Of Sangria, Fried Green Tomatoes and Other Good Things

It may be Labor Day here in the U.S., but this girlie girl is not doing much labor today. This is what is known as a true day off for yours truly. Yesterday was a different story that included making quite a bit of food for nine people. My kitchen highlights included a substantial batch of potato salad, a fresh peach pie, succotash, and sangria.

The sangria was a last minute addition. The formula, created on the fly, involved several bottles of sweet, light wine -- we happened to have a Blush wine on hand that was combined with a small bottle of blackberry wine and a full sized bottle of apple wine. To that, a hefty dose of citrus-flavored vodka was added. I peeled and cut up several peaches to throw in the brew and then the final flourish was a big handful of frozen raspberries. Alternatively, I could have used apples, pears, any kind of berries. In any event, the entire batch was all gone...no leftovers!

Now, looking ahead, tomorrow night is a cooking night with M and we are working with tomatoes. I like what Julia Child said about tomatoes: "Summer miracles of sun and light, sweet soil, and gentle handling". I could pick anything to work on, but I'm finding myself unable to contemplate anything other than Fried Green Tomatoes. I sure hope that mine look like this:



I've been going back and forth in my mind all afternoon as to whether I'm going to bread the tomatoes with a mixture of flour plus cornmeal or panko bread crumbs...??? In the end, I remembered a lesson I've learned from my friend, Maryann: forget the word "or"...use "and" instead. So, as I sit here writing, my plan is to try the tomatoes both ways. Wish me luck -- remember it wasn't all that long ago that I had the cantaloupe soup disappointment, but I shall press on with my kitchen experiments!!

In thinking about making fried green tomatoes, the movie, "Fried Green Tomatoes" came to mind -- not exactly a food-oriented movie, but a good chick-flick in any event.

Kathy Bates and Jessic Tandy are both brilliant! Rent this oldie but goodie if you haven't seen it.




Now for a confession...I confess that I succombed and bought a Magic Bullet.




I've been missing having a blender when I'm cooking at my darling SO's house. It wasn't very expensive and I like the versatility if offers as well as its compactness. I tried it today by making a smoothie -- It worked pretty well although I do need to play with the proportions a bit. I know, I know, you might be thinking, "Geez, she bought another kitchen appliance?!?" Yes, I did, rationalizing it all the way!!!

Food & Kisses, GiGi