Bread Makes The Meal

So we went to the community garden last night and I have to say it was as bad as I had imagined it. Here's what we saw walking in: Things hadn't got knocked over or pushed about so much as they had been stripped of leaves. There are a few leaves left on the tomato plant, but they're mostly gone: We may be able to salvage it, though; I'll take a look. The pepper plants actually came off virtually unharmed; we got our first pepper of the season. It looks, smells, and feels wonderful! Is there a way to use bell pepper in bread? That would be a great way to combine the two interests of mine. I'll be back tomorrow with pictures of bread with our slow-cooker barbecued ribs. God speed, and remember: All sorrows are less with bread .

I must say, things are looking decent overall, but not as good as I would have wanted. The pumpkins are looking pretty scraggly and bedraggled overall; I wonder if I didn't get overenthusiastic in trimming things up last time? The one (taller) tomato plant seems to be doing reasonably well: The other one seems to have fallen over again, despite efforts to tie it up. I'm definitely not getting that variety again next year. Our peppers are doing really quite well (even the one that looks a bit droopy). That's the droopy one. The peppers on the other one aren't quite ripe yet, but there are more of them. And the strawberry plant still has no strawberries (even though the blurb said that it can produce fruit through late September); but it's got some new growth sprouting round the edges. With however much of Irene that affects us over the weekend, it's probably going to be rather rainy through the weekend. (Maybe I ...

I haven't made bread for ages , it seems like. At least partly because the Milk and Water Bread recipe makes two loaves. Well, it looks like two loaves is too much for us to get through, at least recently. I checked our second loaf and it was all moldy. Oh come on, you didn't really want a picture of that, did you? :-) So anyway, no bread, no sandwich. I brought leftover pizza for lunch. Of course, pizza dough is also a type of bread (though I don't think I'd call pizza a "sandwich"). But since I didn't make it or bake this pizza, it doesn't count. What do you think? Is pizza a sandwich? We've occasionally made our own pizza, but not our own dough—yet. If we do, I can do an article on that. Not this week, maybe next, after we've had a few other things as well. And I'm going to the garden this evening; the weather's supposed to be great and I'm expecting great things, all of which I will share with you tomorrow. ...

Well, not any more. But it's been raining pretty heavily for the last several days, and there's still a chance of showers and thunderstorms today and tomorrow. But I'm going to try and get into the garden tonight. I haven't been there for quite a while—that's why I haven't shown any pictures. I fully expect that the pumpkin vines will have grown across our plot and at least half the neighboring one. I may just go over with a scissors so I can trim it up there and then. As soon as we get our tomatoes in, I'll make some bread especially for them and run a Sandwich Day with BLTs or maybe tuna salad. I'm not sure how to do pumpkins in a sandwich. In the bread, yes (if it's a quick bread); but not in the sandwich itself. Thoughts? I'm making bread either this evening or tomorrow, depending on when I can get to the garden. Maybe I'll buy some rye flour on the way home and make rye bread. God speed, and remember, All sorrows are le...

When I started this blog, it was going to be all about bread. But our garden is doing so well (and isn't the food you grow or make for yourself great in any form?). We got a really late start planting in the community garden; we had to use starter plants rather than seeds. So what we have are two green pepper bushes, two tomato plants, a strawberry, and six pumpkins (that someone else donated, actually). Not much, it seemed, for a ten by ten plot, especially when one of the pumpkin plants died in the heat. That's what I thought until I walked into the garden last night: The pumpkins are trying to take over! I really hope we have enough room; even the two biggest ones could probably occupy the plot all by themselves; and we have three more, plus the rest of the veggies (and the strawberry hanging out in the middle). The pepper and the tomatoes are doing well. The one tomato plant isn't very tall, but I think I counted thirteen tomatoes on it, which is respectable. The...

So hot I didn't do Anything last night. Well, that's not quite true. I watered the garden. Several months ago, a group of us petitioned our condo/townhome association to create a space that we could use for a garden. It went through, we got our 10' x 10' space (and a quite late start in planting, I must admit), and we're now watching things grow! Granted, not all of them would be directly incorporated in bread, but—heck with it. They're all good food, right? Strawberry muffins, anyone? We have a recipe! (I know; it's late for strawberries. Even though these are advertised to bear fruit all year. But we can wait until next spring—it's worth it for strawberries.) The peppers will end up in pasta sauce and probably on pizza. Pumpkin pie is a possibility; pumpkin bread with apple or peach butter (Yum!) is more likely. We have three thriving pumpkin vines; I hope that wasn't too many :-) Thirteen tomatoes so far on the one plant, and six on the...