Monday, September 05, 2011

Happy Labour Day!

Hey everyone! Hope you are enjoying the Labour Day holiday if you have it off! Both Brad and I do and it's nice to have a long weekend, though I did have to work for about an hour and a half this morning to finish up a job that I have been working on. It's not so bad when you work at home, though - just turn the computer on, connect, do what has to be done, and then shut down.

We've gotten a fair amount of things done around the house this weekend. For one, we move a cord of wood that was dumped into our driveway into the garage. Thank God this year, we decided to get only one cord (we ordered 2 last year). It all just fit into the garage, adding to the wood that we still have left over from last year. I actually went for a swim yesterday as well. I really have to get back into swimming and biking on a REGULAR basis!

My sister from Saudi and her husband are in NYC this week. They fly back to Halifax later this week (hopefully hurricane Katia won't disrupt their travel plans!), and then back to Saudi Arabia on the weekend.

As we speak (so to speak), I'm making a batch of tomato chutney, which is the very definition of savoury, and Brad is making peach preserves. Don't know what we'll have for supper, but we'll figure something out.

Here's the very easy recipe for Spicy Tomato Chutney, which is from the September 1997 issue of Gourmet magazine. It's great in a sandwich or used as a condiment at the table, like a pickle.

Spicy Tomato Chutney:

1 lb. vine-ripened tomatoes
1 red bell pepper
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
2/4 cup cider vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons mustard seeds (the yellow ones)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
3/4 cup chopped green onions (scallions)

Chop tomato and bell pepper. In a medium saucepan, bring vinegar to a boil with sugar, salt, mustard seeds, black pepper, and red pepper flakes, stirring occasionally. Stir in tomatoes, red pepper and green onions. Simmer mixture, uncovered, stirring occasionally (stir more frequently toward end cof cooking), about 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until thickened and reduced to about one and a half cups. Cool chutney completely. Enjoy!

I'll leave you with a few more pics from Brad's hike...

Half-way point!


Brad's constant companion, Jedi. He's coming to visit us after he finishes the Trail later this month. I can't wait to meet him and feed him some good food!


A pastoral scene.


Holy crap, that's a long ways down!


Clouds and mountains.