Putting it by on Sunday

Finally, got enough room in the big freezer to put some more stuff in
there. Got up shortly after daylight this morning and went out to the
remnants of the summer garden. Picked a ten-quart bucket of sweet chiles
and brought them in. Washed, air dried, and then proceeded to decap and
deseed then to chop medium. Put them on a bun tray in the freezer for
one hour and then sealed them in vacuum bags with the Tilia.

Had gone to the market yesterday and scored several pounds of beef and
pork from the "used meat bin." Put up a few nice ribeyes (one feeds the
two of us), a top round steak (good for many uses), a five-pound pork
picnic for later smoking and baking into pulled pork, and two
three-pound packages of ground Angus, certified 80/20 meat to fat ratio.
The ground meat alone was a $1.99 per lb. The rest were even cheaper.
The meat freezer is full again so we're depression proof for at least
two more months just on meat.

Cooked a small pot of giant lima beans with the Trinity (celery, onion,
sweet peppers)and a good bit of garlic yesterday, added in some cayenne
pepper, some home made hot sauce, and freshly ground black pepper,
rendered, chopped andouille sausage, tossed in a couple of bay leaves
for good measure. When Miz Anne gets back home this evening we will have
lima beans over Arkansas cornbread and then we can have a southern
breakfast in the morning, crumbled cornbread with sweet milk. Makes your
mouth water just to think of it.

The bounty just continues to flow from the garden and, for the savvy
shopper, from the supermarket. Of course it helps to have a friend in
the butcher shop who lets me know when she is putting out the used meat.
<G> Now if the produce manager would just come back off vacation (he
went deer hunting)I could maybe score some fruit on the verge of coming
off the aisle, maybe something good to make preserves, jellies, or jams.
Usually I can get that sort of stuff at about $1.00 for a five-pound sack.

It has been a good, quiet weekend for Tilly Dawg and I. Miz Anne left
Friday afternoon for an art teachers weekend in NorthWestern Louisiana.
We miss her but enjoy the peace and quiet, all of which ends in about
two hours or a little more. <VBG>