Mini pickles!

So, I stopped myself yesterday from buying a 50 pund bag of oats. Oats? Really? I'm still reading the food preservation book, and it did get me thinking. It has a lot to do with having food on hand for some sort of natural disaster where you can't go buy anything, or, if there's no power for extended periods of time, that you could still have food to eat that don't involve cooking. Hence, the oats, because, as I learned, oats are one of the only grains you don't have to cook first to eat. The things is, there's no point to buying and storing stuff unless you know you will eat it. I don't eat a whole lot of oatmeal now, (frankly, the texture of the stuff makes me gag, much to Marc's amusement) so I'd have to start eating more of it before I went out and bought mass quantities of it. I'm trying to strike a balance between practicality and all out survivalist wackiness.

I did make some more pickles the other night with those tiny mexican cucumbers. There was a bumper crop of them over the weekend, and I finally had enough to make 4 pint jars; I'm kind of excited to try them. I think they are technically melons, botanically speaking. I love them, they look like tiny watermelons. I had a thing for miniature foods this year.

It is supposed to be cold and rainy and crappy for the next few days. I told Marc if he had time today to pick all of the remaining basil in the garden and I'll make a big batch of pesto to freeze in cubes. Basil hates the cold, so this is probably it for the season. I do have a whole bunch of lettuce coming up now, but it should be fine. It's going to be cold, but I don't think it will freeze for awhile. All my garlic is up too. The garden lives on...

Marnie gave me a bunch of carrots out of her garden and I roasted them with some toasted sesame oil and salt and they were fantastico. It's really amazing how much better vegetables taste when you grow them yourself.

I had my ceramics class last night too; it was one of those nights where the alchemy is just right and I tried some new things and was very happy with the results. I made a bunch of test tiles with different colors of slip. The ideas were popping up left and right. I love it when that happens. Inspiration hits and I get some great ideas for what I want to make next.