We haven’t seen the big 3 or 4 pounder yet, but we have gotten some big. freakin’. tomatoes.

A one pound seven ounce Ele (or Elie or Ely). It’s a beautiful yellow orange tomato. Few seeds and a nice semi-sweet flavor.

The big Purple Cherokee. One pound five. I like the smaller ones better, it seems to me they have a richer flavor.

Making tomato puree. Psychedelic!!!

Dennis smoked a pork shoulder and a kielbasa which turned out just delicious.

After the pork came out of the smoker, we sliced some of our eggplant and then vacuum packed them and popped them in the freezer.

Oh, I also made spiced blueberry jam.

I think I might have slept at some point too……….

Technorati Tags: eggplant, Ele, heirloom, purple cherokee, smoker, smoking, tomato, tomato puree, tomatoes

Unfortunately, I forgot to add the Sitemeter code to the footer, so I have no idea who’s been visiting. Please take a moment to say hello in the comments section. Sometimes, I wonder if anyone is really reading us.

Also, we spent all last weekend harvesting and canning & dehydrating the corn and tomatoes from the garden. We have quite a few eggplant to deal with yet and more tomatoes are coming, so next weekend will probably be a food processing couple of days too.

Here are a couple of pictures of some of the tomatoes we pulled out of the overgrown rainforest that is our garden:

Mortgage Lifter, Golden Jubilee, Northern Lights, Green Zebra, Old Ivory Egg. Purple Cherokee, Amish Paste

Technorati Tags: amish paste, canning, dehydrating, gold jubilee, green zebra, harvesting, Heirloom tomatoes, mortgage lifter, northern lights, old ivory egg, purple cherokee, tomatoes

On Friday we went to a local festival.  The entire village has individual garage sales and a massive flea market too.  Of course,  sausages, deep fried onions, elephant ears, local sweet corn and fresh lemonade are callling to you the entire time.  We call this “fair food”.

We picked up a couple of nice, old Singer sewing machines, a model 15 and a model 27.  I’ll post those photos after I clean them up a bit.  I also picked up a super cool vintage bun cutter - which I intend to try out soon.  Dennis got a great deal on a railroad lantern and I picked up a 1930-ish cookbook.

On Saturday, we decided to take a little road trip to Michigan and stopped at an antique store.   We saw this:

Pullman Revolving Seat Bed Davenport

We’d been looking for this type of sofa for a while.  We found a loveseat that we purchased from a couple near Cleveland.  Unfortunately, the pull-out bed had been removed.  Still, it’s beautiful and looks great.

So we happened upon this full-size sofa for a really good price.  Again, the bed frame had been removed.  (Dang it!)  It’s beautiful and in great shape.  It needs to be reupholstered (the brown burlap isn’t working for me) but it’s really in great structural shape and the quartersawn oak is lovely.

Here’s my problem.  The seat and back of the sofa are wider than the standard 54″ upholstery width.  Directional fabric is based on that width so I can’t really turn it 90 degrees and use it that way.  I’m not sure that I want to seam it (either down the middle or in two sections), but I don’t really want a solid color either.  Anyy suggestions?  I’ve never upholstered anything this large before.  It’s straight pieces, so it shouldn’t be difficult — it’s just the fabric width that’s tripping me up.

Advice, please!

Technorati Tags: Antiques, couch, davenport, Pullman Revolviing Seat Bed Davenport, sofa

I’ve started removing 50 year old paint from the window sills and door frames in the kitchen recently, and have discovered the required tools for the job:

The Citristrip stripper is foamy enough to stick pretty well on a vertical surface, works fast, and leaves a dandy orange aroma in the kitchen.

Although I am not a big fan of the dentist, I am a huge fan of these dental-style picks that get that pesky paint out of the nooks and crannies - as well as between the various finish pieces of the door and window frames.

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Technorati Tags: American Four Square, Citristrip, Renovations

Here are a few photos of the amazing canines.

Dennis and I talked about how great the dogs were and how much we thought Maverick could do that. And then we remembered this:

So, perhaps, Maverick is more of an Ultimate Napping Dog.

Technorati Tags: dog, flying, sport, Ultimate Air Dog

We’ve never grown heirloom tomatoes before, so we didn’t really know what to expect. We’ve had other tomato plants before, so we figured it would be about the same….

I think we’ve misjudged this.

Here are a few photos of the heirloom tomato jungle currently growing in our yard:

It’s only just July. These plants are fully four feet tall, crawling outside the cages and growing into each other. We planted them the minimum distance suggested. We should have doubled or tripled that.

So what should we do? Should we prune some of the stems/branches? Growing this closely together, will the developing tomatoes get enough sun to ripen? I’m totally dumb-founded how out of control these plants are.

Is this typical of heirloom tomatoes? They are growing out of their cages running along the ground and then turning upward toward the sun. It’s hard to get between the rows, let alone the plants. Forget about weeding and who knows how difficult harvesting may prove.

Advice, please!!

Technorati Tags: gardening, Heirloom tomatoes, vegetable garden, vegetables

Unless he becomes a professional Wii player and earns enough that I can hire the job out, I don’t know if the kitchen will ever get done.

By the way, if anyone knows where I can get a Wii Fit that isn’t double the regular price, please let me know. They are non-existent here.

Technorati Tags: Wii, Wii Fit

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Dennis called his buddy Rob (who has helped us move the old Tappan upstairs, helped hang the upper butler’s pantry cupboards and more) and up the Grand came and back down the Tappan went. Of course, it was the hottest, stickiest day we’ve had in a while. Just perfect for moving big heavy appliances.

I still haven’t found replacement handles for it yet. But the replacements function well and aren’t too flashy.

I thought I’d miss the Tappan being up here, but really, this is so much nicer. It fits the fridge better and even though there’s only a few inches clearance, it seems to open up the room.

It still needs some sprucing up, but it’s in great shape for a 70+ year old appliance.

The Grand stove manufactured in Cleveland, Ohio next to the G.E. monitor top.

If anyone knows where I can find vintage or reproduction Bakelite handles, please let me know.

I need to find two of these ivory Bakelite handles.

Technorati Tags: American Four Square, Bakelite, GE Monitor top, Grand Stove, Monitor Top, oven, refrigerator, stove, Vintage appliances