Saturday, this and that...

I woke up on Saturday morning at 7:30 AM, after spending several hours in the night awake. I put on a pot of coffee and, after shaving, hit the shower. I skipped breakfast and went with just coffee. I had a 9:30 AM haircut appointment, so I cleaned up everything in the kitchen and started the dishwasher.

On the road again... I got my haircut and then went to Westborn market. I had a short list of things I needed, but, on a whim, I bought some beautiful fresh asparagus, a bag of fresh-picked Michigan apples and a nice chunk of sharp cheddar cheese. I stopped and got my oil changed in the Volvo. Then I went to the Farmer's market and bought a big bag of home-grown tomatoes. By 11:00 AM, I was back at home. Yes, the cats wanted treats and yes, I gave in.

I took out a bag of frozen sea scallops to thaw and went outside to pick any of my tomatoes that were close to ripe. I got about 10 of them. Back inside, I cut my Roma tomatoes in half and the Farmer's Market's big tomatoes in quarters. I filled a half-sheet pan and seasoned them with salt and pepper. I let them sit for about an hour to draw out some of the water from the tomatoes.

While I was waiting, I watched one of my Saturday morning Food Network shows I tape each week and ate breakfast/lunch: two apples and a chunk of cheese. Delicious! Then it was time to fire up the broiler. I drizzled the tomatoes with olive oil and stuck them under the broiler for (at first) 20 minutes. I checked and (I am looking for a good char, here) they were not done yet. It took 15 minutes more, but I finally got it close. I pulled the pan out and took a picture for you.

Then, I took a short nap. I would really like to get back to staying up a little later and (hopefully) sleeping through the night. We'll see...

I woke up at 3:30 PM. The tomatoes have cooled, but I need to move onto the downstairs storm door. So, I took the top piece of molding and marked both sides. I think I need to cut the aluminum back to allow the door to fit correctly, you see.

I talked with B___ about these cut off wheels and he said they do work, but shatter easily. He was right! I got the top of the door and halfway down one side cut before the motor got so hot I couldn't hold the tool anymore. But I had already gone through maybe 15 cut off wheels, and only one actually wore down; the rest snapped.

Back inside, I ran the tomatoes through the blender while I saut�ed a diced onion and some garlic, I put the tomatoes in with the onions and garlic and added some chopped fresh basil oregano salt and pepper. I let that cook down on medium low for about 2 hours.

I decided to resume the aluminum cutting tomorrow, so I put everything away until then. I put the cooled tomatoes in two 4-cup freezer containers for winter use. I hand washed the half sheet pan and the blender parts. I warmed up two hamburgers for dinner and started watching TV. I did have another apple as a late night snack, BTW. I gave up and went to bed at 10:30 PM.