Hot and Humid (for California anyway)

The warm, dry weather and endless blue sky have left.  There is a monsoon somewhere nearby so we have hot, humid, cloudy weather.  Ugh.  Temperatures reached the low 90s with 40% humidity. That may not seem like much to some of my followers, but here in Southern California we are used to more like 10% humidity -- think hot and dry, bleaching bones in the desert.

I decided to stay in the house and work in the kitchen.  I started some pickles.  I'm using a fermentation method rather than vinegar and pressure canning.  I got a recipe with my CSA basket (which included pickling cukes) and noticed a few other bloggers doing the same.  I'll let you know how it works out.

I baked a nice loaf of crusty bread.

...to go with the aubergine parmigiana I'm making for dinner.  My blogger friend over at A Mouse in France made it the other day and posted her recipe.  It's one of my favorites but Brett won't touch eggplant so I thought I'd make it while he is in Colorado.  He will be home later tonight but after dinner for sure.

I started by sweating some onions and garlic. 

Then I added tomatoes from the garden, some herbs, a touch of sugar, and a splash of wine.

I let it simmer for an hour and, voila!, tomato sauce.













Rose came up in the late afternoon to take a lesson on Jackson.  When she and her mother arrived, Bella jumped over the fence and joined us.  Bella walked with me down to the barn, leaning into my leg when we went past the chickens and into the barn aisle.  When we walked Jackson out to the arena, Bella followed.  Fortunately, Jackson was bored by her presence and after awhile Bella took herself back to the goat area.

Rose did very well in her lesson and I was very proud of Jackson.  This was his first time as a lesson horse and he rose to the occasion as I knew he would.  I had Rose ride bareback so she could get a balanced seat.  While she rode with her arms out like airplane wings and did big arm circles, Jackson quietly marched along.  The only thing he messed up on was the emergency dismount I asked Rose to try.  He felt Rose leaving and immediately stopped.  So, her dismount ended up being from a halt and not a walk.

I put dinner in the oven and hopped in the pool while it baked.  Brett arrived home just in time.