Tomatomania

...and this is what happens when I leave the garden for a few days. I thought I would dig up the onions and potatoes this morning, but I have more than I can handle with the tomatoes. Want some?

Escape

It was way too hot in Pasadena last week. High nineties and we are trying to save $ on our electric bills by using the air conditioning as little as possible. Nathaniel has wanted to go camping for awhile, so I did a search and found a beach campground with hot showers and flush toilets that had a couple nights available (usually you have to book beach campgrounds 6 months in advance for summer camping.) San Simeon State Park sounded great. On the central coast, it has July temperatures in the mid-60's during the day. Sweet! We packed long pants and sweatshirts and headed off. Let me tell you, it wasn't quite what we expected. It was cold - way too cold for our thin blood. Above you see us in the campsite at a rare time when it wasn't socked in with fog and/or when the wind wasn't blowing like crazy. We weren't ready for that. So we went exploring.

We saw the zebras of the central CA coast. (Yeah, W.R. Hearst was rich and if he wanted zebras in his cow pastures then he had zebras in his cow pastures.)

We saw the giant male elephant seals that had come ashore to molt, fight, and lie in the sun.

We saw beautiful vistas on our drive up PCH 1.

We explored beaches surrounded by cliffs that could only be accessed by steep staircases and switchback trails.

We did some of our own molting, fighting, and lounging in the sun.

And true to form, Nathaniel always does a little extra exploring.

One warm spot we found was up a narrow canyon called Salmon Creek. The fog had blown away and the steep rock cliffs of the canyon blocked the wind. So we hiked up with cookies and milk, a couple beach towells and spent some time in a quiet windless spot.

Davis scaled some rocks on our way to find Salmon Creek Waterfall.

And when we found it, we took a chilly dip in the pool before lying on the rocks and snorting like elephant seals while we wolfed down cookies.

It was a great place to explore. Not a relaxing vacation, but the temperature had dropped to the eighties by the time we got home and we had found a new appreciation for July in So. Cal.

You can click on the video below to see the kids bickering in the car... or was that the elephant seal clip?

Brett and Debbie Visit

Brett and Debbie came to visit at the end of June. We walked up a trail above the Rose Bowl and up on top of a dam.
You can see JPL in the background behind Chris and Nathaniel.

The trail looks almost like wilderness even though we were only a short golf-shot away from the foursomes on the Brookside greens.

It was fun having them visit, even for a short time.

A Visit to the Getty Villa with Courtney

Chris' niece stayed another week with us after her family headed off to Hawaii. She had to do a lot of self-entertaining while I was running back and forth to 3 community colleges and trying to get my "homework" done. We did break away and visit the Getty Villa in Malibu one day.
The Getty Villa is set back in a cliff over the Santa Monica Bay.

It has a great view. Courtney's a cute view too.

It is designed to look like a roman villa with fountains, gardens and Greek Amphitheater outside and Greek and Roman antiquities inside. You should come see it!

Visit to Griffith Observatory

When Matt and Karen visited, this is the only picture I got of Carson's face (I did take the one of all the kids walking away under the purple Jacarandas above and he's in it). I don't think he sat still long enough whenever we went somewhere.
We went to Griffith Observatory right around sunset. In the picture below, the sun is setting off to Chris' right and you can see the Hollywood sign to his left.

I had hoped to get more pictures of the older kids so I gave the camera to Davis.

This is the only picure he took. Pretty funny actually.

Cousin Fun

Chris' brother's family came to stay with us as they were moving from Arizona to Hawaii. We had a great time with them. One of our days was spent visiting Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens. There were no pictures of Davis and the two teenage cousins. We let them go off on their own. I was surprised to hear that Davis took them on a tour of the art galleries rather than to the succulent garden that always seems to be his favorite.
This towering cedar is actually about 18 inches tall. Chris took this picture in the Bonsai garden.

This is a small grass labrynth that has always been one of my kids favorite places in Huntington Gardens.

Chris, Sydney, Nathaniel and I overlooking the lily pond in the Chinese garden.

Matt and Karen in the new Chinese garden.

Peeking out the windows of a topiary play house.

Nathaniel and Sydney on a rock bridge between the Scott Gallery and the Rose Garden.

Sydney had fun helping make the lemonade for dinner that night.

Carol's Tomato Soup Recipe

Chris' Mom made this tomato soup and canned it. It was always really good so we would try to snatch a few jars when we visited her the two years we lived in Utah. I started making it when we moved to CA because I actually had dirt to grow tomatoes. The difference between this recipe and others I've seen, is that this doesn't use chicken broth or anything to water it down. It's like having a big serving of straight vegetables (with a little butter). I freeze it in quart freezer bags and then peel the bags off the frozen soup and put it right in the pot to thaw.

Carol's Tomato Soup

Makes about 7 quarts of soup. Freezes well - reheat on stove to smooth out lumps, not the microwave.

10 quarts fresh tomatoes, quartered (leave the seeds and skins on)

5 medium onions

5 stalks of celery

10 sprigs parsley

2 bay leaves

Cook until tender. Puree a few cups at a time starting out on a slow speed (use a folded towel to press down on the lid of blender so boiling hot tomato doesn't come shooting out.) Strain puree and return to pot, or use a food mill instead of blender/strainer.

Reserve 1 cup of the liquid and let cool a little.

Bring strained tomato to a boil. Make a roux by mixing together:

10 Tb flour

10 Tb softened butter

Then mix in 1 cup of cooled tomato juice from previous step so its thin enough to pour. Whisk into boiling soup and let boil for a few more minutes to thicken.

Add:

2 Tb salt

5 Tb sugar

pepper to taste.

Serve hot or chill then freeze.

This recipe is easy to adjust for the size of your pot. Everything is easily divisible by 10 (Oh, come on! You can do it - 1 quart of tomatoes, half a table spoon of sugar, half an onion, etc. Just use one bay leaf and taste after adding a little salt to see if you want more. You can always add salt when you serve it.)

Its hot and sticky making this soup in the summer - but you'll love it in January!

Nathaniel in the Summer

Davis went to Scout Camp last week so I had a lot of one-on-one time with Nathaniel. He loves special treatment, so we had a great time.
We actually went hiking in the upper Arroyo with the whole family before Davis left. But Nathaniel was the only one who looked like he was having fun.

Nathaniel loved the butterfly pavilion at the L.A. County Natural History Museum. (Can you see the butterfly on his back?)

You can't tell what this exhibit was at the California Science Center - but I think it's easy to see Nathaniel is having fun!

There was a "Sustainable Globe" exhibit in Exposition Park (that's where the 1984 Olympics were held.) It was a nice day so we looked at about 30 globes.

Nathaniel and sock monkey slept most of the week in a tent in the living room.

Summer Time

Its full-on Summer in the garden now. This week we've had the tomatoes and corn ripening and the beans and raspberries look like they are on their last legs. The lettuce bolted a couple weeks ago (except for one stray head that I picked today) and I'm waiting for it to go to seed to collect them for fall planting. When the tomatoes get going full blast, then I'll start making tomato soup to freeze for winter. The past couple years we've had enough to last all year. I didn't get around to planting sunflowers this year, but the volunteers came through for me. (Squirrels who were sloppy when they ate last year's sunflowers and dropped seeds.)

This daisy-like flower is called Feverfew - its supposed to be a natural insect repellent.

HA shot of the corn patch.

A couple weeks ago I had to tie up the tomatoes again because the plants grew so big and I knocked off some green tomatoes. We fried them (what else do you do with them?)

But now they are starting to ripen up so I pick a few each day.

And this is what lunch looks like in the summer - tomato salad with fresh mozzarella, basil, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and cucumbers.