Is it done yet?

With all due apologies to Rockergirrl… I am ready for the summer to be over! September may be the new August, but I am ready to move onto the fall.

I was never a summer person. Ever since I can remember I lived for winter. For skiing and sledding and playing in the snow. For hot cocoa and fires in fireplaces and a big bowl of something hot and yummy. It is only since moving here that I have really grown to love the summer. The long days, the delicious, fresh produce, the BBQs. Summer here does offer a lot to love. Far more than our winter days – and the REAL winter days, are few and far between. Winter here is a dreary, grey, rainy, sleety, foggy mess.

But here is what it comes down to for me. It is hot and I am tired of picking tomatoes. Tired of staying on top of deadheading my flowers. Tired of wondering if that plant would do better if I dug it up and moved it over there. Tired of my air conditioner running all.the.time. And tired of paying for my air conditioner to run all.the.time. I am tired of sitting in my office freezing when I dress for the season. And tired of roasting when I where long sleeves to survive my office, but then eventually have to leave my office.

I want to take Leif to the harvest festival to pick out some pumpkins. I am already considering options for Halloween costumes (he wants to be a train… or at least that is the only costume he responds to in the catalog). I want to cook chili and hear the football game on in the background. I want to decorate for fall and Halloween. I want to cook hearty meals of braised lamb shanks and white bean soup. And I am really ready for the weather to cool down.

Last night was just muggy. It was hot and overcast, getting ready to thunderstorm, and we were slaving away picking tomatoes. I have never in my life gotten the yield of tomatoes we have this year. Nearly bordering on ridiculous. When in one night we can pick off of our own plants an entire fruit box full of tomatoes, that is a lot of 'maters'. AB is going to be busy with batch number two of spaghetti sauce.

I know, why make spaghetti sauce from scratch when you can buy it for dirt cheap? Because we love it. I love that there is not a teaspoon of sugar in our sauce. It contains exactly what we want (tomatoes, onions, garlic, red bell peppers, cayennes, hot Italian sausage, mushrooms, basil and oregano). I love the way it makes my house smell while it simmers down to a thick sauce. AB has mastered his sauce making technique over the years. We nearly had enough last year to make it a full year without buying spaghetti sauce, but were about 2 containers short. Oh and Leif LOVES it. Saturday night he helped himself to FOUR servings of spinach pasta with sauce. He ate well over twice as much as I did. The kid gobbles the stuff. And OMG did I mention it is heavenly? Delicious.

Salsa is on the list too. AB is talking about making a yellow tomato, pineapple and ginger salsa as well as a traditional hot as hell salsa. The main issues we have with salsa is how to store it. If you can it and process, the flavor changes drastically. How about freezing? Does anyone freeze salsa?

Fall is obviously nearing as my grapes are undergoing verizon, or venison, or veraison. Oh hell, they are changing! I found one very exposed cluster that was raisins. But the other more protected clusters are starting to show signs of purple. Which also reminds me that I need to order the grape spiral and the fine mesh for my food mill, that this time a year, gets loads of use.

Signs of summer winding down are all around us. I am enjoying this last hurrah of summer 2006. But will be welcoming fall in the door with big open arms. Embrace me!