Life was in color then too

Something caught my eye today, and I'm not sure why. I read several blogs regularly, one of them being the undeniably geeky Gizmodo. Today they posted a video from Kodak showing some of the earliest color movies ever made. 1922. A good 17 years before the double-decker blockbuster year of 1939 when Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz came out. They weren't even the first in-color films to be released, just the ones everyone thinks of.

This movie compilation from Kodak is strangely moving, seeing images in color that I've always associated with black & white. It also strikes me that modeling hasn't changed much; perhaps that's more a statement on human nature than anything else. Enjoy :-)

Where's the Box??

It's been a few weeks since I last posted a box update - oops!. Late Summer veg production is in full swing, and I've been working to preserve as much as possible. This week's box is much like the last couple, so without further preamble:

This week's box contains: watermelon (an orange one!), sweet corn (8 ears), edamame soybeans, slicing tomatoes, bell peppers, Spanish onions, pickling cukes, basil, Romano beans, and heirloom tomatoes.

I don't have a pretty picture since the lighting was bad - we had storms in the area Friday afternoon, and I'm still totally reliant on natural sunlight for pictures. I have flash available, but the color is ug-ly! And I've not sprung for the light shed yet.... so....

Rather than share mediocre images, here are a couple shots of the pickling madness that's consumed the kitchen.

Hot pots on the stove!

Here's the big blue canner, the stock pot with pickling syrup, and a small saucepan with rings & lids behind. Notice I've learned you can use the handle of the stock pot as a handy spoon rest ;-)

Vinegar, sugar, jars.

I discovered last year the difference between apple cider vinegar and apple cider flavored vinegar (the flavored stuff is really bitter). Being fairly thrifty, I understand wanting to save on the fancy stuff, but when the real thing made from apple cider is only $1.79/gallon.... what would be the point of using anything else.

Bread & butter pickles ready to shelve.

So far we've been through 25lbs of cukes to make bread & butter pickles (slices and spears), sweet cucumber pickle relish, and garlic-dill cucumber pickle spears. Next came pickled beets, pickled watermelon rind, and cranberry-red onion relish. I've never had pickled watermelon rind before, but it sounds interesting; more on that later. With so much produce available right now, I have plans (reckless hopes?) to put up more, much more.

What's in the Box? CSA Week12

Lots of goodies in the box this week. The only issue to get through may be the muskmelons; geekMan is not a fan, leaving me to eat it all. Recently my lunches have been melon and cheese; almost better than grapes and cheese. The new Emeril cookbook has a recipe for pasta sauce made from melon. I just may be able to sneak some past geekMan.

This week's box contains: sweet corn (6 ears), muskmelons (2), green leaf lettuce, green bell peppers (2), red bell pepper (1), Walla Walla onions (4), summer squash (1), garlic (1), cucumber (1), tomatoes (pint of cherry maters), eggplant (1), broccoli (other options were celery and red frying peppers).

It's hard to see from the pic, but the cucumber is really big. Once seeded, it should be great for some tzatziki sauce. Beth at the farm also mentioned that the garlic is fresh - not dried as usually found. She said to eat it up since it won't keep well. I decided baba ghanoush would be a tasty way to use up the garlic and eggplant. At the moment, the house smells of roasting garlic and, well, eggplant. Should be tasty when done.

Since I'm writing this on Sunday, I should point out that the tomatoes are already gone; mixed into a caprese of sorts with slices of small fresh mozzarella balls, fresh basil, olive oil and S&P. That and sweet corn are the tastes of summer.