Eating Mason Jar Salads on the Porch

... Ria's heritage tomatoes ...
... cherry tomatoes crossed with a tomato from the Galapagos ...

Rebecca brought the quart sealers that she makes salads in, all the way from Victoria.  She didn’t make any of those salads  while she was here– she was too busy at the wheel.  But there is an advantage that she carries with her – being ready with the correct tools.  And in fact that wasn’t the only thing that came with her – I think she brought a clay roller for the group who live their summers under the Pilling’s deck at the clay workshop.  I was tempted to go over and try that piece of equipment – tempted but I didn’t fall.

But on backing up to the sealers, Rebecca explained to Bonnie that this is a terrific new way of having a fast meal in the fridge, and something will last 5 days or so.  Rather than talk about the theory, Rebecca and Bonnie got the practise going:  the vegetables bought, recruiting me for chopping when necessary and, lined up on the counter along with the Mason jars.

Making a product is not always that intuitive.  I had chopped the cabbage, and the onions for Rebecca’s Keto Mushroom soup, but I had chopped them all wrong:  the cabbage like it was going into a slaw;  the onions diced instead of in slivers, so it doesn’t matter how many years someone has been in the kitchen. It is possible to do the right shape if I am directed by another.

And indeed, I asked for supervision and got it right.  After the chopping and the construction of an easy vinaigrette, bottling the vegetables is a breeze.

We ate two of the salads, sitting on the porch, under the morning sun thinking how quickly the hum of the summer has been lost, and now it is only the two of us.  If a chickpea falls off of my fork and to the ground, the sound seems like thunder, it is so quiet out here.  The bees are still active in the bee balm.  Bonnie and I arranged the chairs into a configuration where mine was so close that I could feel the dying stalks of the plant at my elbow.  The bees who are still pulling nectar out of the plant only slightly noticed my intrusion into their space, a few flitting over to sit on the rim of the salad bowl I was using.  I had pulled a Royal Dalton serving dish to use this morning.  I haven’t ever use it before, to my knowledge and I was enjoying a burst of energy around using everything in my life at least once.  Bonnie was agreeing with me and we were figuring out how to implement that strategy for lunch, both use up the tofu that visitors have left in the fridge, at the same time, being adventurous with the food items around us, maybe even joyful with bites of blacken tofu.

And oh yes, I wanted to eat the last salad last night, but Bonnie told me she is going to keep it in the fridge for a few days longer -- just to see how long these salads will really last before they begin to wilt.

Arta