Tomatoes for lunch

 Two heirloom tomatoes, one red and one orange.
Both sweet and full of flavor.

 Here are some Cape Gooseberries properly called Physalis.
I've never seen them here in the US, but they were more common in the UK markets. My daughter said the lady in booth selling them called them "pineapple tomatoes". And they do have a sweet flavor rather like pineapple.

 These black beauties are just the thing for my lunch today.
I wish they would last until Halloween. Wouldn't they be perfect?

Sliced with a little French salt - perfect.
When I included some fresh mozzarella, olive oil, and the hearty Swiss rye bread, who could ask for a better lunch.

Autumn Bounty

When my daughter brought me some things from the Farmer's Market, Saturday, I knew just what I wanted for dinner.

There was a blue Hubbard squash, one of my favorites. There were several varieties of tomatoes. (more on those in the next post)
she stopped at the Swiss bread booth and bought me a lovely loaf of whole grain and rye bread.
I prepare the squash in the simplest way. To save electricity, I microwave it a few minutes and finish in the toaster oven. I season it with french salted butter, and Torani Sugar Free Syrup, Pumpkin Pie Spice flavor. That flavor makes a great hot milk steamer, too.

Ready for the oven, and a perfect Autumn dinner.

After the rain

But with more to come...

Getting ready for Halloween

This little fellow is from my childhood

I finally felt "in the mood' for Halloween. I think the lovely cool weather and the leaves turning have started me thinking it would be fun to dig out a few things that remind me of the fun I used to have dressing up and playing out some fantasy. I remember my mother sewing costumes for me, once a pilgrim, once bunny, and my favorite, Scarlett O'Hara. I was 9 or 10 and had just seen the movie and was taken by the drapery dress.
Here is what I've done to my dining room:

October 17, 1964

It was a lovely cool crisp morning in October,  (unusual for Los Angeles) when I became the bride of Jack Warren. That was 48 years ago. Sometimes I it feels like yesterday. Then I begin to remember all that has happened since then and realize it really has been that long. I wish we could have grown old together, but that just wasn't in God's plan for us. I'm thankful for the 28 years we did have. Our love and our two beautiful daughters, are enough to last me for the rest of my life.

October 17, 1964

I do have this picture and more from our wedding tab at the top of the blog. It is nice to look at them and remember that wonderful day.

Pumpkin time again

On a lovely Autumn day not so long ago, we visited a farm near the farm of our dear friends, the Leos. There were so many pumpkins...

 

As far as the eye can see there were pumpkins.

 

There were monotone pumpkins

 

Show off

Some invited their more colorful friends for variety.

And these were just really flamboyant ! 

 There were large ones and small ones, traditional orange ones and some non-traditional ones,
 but in the end...

 

Polly and Big Red the Dog, picked the perfect ones to take home.

 And so we left the rest for others to discover and take home

Dinner for one

Living alone has made me re-think and adjust m style of cooking. I find that now having to cope with the "Boomer disease", Diabetes, I have even more things to consider when cooking. My garage sale buddy, Mary, and I were discussing this yesterday while scouting for the end-of-season garage sales. She had a large family and always shopped and cooked in large quantities. It is just herself and her husband that she cooks for, now. I, on the other hand have always had a small family. After my husband died I only had one young daughter at home. Now that she has moved away, it is only me that I have to please.
Her is an example of what I feed myself.

I sliced a courgette, added some Trader Joe dried tomatoes in olive oil, a little dried basil and salt.
I slipped it in my toaster oven to bake.

















While the vegetables baked, I boiled some corn pasta.

 

I love this corn pasta from Romania.

  It has the taste of polenta and has quite a low Glycemic Index. I have found that by watching the Glycemic Load I have great control of my blood sugar and have continue to maintain my weight more easily. If you haven't been aware of the nutrition facts concerning this important part of your diet, here is a good place to start learning. Self Nutrition Data

Dinner for one

Pumpkins on parade

I'm so clever...

I was not much of a handyman. I've ever built or repaired things. I was not even sure about changing a light bulb. But that was before I lost my husband almost 20 years ago. Since then I have become more brave, even tackling putting together my new bookcases.
I started with three flatpack boxes of bookcases. I spent the entire morning trying to get the first one to go together. I only had to take it apart once and put the sides right way round. The second and third only took an hour each to put together. With only one smashed finger and several damp hankies, I finally, got them up and installed. I now declare myself an expert!
I did discover a great trick for getting the screws to go into the pre-drilled holes. I got some bamboo skewers and poked them in while the whole thing was on the ground. That made the sides, top, and bottom stand up while I replaced each skewer with a proper screw. Yea me! I felt so clever.
So here is the project:

Bamboo skewers to hold it together temporarily

in place

and filled with books and decorated

The Itsy Bitsy Spooky Spider

This afternoon, I was visiting with my daughter in the living room when I noticed something odd about a little pumpkin I had placed on a silver candle stick. At first I thought it was something on my glasses, but when I looked again I realized it was a real spider web. It was so fine and delicate, it was almost a shame to clean it off. I didn't see a spider, must be too small to see. I loved the look, really Halloween-y, don't you think?