1 post tagged “covet”
'Course, I can't have both - they don't match.
Oh, come on. At $200 or so a clip, I can't have either one.
[If I had to choose one, though? The boots.]
When I was in high school - back in the Dark Ages - we started
getting the J Crew catalog in the mail. Despite the punk rock I
favored, despite the ripped out jeans and Sharpied jackets and old-man
sweaters, I was smitten with J Crew and its rugby shirts and its
blonde-bobbed models and its clean-cut boys, its fascination with
sailing and parties and old-monied, Kennedyesque romping. My mother,
who wasn't particularly fond of my thrift-shop taste, had to admit that my affinity for
looking like a senior citizen was certainly less expensive than trying
to look like my J Crew "peers".
Now? I think they have good corduroy pants, and their color sense is
terrific. The few J Crew items I own (all gifts - I don't think I've
ever ordered anything from them personally) have been well-made and
have lasted around ten years or so. Well, except for the black
turtleneck sweater - it was wool, had this great boxy shortcut fit,
kind of a big turtleneck, and I just abused it. I wore it out at the
elbows and around the neck. I think it was circa the Fall 2000 catalog.
I still own it, of course.
This photo is for K, who wants more garden. Well, I'll tell you, K. My garden is out of control.
Stuff is everywhere. I plant things too close together in the spring,
because everything looks so depressing when it's small, and by August
I'm all, OH MY GOD, the Accidental Amaranth has taken over the herb
garden, at least the part where the cucumbers and watermelons (both of
which are dying) haven't yet traveled, and I cannot find my sage plant,
and some large creature, perhaps a befuddled deer, has walked through
my 24 tomato plants, and who will dig the potatoes, and please remind
meto never again plant morning glories, even if they're purple, and if I see another goddamned squirrel taking a bite out of my sunflowers there's going to be some serious hijinks.
Does this mean I hate my garden?
Absolutely not. It just means I'm a lousy manager of my time. I will
say I've fake-canned* whatever tomatoes we don't eat - I just do
another batch every night. Having garden tomatoes for sauce in January
is a little bit heavenly.
xo
* Fake canning: what people like me do when they have jars and lids and
rings and even a water-bath canner, but lack time. I have two large
Pyrex baking dishes - I wash and quarter all the tomatoes I have, place
them in the baking dishes, fire up the oven to 450, drizzle the
tomatoes with olive oil, salt 'em, and put 'em in the oven to roast for
about 30-45 minutes. If I'm not lazy and my shoulder isn't sore, I'll
put the results through a food mill. Last year I think I sustained a
chronic injury to my right shoulder while food-milling tomatoes (I'm
serious), so this year I'm putting the tomatoes in the jar with the
skins and the seeds and everything. Just let the tomatoes cool a
little, then put into clean jars using a slotted spoon. Seal and cool
further in the fridge, then place in the deep freeze the next day. Yum
yum!
