Lost and Found

Yesterday we lost Mouse for about ten hours, and I would be lying if I didn't say it was some of the worst hours of my life. I couldn't even begin to imagine life without my little mischievous ragamuffin. Fortunately she found her way home around 11:30 last night, as I was sitting on the stairs outside our apartment, pondering whether I should sit up all night and wait for her.

Fortunately we have an abundance of pictures of her. Here are some of the shots we considered in making lost cat posters.

This is how she attempts to recreate the heat of Thailand.

Those eyes!

Not only is Mouse cute, but she's also very well read. 

Welcome back home, Mouse. And don't you ever do that again!


-Jessica, resident cat caregiver and failed door monitor

Delicious (Food Week Day 6)

Oh, oops, skipped day five. It's been a busy week. And today's a short post - just a delicious sandwich. Can't get better than fresh mozzarella, some basil, a little hummus, and a toasted pita. Oh, and a little balsamic sprinkled on top.

I really will tell you all about the peaches tomorrow, I swear!

August Flame (Food Week, Day 4)

Today I went from this . . . .

. . . . to this . . .

. . . . to this.

August Flame is the name of these peaches. I think it's appropriate. Aren't they gorgeous? As you know, I have a love affair with peaches, as I have proved a couple times before. Come back tomorrow to hear the full story of the latest installment. (Hmm, that seems like an oxymoron. The latest installment of the full story?)

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I'm trying something new. This is food week on the blog. Every day I'll post a photo of food and then either a story or a recipe. Want to join in? Join the flickr group and post your food photos!

Simple Heirloom Tomato Basil Sauce (Food Week, Day 3)

Have you ever seen yellow tomato sauce before?

Well, I spent all evening taking the tomatoes in the top picture and turning them into tomato sauce, and then jarring it up. That part was extremely satisfying, but because it was evening, the light was not superb, and I'm not really satisfied with either of these shots. Yes, I could have used some lighting equipment, but I was a bit lazy. Let's just leave it at that.

What I am satisfied with, however, is the sauce. WOW. I love heirloom tomato sauce. It has a flavor that you just wouldn't believe. Mmmmmm. I'm going to be having dreams all night.

Ingredients:
Heirloom tomatoes (I used striped Germans, mostly)
Fresh basil

Optional:
Olive oil, butter, salt

The recipe is simple. Take some heirloom tomatoes, cut them in half or into quarters, put them in a pot on low to medium heat. Cook them like this for a while at a simmer to reduce the amount of liquid involved. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching. When the consistency is something like a thin sauce, put the liquid through a food mill to remove the skins and some of the seeds. (Or you could just leave them in. I've tried it with and without skins, and I don't really mind them. But I got a food mill, so I used it.)

Then continue to reduce the amount of liquid in the sauce by keeping it at a low simmer. The sauce is going to spatter; that's expected. At this point I add some fresh basil to taste. (I personally like a lot of basil, but you may not.) Also, you might add some salt. But you're not going to need a lot, because if there's one thing this sauce isn't lacking, it's flavor.

Continue cooking down the sauce until it keeps its shape on a spoon, or there's very little liquid rising to the top. At this point you can add some olive oil or a little butter, but you really might not need to. It's so delicious. The only drawback is that the cooking time can be rather long, and you don't end up with a lot of sauce. I started with probably 12-15 pounds of tomatoes and I ended up with 4 12 ounce jars of sauce. But you also don't need a lot of sauce for a bowl of pasta - like I said, it has a lot of flavor. You really don't need any parmesan cheese to go with it, and trust me, usually I'm a parmesan fiend.

If you try this, I'd love to hear about it. Or if you have any other great tomato sauce recipes you'd like to share, please do.

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I'm trying something new. This is food week on the blog. Every day I'll post a photo of food and then either a story or a recipe. Want to join in? Join the flickr group and post your food photos! (Yay! I am now not the only one in the Flickr group. Please don't be shy and come post some photos of delicious food.)

Espresso Banana Bread - A Photo Essay (Food Week, Day 2)

(For the curious, I used this recipe, and added a shot of espresso, some cinnamon, and a cup of chopped walnuts. It was pretty good, but just a little too soft for me. I'd recommend 3 bananas instead of the 4 I used.)

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I'm trying something new. This is food week on the blog. Every day I'll post a photo of food and then either a story or a recipe. Want to join in? Join the flickr group and post your food photos! (Yay! I am now not the only one in the Flickr group. Please don't be shy and come post some photos of delicious food.)

New Challenge - Food Week on the Blog

I thought I had planned it all out perfectly. Isn't that the way these stories always start? I had bought some tomatoes, I was going to go pick them up in North Beach, then walk to meet Heather for coffee downtown at Blue Bottle. The timing was going to work out just right: it was about a 20 minute walk and I had just shy of half an hour. What I didn't factor in was that 24 pounds of tomatoes might slow me down just a hair.

Ummm, yeah. 24 pounds, you read that right. Which, in my delusion, I thought was no biggie. I lift weights sometimes, I'm ok with a heavy box or two. 24 pounds might be a little heavy after a while, but I'd just do it. I could handle it.

(So this is the point in the story where everyone asks why. Why 24 pounds? Why not one, or two pounds like normal people? And I have to admit, the question confuses me a bit, and I have to think about the answer. Why? Because tomatoes are awesome. Duh. You mean you wouldn't jump at the chance to have 24 pounds of them? Really? Because I would. Clearly.)

Anyway, I counted the blocks as I walked them. I knew there were about 9 shortish blocks to get back to Market St, and then 3 1/2 longer blocks on Market. The first five blocks weren't that bad. I found a comfortable position with the tomatoes, and we were fine. It got a little worse when I stupidly decided to put the bottom box on top because it might be easier to carry. Oops! It wasn't, it was harder. So I carried it like that for a few more blocks, and then switched back. By then I was a little warm and my arms were feeling it.  So I took a break for a minute or two, and then I picked up the tomatoes and kept walking.

After that it just got harder and harder. My arms were burning, I started to sweat a bit. (Or is it glow? Ladies glow, right? Well, I was glowing all over.) I started looking all over for ledges to set the boxes down on, just for a moment. Just to catch my breath. But there were no ledges, and it was downtown San Francisco on a Saturday morning. Men pushing strollers blithely walked in front of me, seemingly in no hurry to reach their destination. Possibly homeless or perhaps just hygiene deficient folks walked an unpredictable line. Tourists chattered in groups, looking at each other and nothing else, pausing unpredictably to the joy of those behind them. And I just wanted to put these tomatoes down.

I think the crowning moment was when the two boxes of tomatoes snagged a button on my vest between them. There wasn't really anything I could do at the moment, I just held them carefully, trying not to rip the button off until I could set the boxes down on something. I walked, and my arms threatened mutiny. But I run a tight ship, and so I kept on going.

Finally, about 30 feet from my final destination there was a ledge. So I stopped momentarily, laid down my burden carefully, trying not to dislodge the trapped button. I thought I had succeeded, but I looked down, and there was no button. Just some thread where it had been. And try as I might, I couldn't find the button anywhere. I retraced my steps, sans tomatoes, not caring if anyone cared to pilfer them. But no button was found.

Finally I gave up. I tried to wipe a bit of sweat off my face and smooth my hair a bit. I attempted to rearrange my vest so the missing button didn't call so much attention to itself, and so I made my way to meet Heather, 15 minutes late, all red, with 24 pounds of tomatoes and a button gone. I'm sure she was thrilled to see me. To her credit, we had a great time anyway, and she acted like buying so many tomatoes was totally normal. And I gave her some, to try to make up for it.

So, that's what I did on Saturday morning. What about you?

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I'm trying something new. This is food week on the blog. Every day I'll post a photo of food and then either a story or a recipe. Want to join in? Join the flickr group and post your food photos!