Happy Long WeekendScrambled eggs on a patio with a favourite friend, a large discount at a shop that was only negotiated with a smile, a random sighting of the Queen's horses, a lovely garden centre with great customer service (Clifton Nurseries - I had someone accompany me home with my heavy bag of compost), inspecting my first few red tomatoes (this means that they will actually be edible before frost!), a gorgeous delivery of flowers from lovely PR peeps - it's been a great day so far!

The evening will be spent along the canal and it is a long weekend, what more could one ask for. Am sure there will be some good food and wine this weekend too; wishing you all a great lonnnng weekend!

Let's hope Mother Nature shines some sun on us. xx

The revival!
My mini vegetable garden in its present state, don't you love the pink string! And below some photos from the day Mother Nature killed a few weak tomato seedlings with hail. Yes, hail in June! All part of the 'Great British Summer'.

The Wahaca chilis are coming along.Fresh mint for summer mohitos!
And the evil hail that killed a few of my offspring.
The destruction :(
I hope to be able to have a tomato salad by September but fingers crossed as the wind killed another plant today! And who is going to water my little farm when I am on holidays?? Dee may be in charge but she has been known to kill cactus plants! Any other volunteers? I will reward you with any tomatoes that sprout from these little stalks.

Greek lunch
It is now officially winter in London!? It is very cold, wet and grey which is just the type of weather that is perfect for August, non?

This is what lunch consisted of last week - fresh, simple and delicious. The tomatoes were delicious and juicy, the bread was fresh and the Spanish chorizo (from Borough Market) was delicious. Along with the view from the boat, you couldn't have a more relaxing lunch.

Hopefully Mother Nature sends some sun our way -maybe she can take a little heat and sun from Greece, they had plenty. Gotta run and shut the windows as another downpour has just started!

x

Attack of the killer tomato!Tomato season rolled around again this year, this time I was lucky enough to be in the country to participate in the festivities - albeit very briefly. The tomato churning contraption was brought out from the cellar - complete with lawnmower motor, wheel and rubber band that was spraying tomato sauce on my arm, wooden base and more bells and whistles that my uncle added to his trusty machine.I think it made it through the whole day and without any mishaps. I do believe that my cousin had a new machine in a box on the day but 'the boss' (pic below of the boss) will probably not allow us to use it until this one blows up. So they day went with washing, grinding and scooping tomatoes lovingly into jars. It is a family tradition and one that ours will probably do forever. Even Bill the neighbour came to chat with the workers. But there was no break room or break schedule ;)

On a side note this work is long and hard and our family in Sicily do not even do this anymore?! They buy the peeled and canned tomatoes straight from Modena. I wonder if they think we are archaic?

But it is worth it all in the end, the tomato sauce the Dolce and the Palazzolo family produce is delicious, fresh, organic and divine!
An impromptu break by the workers...stop laughing before the boss sees you!

Sugo with soul
Sugo (tomato sauce) as made in the Dolce kitchen.
The basis of all Italian cooking, tomato sauce. From the lonely red tomato you can make an abundance of recipes that are traditional to Italian cooking. Boiled, peeled, fried, baked, sliced and diced the tomato provides the base for some of my favourite Italian foods -pizza, pasta and bruschetta. The meatballs are also ones that were made by Momma Dolce and have been in demand in the UK and Canada. They were almost frozen and delivered by airplane to some demanding customers, but I wasn't sure if I could explain to customs if I did get caught what I was doing with frozen meatballs in my case?! Meatball secrets will come in another post.

Anyway -tomatoes are supposed to be great for your health. So learn how to make a nice tomato sauce, it is easy - just use fresh ripe tomatoes or buy canned tomatoes from the shop (with no extra ingredients) saute some onion and garlic, add the tomatoes a little bit of water, salt, pepper, basil and oregano and let simmer until smooth (about an hour)....you may need to add a little sugar to remove some of the acidity but try and buy good quality canned tomatoes and voila, a great sauce is ready for all your cooking needs.

Hard to believe but tomatoes came to Europe in the sixteenth century and were generally avoided because they were believed to be poisonous...luckily the Europeans figured out what to do with the little red rounders.