Concierge Service

Anyone who knows me, knows I am a hotel snob. It's an occupational hazard from my time spent in the hotel world. Traveling the 5 star world for $59 a night will do that. I love a clean bathroom, 500 count sheets and a fluffy robe with slippers to match. And, I love a good concierge. Oh, a good concierge can change your life.

So, now that I am back to being a civilian (and paying $179 for a crappy Marriott), I need a concierge outlet. Well, I have found it. I was actually turned on to it by a friend. And, all of you have it at your disposal, too. It's your local library. I have become a library convert. My reading habit was getting too expensive and once I got over the anxiety of reading a book in 2 weeks, I decided I could handle it. I get to read all the bestsellers along with the books on my "to read" list and I never have to step farther than the front desk at the library. I use the online ordering system. I can hold books, even ones that are housed at my local library, via the online system, hit submit and then wait for the email to come pick them up. Brilliant! All without having to actually spend time in the library, think about Dewey Decimal and hunt down books. Indulgent, I know. But a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

My Summer Growmance

I had a romance this summer with my garden. It started out full of hope. I got butterflies every time I went out there to see it. Then it bloomed into a beautiful garden where everyday it brought something new and I was constantly surprised and amazed at its surprises. Then it got hot, real hot. And everything yellowed (literally) and the romance began to fizzle right before my eyes. Now, I just have remnants of what was and a broken heart.

I spent a lot in the garden this week. It needed some tending to and I had been neglectful, mostly out of sadness. I finally bought some wellies so I can stop tracking dirt through the house on my sneakers so, I booted up and dug in. I ripped out a bunch of weeds (I thought that "special compost" that cost a ton of money was an instant weed deterrent...) and I also ripped out a bunch of dead plants. The yellow squash plants died after just one crop. The green peppers, eggplant and zucchini never even made it. The cucumber vines have grown into the tomatoes and the watermelon vines are all over the place.

I commiserated with a fellow gardener yesterday. While I was boasting about my tomato abundance, she said hers never made it, she said the heat has literally fried her plants. However, she did offer a bit of hope. She said she "thought" that South Carolina has a second growing season since our warm weather season is so long. Then she sounded defeated as she told me she joined a CSA for the Fall. Oh, my broken heart.

From this:
To this:
Not sure why this idea never occurred to me before but gazpacho is the perfect summer food. It's also perfect if you have a garden, with less than perfect vegetables. So, today I turned some mealy tomatoes and off shaped cucumbers into a delicious summer treat.
I hauled out the Cuisinart only to find that it doesn't work. Every time I hit "pulse" it just clicked. Mini-Cuis to the rescue. It's hard to believe but I whipped up this up in about 10 or so batches. I've always been a Mini-Cuis fan and now I know why.

I blanched the tomatoes, even though I had some frozen I wanted to go fresh plus I had an abundance, pureed about 4 cups and then chopped about 2 cups. This recipe is easy. I used yellow peppers (green are too bitter for me) and more cucumber than called for since I had so many. I also added Tabasco to taste. And, rough chop is fine since I stuck it all in the blender anyway. This came out particularly good.

I froze a Ziploc bag full since there is no way we can eat that much gazpacho. I've developed this new method of freezing liquids: I fill a Ziploc bag, lay it on a flat plate (square is best), then flatten to remove all the air without squeezing out the liquid. Stick the plate in the freezer and when frozen I store it upright like a book. It takes up hardly any room and if I only need a small portion of the liquid, I can just break it off and defrost it. Brilliant!

Here's the recipe and evidence of how I turned my veggies into deliciousness:

Gazpacho
4 c pureed tomatoes
2 c chopped tomatoes
1 peeled, seeded and diced cucumber
1/2 chopped celery
1/2 c chopped red onion
1/2 c chopped bell pepper
2 chopped scallions
2 cloves minced garlic
1/4 c chopped parsley
2 T wine vinegar
2 T lemon juice
2 T olive oil
salt, pepper

Puree all or some of ingredients until desired consistency.
Chill for several hours prior to serving.

(Editor's Note: The second photo above of the finished product tastes way better that it looks. Everyone in my house is enjoying it...promise!)