[Mike Nolan]

Tonight we had some chili from the freezer, a warm dinner on a cold evening,

[Mike Nolan]

Last night's semolina bread. I left the oil out of the dough by mistake, and that affected how much it rose, so it is a bit more dense than usual, but still tastes pretty good.

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[Mike Nolan]

I haven't grown brandywine tomatoes for several years. IMHO, they need HOT weather to be flavorful, so you need to get them started as soon as possible so they can set fruit before the hot weather arrives, because they won't set much fruit during the hot part of the summer. In August they're pretty good, but after early September, they're more bland and other varieties are better for after the cooler weather sets in.

Also, they crack a lot and you wind up cutting the shoulders off. I think they're harder to peel, too.

[Mike Nolan]

Our garden got zapped last night, everything is all limp now.

I've got the Aerogarden cleaned up and just about ready to plant.

I'm waiting to find out what the frizzy lettuce that my wife brought home from the hydroponics lab last week is, I think I might try growing some of that, along with some dwarf snow peas, in one side of the Aerogarden. (It apparently isn't frisee/endive, and it doesn't appear to be bitter like most of the chicory family is.)

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[Mike Nolan]

As my wife points out, if you make the cookies smaller you can eat more individual cookies without eating a greater total amount of cookies.

But that only works if you can stop eating at some point.

I've long thought the serving information on Girl Scout Thin Mints cookies is wrong. A serving is one stack of cookies, isn't it??

[Mike Nolan]

I usually make BLJ's molasses cookies smaller, with a #60 scoop. I'd use a #70 if I had one. (I think I have #40, #60 and #100, but not #70 or #80.)

[Mike Nolan]

Great news on the windows. We had tacos tonight. I put the cover on the new grill and turned the gas off at the shutoff valve, but I may take the cover off on a warm day to clean up the grill some more before winter.

[Mike Nolan]

I'm making the semolina bread today.

[Mike Nolan]

I haven't made Big Lake Judy's molasses cookie recipe (which also has ginger in it) in a long time, but they're really good.

See https://mynebraskakitchen.com/wordpress/forums/topic/biglakejudys-molasses-cookies/

I especially like the fact that they're made with just whole wheat flour.

[Mike Nolan]

Your salmon looks great, I like salmon, Diane does not. (Too much overcooked canned salmon as a kid, we think.)

We had tuna melts with some of the tomatoes from the garden tonight.

[Mike Nolan]

The lows for the next 4 days here are:

Saturday 43
Sunday 29
Monday 19
Tuesday 20

I think we'll get our killer frost soon.

I've been known to pull up the plants in their cages and stick them in the garage, if there was space (which there usually isn't, garages are junk magnets.) I've also pulled all the green fruit and spread it out in boxes in the garage to ripen. We had tomatoes on Christmas once that way. But they're nowhere as flavorful as sun-ripened ones, and possibly not even as good as the ones in the stores these days, so I haven't been doing it lately and don't plan to do it this year.

They work for chili, though, and if enough of them ripened at the same time they'd probably make OK tomato juice, but usually they ripen over several weeks, not enough at any one time to process.

[Mike Nolan]

I made a big batch of piperade (sweet peppers, onions and tomatoes) today, then used a little of it with some mozzarella cheese to make some pizza bread for me for supper. I think Diane is going to have some soup, she was worried it might be too late in the day for the piperade.

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[Mike Nolan]

We're now showing a projected low of 25 Monday night. Brrrr!

I've got a few tomatoes ripening, not sure I'll get enough by Monday to make juice, though.

[Mike Nolan]

We had eggs for supper, and I also had a small salad.

[Mike Nolan]

Of the tomatoes I've grown regularly, First Lady (sometimes sold as First Lady II) is still my favorite. There's a First Ladies that isn't the same tomato, but seems similar. I had both this year, neither did especially well, though I think that was just how the season played out. I will probably do both again next year, if I can find First Lady seed, usually Reimer Seeds has it.

My Fourth of July plants were, once again, the most prolific tomatoes I had, but they only get about the size of ping pong balls or smaller. They make good tomato juice, though.

Having a tomato mill helps a lot, I can process 20 pounds of tomatoes in 60-90 minutes, including setup and cleanup. I do blanche them in boiling water for several minutes, that's supposed to help keep the juice from separating by deactivating an enzyme, but it doesn't always work.

For large tomatoes, I like Italian Heirloom and Amish Paste, both are determinates and are late ripeners and tend to ripen at the same time.

I've given up on Mortgage Lifter and Brandywine, they seem to shut down blooms faster in hot weather and crack a lot. My wife still likes Rutgers, but they weren't that productive this year, and the Celebrity were kind of a mixed bag.

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