October garden– dahlias, tomatoes. (we got the van back!)
I love dahlias because they are late and overly dramatic.
When everything else is dying back and looking sad… they are HELLO!
Here are my favorite dahlia varieties.
Here is an index of all my garden posts.
Up until last weekend— when it finally got cold— the tomatoes were still going.
I have spent the last forever, roasting and freezing… roasted-then-frozen tomatoes are INFINITELY more delicious than raw-frozen tomatoes; also infinitely more work.
I basically manage a tomato-processing plant, where I am also all of the staff.
The flavor is worth it, and being reminded of how good they are, makes me mad that I ate so many raw tomatoes this summer… Federal law prohibits us from using our oven during hot weather– it dements my husband.
But since getting the kitchen floors done, our kitchen is in the basement, and now I realize: you can have a stove ANYWHERE!
Literally.
So.
Next summer I can have an oven out in the garage and run it ALL DAY LONG.
Also. Zucchini.
Anyway.
I frequently get the question – HOW are you living without a kitchen!?
Sadly, we are not.
There has never been even one day without a stove, sink, prep area… a kitchen. It’s not Pinterest-worthy, but it reminds me that my husband is amazingly good at mitigating horribleness.
Speaking of stoves – I mentioned that I am way-more-loving European options for wall ovens… (we are doing an induction cooktop, in the antique piano kitchen island, WITHOUT a range hood because I loathe them).
Incoming text I tried to edit but got bored.
Euro regular baking ovens are compatible with American hertz but their microwaves are not… unless we do a converter thingy? Which seems… iffy? Like, your electric should run just without extra STUFF.
WHY do I need a European microwave? I don’t… what I DO need is a pair of stacked wall ovens– one of which will be BOTH an oven AND a microwave<– that is a US version, they all look similar. Self is unsoothed.
I’m still trying to get to my point:
the microwave is not a fake oven! It’s a normal oven heating element… AND IT IS ALSO A MICROWAVE.
Magic.
Also– OBVIOUS.
So. Obvious.
But despite the OBVIOUSNESS, not that many American manufacturers offer it, and so my options are limited… and I don’t love any of them… which is why I am now asking you if you know how to magic a Euro combination oven into an American combination oven. Because they have lots and they are pretty.
Either way, this amalgamation solves the issue of where to locate the microwave AND it gives me a second oven! I do not frequently need to bake at different temperatures but since I’ve been doing mad tomatoes, I have several times wanted to cook sweet potatoes and skipped them. (FYI: if you cook your sweet potatoes at a low temperature, it makes them sweeter.)
In other news– we got the van back… you can drive it, if you have a few basic tools.
The police reiterated what some of you already told me– old model vans are popular for theft because they are so easy to steal; then you can use it to go steal something else.
So.
Now I never have to pay for anything ever again.
LONG before the van was stolen, it was time for a new car… but cars are of negative interest to me, so when Paul would bring it up, I would be like– no. Stop inviting the universe to get involved. Everything is fine.
So I hoped that Paul would say he would just replace the stuff in the steering column that got ripped out… but once he drove it there was a new clanking and the window seal where they broke in and nine thousand other things and he is saying that it makes no sense to put more money into this car.
I suggested NOT putting money into it and just driving it with a screwdriver and wrench and umbrella… Paul suggested a compromise: rather than replace the van, we will get me a moped; and some goggles for the kittens.
Then we will get a trailer for the big stuff.
I am pleased with this plan.
October 24, 2018 @ 11:14 am
Well, well, well…..glad you got the van back…I’ve been wondering how that all shook out…but after reading your post about it and your plans for it, going forward, I can tell that you have officially gone “over the edge”. I say choose your battles: defer to your sensible husband on this issue and then move away from it and onto something that actually nurtures your soul. Just my 2 cents….BTW: love the idea of roasting then freezing all those tomatoes!
October 24, 2018 @ 11:33 am
Where are the KITTEN PICTURES? I need kitten updates too.
Love your blog 🙂
October 24, 2018 @ 11:47 am
I have a (naturally European) combined oven/microwave and am totally happy with it. I don’t use a microwave enough to merit an extra buy and therefore am well served. I would hope that a conversion to the American system is possible.
the stolen van-story is hilarious and totally OTT…. Get a new (old) one!!!! YOU need it and even though Paul surely looks great in goggles, it’s nonsense 😉
October 24, 2018 @ 11:52 am
I just saw a portable induction cooktop that comes with a nice sized cooking pot for $75 at COSTCO!
Hmmm.
And my mother kept our ancient GE stove in the basement, just for canning. It was so much cooler down there!
October 24, 2018 @ 12:19 pm
I’m thinking it’s time for Paul to get a GFT in the form of a new vehicle.
October 24, 2018 @ 12:29 pm
I have stacked ovens….I wish one of them was also a microwave…..I even MORE wish that 1) they were stacked at a height that a 5’3” women could access each more safely – can’t see or reach into the top one without standing on tiptoes wearing oven mits that run up to my elbows, and 2) that BOTH ovens were self-cleaning….this decision had to have been made by a partner (probably but not absolutely sure, a man) who did not do chores such a oven cleaning….needless to say this decision was made by a previous owner. BUT while skeptical at first about the necessity of two, I use both frequently.
October 24, 2018 @ 12:54 pm
Getting a vehicle with a trailer hitch and a trailer sounds like a sound investment for future Giant Fancy Things.
October 24, 2018 @ 1:07 pm
Bad juju. Dump the van and get another. You NEED one for all the GFT’s!!! Reason snow. Cold. Frozen face riding Moped in winter. Inability to snuggle fluffernoodle fluff paws with frozen face and fingers. Unacceptable to Self. Or you could get a hybrid. We regularly play how much can we fit in our Pruck?! Hybrid that starts with Pr plus truck equals Pruck!! The looks! The sneers! The laughs!! The AWE and angels singing when yes, all of that DID fit!!! So. Get another van. It will make Self happy.
October 24, 2018 @ 1:10 pm
A good morning chuckle for sure! Thanks I need that! Love your blog! Wish I was there for the tomatoes! I could be a really good soul-chef!
Smiles, Alice
October 24, 2018 @ 2:53 pm
Tell us how you roast your tomatoes! And also, kittens please. And more also, you need a summer kitchen like my grandmother had. Add that to the list.
October 24, 2018 @ 3:25 pm
Wait ! What! I missed out reading about the Van getting stolen??
Where is it in the Blog?
M.
October 24, 2018 @ 3:42 pm
GORGEOUS dahlias. And my vote added for a new(ish) van.
October 24, 2018 @ 4:32 pm
A song for you about Homegrown Tomatoes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fs7FpO2PFSs
October 24, 2018 @ 4:50 pm
I am totally sure that roasted tomatoes grown at home are the bomb dot com! But only put an appliance in the garage if you are totally sure you will never have a mouse invasion.
Love your dahlias every year!
I have only ever seen those Euro appliances when watching decorator shows on tv, or in House Beautiful magazines…..I bet a decorator would find you one at a very pretty penny!
Poor van, I had a feeling she would be in bad shape when found. Happened to my brothers’ car way back in the 70’s, stripped of anything useable, seats included. Amazed yours still looked like a van, but still – destroyed. Let Paul find you a replacement, and mourn the loss in private. This from a woman who won’t give up her 2005 Mazda Tribute without a fight or seven! Unless he finds me a pristine ’97 Ranger, I will not be happy. Trying to sell me on a Tighuan (sp.) when he is not fond of his Passat – why? Because he wants to trade my T. AND his P. for the Tig!!!! Huh?
Maybe you can find a thief who will steal you a van just like yours? Oh, wait, that won’t work at the license office. My bad.
Enjoyed the videos of kitty laundry on Insta!
October 24, 2018 @ 5:49 pm
We got a car back after my son conveniently left the key/remote laying on the front seat. The saddest thing found amongst all the fast food wrappers,beer cans and booze bottles was someone’s probably expensive dental bridge? If I Planted dahlias now in Va would I have flowers in 2019? That is,if I can live to 79? I know some readers think you are over thinking decisions,however having made so many expensive decisions regarding houses-ie-paint colors, brands of appliances,carpet colors etc. Better to go with the old saying “marry in haste,repent at leisure” and as we all know we wind up firmly married(pocketbook wise) to our mistakes.
October 24, 2018 @ 5:53 pm
I bought an (American) microwave/oven combo just last week. GE makes them.
Now I need to learn how to roast tomatoes.
October 24, 2018 @ 7:58 pm
Hello VEB, I’m new to these pages & am rather busy at present going through your entertaining Tales of Toil (just up to front porch finale, so ages off) but wanted to stop by to give you my two cents worth. Have you considered not having a microwave at all? It may sound Subversive but some of us of, ahem, more mature years and who live in the Antipodes, where we may speak the same language etc but Do Things slightly differently, get by perfectly well without. If you like the look of the dual ovens, maybe just go for precisely that? It doesn’t happen often but sometimes I do wish I had a second one because my Pyrolitic Bosch is otherwise occupied. Did you notice the keyword there? Pyrolitic. It will change your young life.
My days of renovating are done (and luckily I didn’t even know what a blog was until the last paint-spattered item of clothing was consigned to the bin or a gazillion more hours would have been needed to Get the Job Done), and I shan’t be swayed into participating in the car-chat as I don’t even drive and we are indeed car-less now that the renos are over (negative interest, as you say), and kittens are photogenic and the reason the internet was invented but are Not My Thing, and I don’t even have a garden anymore as I live in a 100 sqm Art Deco apartment without even a balcony for a pot of herbs, so have no reason to be Loitering here at all. Except for your Words & Pics & Power to amuse. Nice blog!
October 24, 2018 @ 8:14 pm
We started our van with a screwdriver for a year or two. It finally conked out and was cost-prohibitive to fix “sigh”
October 24, 2018 @ 9:44 pm
In my previous home I had double wall ovens by Thermador and the top one was also a microwave – I absolutely loved it . Your dahlias are beautiful – mine all got powdery mildew this year.
October 24, 2018 @ 9:48 pm
Miele makes a combination microwave and convection oven. It can do cook using either method or both at the same time. Although they are a bit on the expensive side, they perform beautifully.