We did our Monday run down to Gentile’s after the gym, this morning… It was sunshine and blue skies – and just a tad chilly. Fast-forward 6 hours and it’s gray, cloudy, and warmer. Go figure.

We overbought on the berries, a bit, so Victor made fruit salad and then made a berry sauce/jam with the rest of them, since they really weren’t going to last too long in the ‘fridge. I took some of the jam and made a salad dressing…

I used about a third of a cup of the sauce, added white balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and a chopped hot pepper I had fried, earlier. The beef was dry-rubbed with smoked paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper, and then grilled.

Fried hot peppers are a staple in our house and we fry our homegrows and freeze them – and when they’re gone, buy ’em until the next crop comes in… We have a dozen pepper plants in the garden this year – four of them for hot sauce and the other 8 for eating, cooking, and frying. I really like making hot sauce and have a few new peppers to play with – including a habanero. We have six tomato plants in the ground, right now, and another eight or so that will go in in a few weeks. And added a cucumber, today.

I’m really getting psyched about the garden – it’s really fun having the energy to actually work out there and I can’t wait until we can harvest dinner! I’m going to add a hanging strawberry plant since strawberries are the one thing the critters have really taken a fancy to. And we’ll see about adding a few more things as the season progresses. One thing we have learned is not to plant everything at the same time – we can’t eat it that fast!

We’re expecting more rain, tonight… we won’t have to worry about watering.

Life is good.