Sunday day

Yes, today was a Sunday and I've no more imagination left to me to select a more interesting title so it'll stay as such. Today has been a pretty full on day, though I've actually achieved less than I planned, and I'm pretty much ready to get to bed already. My devotion to this blog sees me sat here dreaming of sleeping but typing instead.

Burger, chips and some filo pastry things

Last night didn't quite go as planned. I played my computer game for a bit then had a shower and headed out for dinner. I got there and found that the main restaurant which is normally always open whether there is a wedding or not was actually all made out to host a wedding meal. I turned round, got in the car, and debated what to do.Eventually I ended up spending a fortune in Kaufland and then stopping by Lidl for good burgers and coming back home to cook for myself and watch a film.

Staying warm

I watched RoboCop which was great fun and then spoke to A which was even better and after that I tried to sleep but struggled to get over for a bit. Eventually I did drop off and was relatively undisturbed other than Louise whining to go out in the early hours. Neither of them were on the bed during the night however my lie in was totally blown away by them jumping on the bed, on me, bouncing around and generally disturbing me. Louise in particular was laying on top of me with her tummy growling and licking my face.

She woke me up so she could sleep on my lap

Eventually I gave up and went through to Room 13 to get a brew. Typically Louise was straight up on my lap and curled up asleep. Why she couldn't do that while I was in bed is beyond me. She has been very cuddly all day today and hasn't wanted to be anywhere apart from me at all.

Wood to burn today

It was a cold start to the day with lots of overcast and raining quite heavily. I gathered together a kindle stack, a load of wood from the outside store, and brought it up to Room 13 and got the fire going. I had no trouble doing this however keeping it lit all day proved a challenge as it was either roaring too high, or dropped down to nothing and needing relit. The problem with the petchka we have in Room 13 at the moment is it doesn't have a window so you can't easily see what is happening. No matter, I've stayed warm all day though I did decide half way through the day that A can be in charge of fires as she does them so much better than I.

A much better arrangement than previously

After warming up and playing with the puppies, still hyperactive, I got stuck in to the first of my jobs for the day. The old polystyrene which the cooker and the big fridge/freezer were sat on had seen better days and I had the new bases stacked up and in the way. It didn't take me long to get them both switched over, hoovering behind both and checking for signs of permanent mouse/rat living. I found nothing and the signs that were there all looked quite old, which is very good news.

Hermes hunkered down

Mercury making a move

With that job done I went straight to the next which was to harvest all the tomatoes, green or red, so that I could do something with them; I was thinking a pasta sauce. I headed outside and was rewarded to see Hermes and Mercury both out and about in the raised bed. I really do need to decide what to do with them over winter as I'd have expected them to be hibernating by now.

I got quite wet

When I went out it wasn't raining but as I watched the tortoises it started to drizzle and by the time I got half way around the raised bed it was hammering down. I was by that time so wet through that I just stuck it out. As I was going I found a slug on the hugelkultur and went to give it to the ducks. Unfortunately for them KitKat got to it first and started fighting over it, with Kat running off with it in her beak. Afterwards as I was in the fenced garden I found loads of caterpillars on our cabbage and broccoli and so I pulled them all off and squished them. I would have also taken these to the birds but by this point I was starting to get so wet I didn't want to stay out longer than necessary. I'll have to get out there again tomorrow morning and pick off all the eggs that are there and generally have a check around else we may well lose those crops as well.

4kg of tomatoes, mostly green, for me to process

My haul from this trip was not too bad at all. I was going to pull up the tomato plants today as well and put them in the compost but the weather decided me against being outside any longer than necessary. This was about 4kg of fruit in the end which was made up mostly of very small fruits with a number of larger ones around.

Drying my trousers by the petchka

A very damp Louise

I had got so wet out there that I changed my clothes when I got in, hanging my trousers up near the fire to dry them off. Just now when I went to put my fleece on, which I had just put on the back of my chair, I found it was still soaked through which gives you an indication of just how wet it was. Thelma and Louise had followed me while I was harvesting for the first bit but when the rain got heavier they both went in and waited on the porch. Despite this Louise was doing a good impression of a drowned rat and clambered onto my lap to warm up when we got in.

Cutting an "X" in top and bottom to help peel later

From boiling water they go into cold water

Some of them peeled this easily...

So I had 4kg of tomatoes, the idea of making a pasta sauce, and only then the beginnings of an idea of what this would entail. I had two recipes that I was using as my basis for this concoction: here and here. The first is a preserve recipe but requires you to have all ripe tomatoes, the second is a normal pasta bake type recipe but specifically for green tomatoes. I combined the two by using all the methods from the first, but adding sugar as per the second. I almost gave up at the first hurdle when I realised I would have to blanch and peel ever single tomato, even the tiny ones, but after toying with not bothering to peel the small ones I gave in and just did it.

Finally got them all done

After over four and a half hours of cutting crosses, boiling up, dunking in cold water and then labouriously peeling the skins off tomatoes green and red, large and small, I finally ended up with a pan full of skinned tomatoes. During this time I listened to much music (as varied as Metallica and Tori Amos, amongst other things), fought to keep the fire going, watched the lightning flicker around as several small storms went past, and wished I'd never started this whole thing.

Boiling the tomatoes down

The first recipe says you don't have to chop the tomatoes and can just let them fall apart for a "chunkier" sauce and so this is what I did, not wishing to spend another minute processing tomatoes today. I threw them all into a larger saucepan, started it cooking, and added some other ingredients like some garlic, salt, pepper and chili salt. I had to keep the heat really low to prevent it from sticking as I didn't add any oil while cooking.

Frying the red peppers

The other produce I had to use up was the pile of red peppers in the fridge from the little lady. After the sauce had been bubbling for a while I sliced these up and fried them for quite a long time before adding them to the mix. I then tasted and added more bits and pieces until I was happy with the flavour. I think this will be a good sauce for a bolognaise, with meat added to it. It tastes pretty nice but looks revolting. I've left it to cool and will box it up and freeze it after doing this update I think.

Dinner, not cooked by me

After this I was so tired I went to bed to lie down and I think I dozed for about five minutes but after that the puppies again had other ideas and they bounced around the room, jumping on me every now and then to both lick my face and ears and anything they could get to before dancing off to fight again. This went on for half an hour before I gave up and got back out of bed. They best not disturb me tonight. Even though I wasn't really in the mood for going out I decided that I would anyway and despite them messing up my food order I'm really glad I went and came back in a much better mood than when I went.

So now the storms have passed and the stars are out. I brought meat back for the puppies and all three of them wolfed their food down, Rambo in particular faster than he has all year which is great. I've just poured a small beer to sip while I set the pasta sauce to freeze and then I'm going to head to bed as tomorrow I'm back up early and I have a full week ahead of me again. Thanks for reading.