Friday again?

How did it get to be Friday already?  Another week has just passed me by, or so it seems.  Actually, it's been a great week.  We had three days of cool damp weather, which allowed me the opportunity to work in the yard again.  I have just not been willing to work outside in the heat this summer. Consequently, the front yard had once again turned into a jungle. This week I have weeded, weeded, and weeded.  My tendinitis is talking to me, but I feel much better about the front yard.  I wish that I could keep up with this work on a weekly basis, but it just isn't in my genes. 

We are now back to lovely warm days with cool mornings - just about perfect.  This week Reyn has been picking Blue Lake Beans and raspberries.  He has also harvested our beets and the last of the onions.  I forgot to weigh the beets, but we had a lot, I'd say at least 10 pounds.  We have been eating them every way possible for the last month, and now I have more to deal with.  Last night I roasted several and served them with a cumin, lemon vinaigrette. I also canned pickled beets with the smaller of our onions.  They look very nice, but we'll have to wait several weeks to give them a try.

I am so relieved that our tomatoes are finally ripening.  I was worried that I would not get my fill of tomatoes this summer.  I'm still unsure if there will be enough to roast and put in the freezer, but I'm going to enjoy as many of them as I can in the coming weeks.  There is not much that I like better than tomatoes and cucumbers just picked, and still warm from the sun.  Tonight's dinner included a very easy salad of fresh cukes and tomatoes. The cucumbers were crisp, juicy and tender; the Early Girl tomatoes, oh, so good.

Tomato Cucumber Salad

2 tomatoes, cut into 1/2 dice
1 long cucumber, diced
fresh chives, snipped, about 1 Tbsp.
fresh oregano, snipped, about 1 Tbsp
2 Tbsp lemon infused olive oil
juice from 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Toss tomato and cucumber together, drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice, sprinkle with chives and oregano.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Let sit 10 - 20 minutes before serving.