Believe it or not, it is tomato juice! From three different types of tomatoes. Yellow tomatoes make the most delicious juice you could ever imagine. I could drink it by the gallon. And tomato juice, it turns out, is one of those unexpectedly pleasant byproducts of making large quantities of tomato sauce. Fresh tomato juice is like a whole other species of juice than the canned stuff. Jack still prefers the whole tomato, probably because his enjoys the sweet stickiness oozing down his chin and getting seeds stuck in his hair and up his nose and juice takes all the fun out of it. But I think a little iced virgin bloody mary (or "golden mary", as we decided it should be called when made with yellow tomato juice) is my new favorite summer drink.
It is summer... finally! After three months of crisp 60 degree weather, a real summer has finally come in the end of September. And what better way to spend the hottest day of the year than over a hot stove, with boiling, bubbling sauces and chutneys and the canner going non-stop? That was maybe not the best planning, but now whenever we crack open a jar of spaghetti sauce it will just taste that much more like summer to me. It was a big day full of chopping and dicing and stewing and ladling and womenly conversation and here is what we have to show for it:
(That is everything but the chutney, which was still in the canner by the time everyone gave up and went home.) Jack gets to be in the picture because he was truly a part of the day, not getting in the way at all, playing unbelievably cooperatively by himself, and coming into the kitchen periodically to give us a little comedic relief or share some of his new dance steps or take someone by the hand back with him to show them something novel. Everyone took turns hanging out with Jack, and I can't describe how wonderful it is to have five moms around. You can get so much done!
Hopefully Jack will be enjoying his tastes of summer for many more months to come. Although now that it's over, I wish we'd made more.
Since Saturday was a work day, Sunday was a play day, and luckily there was a big festival going on right outside Jack's door. Two weekends in a row he's gotten to run around in the street, unencumbered by holding mommy or daddy's hand, this week on an even bigger street than last. I hope he doesn't get the wrong idea. I'm sure the streets look different enough when there are people walking and eating and dancing in them than when there's cars zipping by, though. Jack had a blast, and I know I already posted this one on twitter, but I can't resist.
There were a lot of bands. He did a lot of dancing.
3 comments:
Isn't it annoying how much work canning is? You look amazing in that picture - like a glamor mom!
Fantastic work ! You must have had a lot more sun up there than we did here in sunny So California ! Nothing ripened very well, lots fog here.
You'll enjoy tomatoes all winter long !
That looks like some yummy juice. I canned some, but did lots of dried tomatoes this year. I think of that song by Ann Zimmerman about "taste a little of the summer -- grandma put it all in jars". It's one of my favorites, especially this time of year.
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