Transitions

I did a batch of pickles yesterday, with less than a week's worth of cucumbers, including the "siamese" cucumber. Two of them grew together.

During the summer I eat a lot of fresh food. Cucumbers, zuccinni, tomatoes, onions, beets, fruit from the trees, carrots, potatoes. My herb garden is going crazy so I have fresh basil and mint, sage and thyme.

I think the hardest part of summer is the transition from "fresh" to "winter" in terms of diet. For close to six months I'm eating real food, not something that's been processed to death for the sake of profit.

There is no comparison between a potato right out of the ground and one of those gray things they sell as potatoes in the supermarket. Fresh potatoes eaten with butter--they need nothing else.

Then suddenly it's gone, and I can feel the difference. What they call "produce" in the stores is a pale shadow of the real thing, short on vitamins and minerals, grown on chemical fertilizer in played-out soil that's been used and reused for years.

It's no wonder that people are always sick during the winter. I've tried growing plants inside during the winter, but it never works. I'll keep trying because I want fresh during the winter, too.

In the Kitchen: The Perfect Food :)

Even when I'm not paying attention (which is usually) I still have to cook. Or rather, I have to eat, which is the end result of cooking.

All of the following are stimulating cullinary herbs. They have a lot of other properties as well (for example, most of them are anti-bacterial or anti-fungal) and together with tomatoes they make spaghetti sauce. Meat optional.

Basil
Rosemary
Marjoram or Oregano
Thyme
Garlic
Pepper

Dice and cook 1 large onion and dice or crush garlic (cook it with the meat if you prefer meat, or add a teaspoon of olive oil and a teaspoon of milk for the same taste without the meat)
Cut up three large tomatoes. Add them to the onions.
Add tomato juice if you like it runny rather than chunky.
Add seasonings.

Cook down and serve. I like eating it alone, without noodles. Tomato soup! Or wrap it in a tortilla before it has cooked down with fresh basil leaves and mint.

Use in place of chicken soup for colds, eat it with additional basil, rosemary and oregano when you need to be alert. Add more Rosemary if you have a headache and more garlic if you have high blood pressure. If I use it for medicine, I add the extra seasonings last, after everything else has cooked in.

I like to sneak it in as an "herbal" meal for someone who needs help but won't admit it.