I hadn’t planned on making soup today, as I was feeling rather lazy. But I got that tickle, and then logic set in. We are facing a very busy canning weekend, pickles, coleslaw, beans, peaches. So once I got going with the soup I knew it would be wonderful for quick lunches over the weekend. When we get really busy in the kitchen, unless there is something quick and nourishing in the refrigerator, I often resort to eating things that I should not be eating. Soup makes sense for a busy weekend.
This soup started with sautéed onions and then grew organically into a whole five quarts of soup. I found an old tin of viable peas in the pantry, and a jar of red peppers I canned in 2019, those went into the soup. A jar of tomatoes canned in 2020 were added, as were frozen mixed vegetables, dehydrated kale and celeriac, lots of garlic, well, I just kept on adding stuff. And that is today’s lunch, and tomorrow’s lunch, etc.
I’ve been preparing the fabric that was purchased for two new aprons. The raw edges were secured with a machine zig zag stitch before washing the fabrics, to preshrink them and remove any sizing. Three of the pieces were perfect, but one was disappointing. It had three issues. The first is that the weave of fabric was completely off square. The second was that the pattern, which repeats, was not printed square on the fabric. The third was that the store clerk cut the fabric crookedly, so when I tore along the weft to straighten the fabric the strip was four inches wide on one end. That was yesterday’s project, getting that one piece of fabric ready to be cut. It still isn’t perfect, but it will do. I love the pattern and colour on that piece, so I hope the apron turns out.
Cutting the fabric for the aprons is the next task, but it requires that the table be cleared, the extension leaf setup, and this takes up the entire living room. Since it is harvest season, I’ll have to watch for a window of opportunity to do the cutting.
The sewing machine remains on the desk in the bedroom, where it is handy for sewing. It is wonderful to have it sitting there ready to take on any project. On Wednesday a quick patch was sewn onto one of Attila’s work pants, so easy when the equipment is ready to go.
Canning season is in full swing now, and with it come the fruit flies. I first noticed them this past week, and thought there was just the one. Thinking to get ahead of the fly season, out came a mason jar, to which was added 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar with the mother, and a few drops of dish detergent. The lid for the jar is one from Masontops, that I ordered a few years ago, and it works well. It was somewhat shocking to see dozens of flies in the trap after only one day!
The fly trap jar lids suggest putting banana or fruit in the jar. I tried that and no thank you! There are insect eggs on fruit, and the ones on the bananas hatched, and multiplied, and were horrible to get rid of. I will stick with apple cider vinegar in my fly traps!
The weather has been a bit dry for the garden, Attila has to water, and a bit on the humid side for warm blooded creatures, such as myself. The sun is shining, a lovely day.
Worldly
Weather
Updated on Fri, Aug 25 at 12:35 PM
23°C
FEELS LIKE 28
Partly cloudy
Wind 10 N km/h
Humidity 79 %
Visibility 22 km
Sunrise 6:22 AM
Wind gust 16
Pressure 100.9 kPa
Ceiling 500 m
Sunset 7:56 PM
Quote
“Laughter gives us distance. It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on.”
Bob Newhart
1929 –
The soup sounds delicious. We’re getting cooler weather now in the Midwest. It was jacket weather last night if you went out. The summer goes by so fast.
The soup is very good Sandy, I am enjoying it!
Cooler nights here too, and tonight is supposed to have a low of 13C, which is quite cool, definitely jacket weather! The summer has flown for us too. They say times flies when you are having fun, so I guess the older I get the more fun I am having, lol!
I’m really interested to see how your apron turns out. I’m very curious as to how the miss-stamped fabric will work for you. It’s amazing to me that fabric could have so many mistakes to it.
We’ve only come up with one fruit fly this entire year, very surprisingly. It turned up the other week – on the inside of the refrigerator door, sitting above the mayonnaise! I guess it was stunned by the interior cold, as it made no effort to escape as I opened the door and then retrieved a paper towel to remove it. So strange!
Teri, I am hoping the misprinted fabric won’t be too obvious in the finished apron. I didn’t notice it on the bolt, so I am hopeful. I was disappointed in the quality of the fabric, and will have to keep an eye open if I purchase more. Still, the apron is not going to be worn away from home, so if I am happy with it that will be fine. It is a bit of work to get it into a usable condition though.
Fruit flies can come in on any fresh produce, although they prefer fruit. We have been buying peaches and melons while they are in season, and I surmise that is where our fruit fly infestation originates. Having one in the refrigerator does seem strange.
The only things I could think of with the fruit fly was maybe it hatched from some salad veggies right after the frig was loaded after shopping. The air might have been a bit warmer at the time? Or maybe it was from fruit or tomatoes DH keeps at room temp but it just landed on the door when groceries were being put away.
Teri, either scenario is possible, glad though that there was just one! I am catching hundreds and hundreds of them.