HAPPY LABOR DAY!
Or LABOUR Day if you live in Canada!! Good grief ... here it is September 1st already. What happened to the summer? It seems like it was about three weeks long. I guess around here the heat is going to hang on however, since our overnight low is STILL in the 70's. Sadly, that means it's SCHOOL BUS time. You all know what that means ... traffic.
It started out nice enough ... with you-know-who sleeping on the couch.
Of course I was met at the door at 4:30 am by Kitters, who now follows our every move. I don't think she will win any beauty contests. Look at the color change since I began brushing her. I've never seen that much hair come off a cat ... I assume it's because she's probably never been brushed before. She instantly starts purring every time I grab the brush. I imagine it feels pretty good to get all that hot hair off her body.
Though I probably prefer to stay home on holidays in my old age, I surprised myself by saying yes to a barbecue invitation. The Lodge Kitchen Staff were invited over for a swim. I thought she meant the Bingo Kitchen Staff. Nope .... this sweet lady invited the dishwashers and clean-up crew over for a day of fun, food and swimming. They had a blast, even if there wasn't much room for actual swimming!
I on the other hand, sat at the table where it was hotter than ... well you know. Oh my great Aunt Mae (I actually DID have a Great Aunt Mae) ... it was so hot and humid it was hard to sit there, even with three big fans blowing cigarette smoke our direction. I finally had to move.
I arrived at 11:30, thinking the bbq would be at noon. Nope ... at 1:30, now cooked to well done myself, I asked when the steaks were going on. I know ... rude ... but the heat was just too much. Oh but wait ... first we had some weird sausages from the grill, wrapped in tortillas. That was a new one, and though I'm not fond of sausage, they were really quite tasty.
I SO wanted to jump in the pool, but as you can see, there was no shade anywhere. I didn't want to end up like this steak. Speaking of this steak ... at 2:00, they finally put them on the grill. This is what's left of a 10 ounce flat-iron piece of goodness.
Oh my gosh ... where have you been all my life? Cooked to perfect rareness, this steak has no fat, no gristle and was tender as could be. It was SOOO GOOD!! They come from the supplier the lodge buys from, individually wrapped and frozen. I'm buying a box of these babies immediately!!!
By the time the meat was done, it was just too hot for us old folks. We went inside to the air conditioned kitchen table. It took another 45 minutes to cool off while we ate TERRIBLE store bought potato salad from a plastic container. It was okay .... the steak made up for it!!
In no time two of us old folks were headed out the door. At 3:30, it was just too hot to hang out. Back home I made a stop at the fridge door, trying to climb inside. I downed two bottles of water, then went outside to check on the tomatoes.
I was getting way too antsy at the tomato ripening process, so I googled it. THIS IS A TEST. It said that ethylene gas is what ripens tomatoes. They are picked in the field when green and hard as a rock, so when transported, they don't get bruised. Stuffed in a warehouse, they are then smothered in ethylene gas and the tomatoes turn red. Not exactly tasty, but RED.
It also stated that once tomatoes get 50% ripe (like these) that the plant actually seals them off and they get no more nutrients. How it does that, I've no idea. From there, the tomato produces its own gas and turns red. SO ... there's no reason to leave them on the vine. They swear there's no taste difference.
SO ... here's the experiment. I found these on the vines and decided to see if they were right. I've no idea how long this is going to take, but it's not like I have any place to go at the moment. I'll let you know how it turns out.
I had a plan for today, but the Bakery is closed ... Hobby Lobby is closed ... the Mexican Carniceria is closed ... the fabric store is closed ... you get the picture. So I guess the day will be spent staring at the tomatoes, waiting for them to ripen.
Happy Labor Day!!!!!
