Good GOD…that storm last night was incredible. The lightning seemed like strobe lights and hail and rain and thunder. We have yet to go downstairs and check our basement. Crossed fingers. Now, on to my summer tomato obsession and other notes.
1. Dinner the other night: gluten free spaghetti with fresh tomatoes and basil. We (meaning Ernie) chopped the tomatoes roughly and salted them and we let them sit for about an hour. Then I put the chunks of tomato in the food processor (and we drank all the gorgeous juices left behind) with a handful of basil and a few glugs of olive oil. Added a little black pepper, mixed in some parmesan and sprinkled the rest on top. Late summer at its finest. Well, Heather and Steve’s tomatoes at their finest.
I suppose a dash of red pepper flakes and lemon juice might be nice, but honestly it was perfect as is.
2. Remember how Hattie is supposed to be MY cat? This is the noise she now makes when Ernie walks in the room. Sigh.
3. Below are all the train horns that folks brought out to the Monticello Railway Museum’s Railroad Days.
Below is Leo’s train horn. If I’m not mistaken his was the only completely cast iron horn which makes it a bit older…probably 1940’s. A couple of folk there said they think it may be out of Pennsylvania due to the paint color. It was a good train day.
4. The girl made a rare trip upstairs, squawking all the way. I told I knew she could jump up on the bed just fine…I mean I’ve seen her race up and jump on the jukebox, run to the mantel and knock an antique toy train off (sigh). However, I relented and lifted her up and she curled up in the window near me side of the bed. She’s still my girl.
We were not feeling terribly ambitious with our cooking last night. We ended up with a BLT salad of sorts. Sadly, we didn’t have nearly as many salad greens as I thought but it was too late to alter course. We put the greens we did have on the plate and then topped them with tomatoes. I cut some bacon up into pieces and cooked it, setting it aside to drain. Then I took some of the bacon grease and made a vinaigrette with it (added a bit of olive oil, apple cider vinegar, mustard and salt…oh, and a tiny bit of honey. We drizzled that over the tomatoes and greens and then sprinkled the bacon on top, as well as some croutons I made out of my GF bread and crisped up in the bacon pan. It was supposed to have fresh basil, but when Ernie came in from the porch with the basil, it looked like this:
Onward.