhere to insure that he has no choice but to get up and fetch his own stuff. He could fall asleep and I could be at the bottom all day!

Big pause. I have a bowl of salsa, a pot of sauce, and a bowl of fire roasted cherry tomatoes. No oven. I put them in a metal strainer and used the flame on the burner. Now I am sitting a spell before I go shower and get myself decent enough to go to the fair. Free admission tonight is how The Patient secured my acceptance to his invitation. He DOES know me!