Hello everyone. It's time for the Fall Equinox, so I'm looking back at Summer, and ahead to Fall and Winter. I'm actually fairly happy with how things have gone, although there certainly are aspect in my life that could stand serious improvement. Still, we had a pretty good Summer, not too horribly hot until those last days of the State Fair, and our Autumn is looking to be wonderfully colorful. I'll be driving around on Wednesday taking photos if the day is clear. If not, than hopefully Friday will be a clear one.
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My pepper harvest from Sept 22nd (there are a few cherry tomatoes in there too. Look at the size of those Jalapenos! LOL |
I harvested the three largest jalapeno peppers yesterday, and all of the red, orange and true yellow Tabasco peppers. I still have quite a lot of peppers on that plant, and I'll let them ripen until frost, when I'll pull them and dry them. I sliced the jalapeno peppers into rings, and pulled the stems from the tabascos, put them into the dehydrator for a 12 hour cook at 125, which ended around 3:00 this morning. I checked on them about 4:30 am, pulled the dried jalapenos out of there, and reset the dehydrator for another 12 hours on 125 to (hopefully) finish out the tabascos. I guess it's time for me to find a good food grinder if I can't use my mini food processor, because I want these to be powdered.
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The Jalapenos cut up and ready for my dehydrator. They don't look as large now, to be sure, but they usually dry up beautifully and I'm really looking forward to grinding them up and using them in my chili and stews over the winter. |
Of course, me being a klutz (and somewhat stupid sometimes), I forgot to wash my hands after cutting up the peppers, and I rubbed my nose. OUCH! It took more than an hour for the irritation to calm down. Time and Vaseline did the trick, and hopefully I won't be that stupid again. *sigh* I know better, my brain was six steps ahead and not paying attention to what I was doing.
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My Tabasco peppers don't look quite as impressive, but they pack a punch. They're super spicy and wonderful. When I checked after 12 hours, these guys were only half done, so there's still in the dehydrator for another 12 hours. I'll check them when I get home from work tonight, and maybe they'll need more dehydration before they're ready to be put into my jar. It's hard to say. It would be faster if I cut them open, but I really didn't want to be bothered, truth be told. |
I also made my sheet pan fajitas yesterday, and that recipe is definitely a winner for me. It's so damned easy and tastes fantastic. I'm finally starting to use up some of the more unusual spices in my cabinet, and that also makes me quite pleased. So I'm set for meals for a while. I have the fajitas, and I still have two portions of tomato and pepper soup from Wednesday. I think DH might grill steaks tomorrow (if it's not raining). If it is raining, I'll use the broiler in the oven. Either way, we're having steak for dinner tomorrow night.
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I'm NOT buying any slabs tomorrow, I quite literally have no more room for any rough stone. I really need to get working on making pretty things with the stones that I have, and I have some scrumptious stone in my drawer. |
And tomorrow is also the day we'll go to the Gem and Mineral Show, which is always a treat. We'll skip Renaissance Fest this weekend (that will make two days that we skipped this year, but we're still fine on actual price per day for our season tickets). We'll relax, we'll look at pretty rocks, and we'll enjoy a lazy Sunday. Next weekend is the final weekend of Fest, and we'll definitely be there for that. We never miss an opening or a closing weekend. That's important - LOL.
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MN Renaissance Festival is a bit magical itself - and I do love going there. But I'm just as happy to not spend all day there too, especially when it gets colder. Over the years, we've stopped going from opening to closing, and have just relaxed into walking the circuit, catching up with friends who own or work for businesses there, and enjoying the outdoors for a few hours, before calling it an early day and returning home for drinks on the patio. I guess we're getting older - LOL. |
So I hope all of you, my readers, have a wonderful weekend and I plan on being back again with you on Monday. Whatever you're doing on this First Day of Autumn, make it count. Do something for a friend, help a child or an elder, rescue a puppy, whatever - do something positive in your little corner of the world. We all need positives in our lives, and good things radiate outward to affect others in a good way as well. Slava Ukraini.
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