A Few Random Updates

* I was so curious about "chipped beef" that I had to go looking for it in the grocery store and sure enough, Winco had it--right next to the Vienna sausages, pickled pigs' feet, and Substance Posing As Meat (SPAM). No wonder I had never seen it. Is it just me, or does it look a lot like meat Pringles? (And need I even mention that it violates every rule we have this year?)

* We are finally getting tomatoes!!!!! Not enough to make salsa yet, but for lunch we had tomato slices and Gouda cheese. Yum!

* I have planted beets, peas, and lettuce for a fall garden. Luckily most of it is in pots inside as the returning hot temperatures would probably kill them. Now if I can just remember to water them.....

* Our compost bin really isn't getting hot enough to truly "compost," so we have added worms to it. I don't mind the worms, but it also means that there are lots & lots of bugs (which bother me a bit, I have to admit), which have attracted a little frog. I also don't mind the frog, but it does get to me once in a while to have something unexpected jump out at me. Why do we think this is a good thing to do to people we love to surprise them on their birthdays?

* The hamburgers turned out as well as hamburgers probably can, but we ended up splitting a bun. Homemade bread certainly tastes much better than commercial buns, but no matter how flat one tries to get them, they turn out much too "poofy" for any sort of sandwich--sort of the height of a Big Mac but without the calories or accompanying heart disease.

* I finally packed away the garlic as it stores better in a "cool dark place" and visitors were beginning to wonder about us. At the rate we're using the garlic, I'm not so worried about it going bad before we use it all up. Or about vampires.

* No matter how charming I find Julia Child, I can't bring myself to use that amount of butter in ANYTHING. I'm sure she knew what she was doing, but was she getting kickbacks from the dairy industry or what?

* As we have now finished off a whole quart of the "mushy" batch of pickles, I'm not too worried about them. We prefer crunchy pickles, of course, but after 6 months of no pickles at all, even slightly mushy pickles are pretty good.

* An antacid snack before going out to dinner with friends is a REALLY good idea after 8 months of no processed foods.