Riding Out the Storm

It's about midnight now and the eye of the storm is inching closer and closer to us.  The outer bands are right below us now, and we are getting lots of rain and we are starting to get strong rain gusts.  On the news they were saying we could get a foot of rain!  That is a lot of rain.  The garden is definitely going to flood. :(

Since I was pretty much stuck in the house all day, I decided to take this time to make a batch of Sweet Dill Pickles. I went to the market before the storm and picked up dill, habaneros and onions.  The cucumbers, and garlic are from the garden.  I tried to grow habaneros like I did last year, but none of the seeds germinated.

Yesterday, in anticipation of the storm, I harvested some Heirloom Tomatoes, Isis Candy, Chocolate Cherry and Jaune Flamme.  Since I had a bunch of ripe tomatoes, I had an idea to make some fresh bruschetta. The rest of the ingredients, I harvested this morning. I picked some Italian Genovese Basil and got a bulb of homegrown Garlic that is hanging in the rafters of the garage.   Add a bit of olive oil and sea salt, and that's it! Everything everyone says about Heirloom Tomatoes are so true!  I didn't grow up eating Heirloom Tomatoes so this is a new experience for me. They are so tasty and flavorful, it's like candy!  No wonder everyone loves and raves about them.  Isn't this just gorgeous?  I am loving all the different colors of tomatoes.  As a kid, I only ate red tomatoes, so to know that they come in all these different shades of Orange, Yellow, Purple/Brown is amazing!!

I didn't have any crunchy loaves of bread at home, so I just toasted 2 slices of bread and scooped the bruschetta on top.  Oooooh is this ever good!  I could eat this every day!  I may be stuck at home during this Hurricane, but at least I am eating well!

Herb Garden Update: Part 3

The herb kit is continuing to do well! I am so happy! This is what it used to look like. It has really grown and I am so pleased! On the left is Parsley, then Oregano, behind that is chives and to the right is Genovese Basil. Nothing beats fresh herbs! Really, it just makes everything taste better. I am so in love with the Basil.
So with all this great basil I have growing I decided to make a yummy treat for our friends who were coming over for dinner. Remember all the tomatoes I picked on Wednesday? I decided to make this with my bounty of ripe tomatoes. Oh my goodness, let' me just say, this is 1,000 times better with fresh garden picked organic tomatoes and freshly picked basil. The flavors were OUT OF THIS WORLD good!!