Picking a good melon at the store and more...

     I get the strangest looks from people at the grocery store when I am picking my fruits, especially melons and citrus.  Other shoppers glare and stare, while my kids complain, "C'mon Mom! Just pick one!"  When it comes to picking a good pineapple, or other citrus fruit, I smell them.  I smell them right at the spot where they have been broken off of the tree that they grew on.  If it smells yummy, just like you want it to taste, then it will be a good piece of fruit.  If it does not smell or is too ripe, don't bother  buying it.  I choose cantaloupes, crenshaws, and honeydew the same way.  
     Watermelons I choose a little differently, I whack them lightly, kind of a pat or knock.  If they feel like they are going to burst open at any second, I pick them up.  If it is heavier than I expect, I know it will be a good sweet melon. Unless it feels like it is moving inside a bit, or wobbly, then it will be mushy.  At which point I go back to digging through the watermelon bin and lightly whacking each one.  Really, each one feels a little different.  The ones that feel like they will easily break open with a slight whack are always crispier!
     With the price of food these days, and a discerning family who will not settle for just "ok" food, I have to pick through and bring home the best food I can.

Tomatoes- A summer garden staple!

Red Brandywine tomoatoes, mmm, they will ripen soon!  

I love the large leaves and plant growth on this variety!

    A garden just isn't a garden with out tomatoes.  It is one of the staples of a summer garden.  There are so many varieties out there it is hard to choose which ones to grow sometimes.  Determinate, indeterminate, red, orange, yellow, purple, multi-color,striped, small, medium, large, good for eating, good for sauces, etc.  Fortunately, I have a large garden and pantry to fill with tomatoes the ones I grow each year.
     I actually did not start eating tomatoes until a few years ago.  As a child, my family loved sliced tomatoes with sugar sprinkled on top, I always thought it was disgusting.  I would pick tomatoes off of all my food and refused to eat them.  I had a roommate who was pregnant at the time and craved slices of tomatoes with mayonnaise, I would gag watching her eat a whole tomato, one slice at a time.  As I got older, I found myself craving tomatoes, but never really liking them when I would try one, or I would eat 2 bites of a sandwich with them on it, and then pick them off the rest of the sandwich.
     When I started gardening, I grew them because they were easy and my husband loves them.  Each year I would try one or two because they sounded SO good, but they never tasted good to me.  the first time I remember liking a tomato is when I worked at the Benbow Inn.  As a server, I had to know what everything I sold tasted like.  At the time there was an heirloom tomato salad with a basalmic vinigaratte and fresh basil.  It was SO GOOD!  I wish I had the recipe still.  That salad made me realize that I like certain varieties of tomatoes and thus began my search for my favorite tomato!
     For over ten years I have been growing many different varieties in my garden, some I grow each year, others do not impress me and don't get space in my garden another year.  This year I have nine varieties.  I have large bradywines for my husband to make sandwiches with.  Small cherry and pear tomatoes for my family to graze on as wander through the garden.  Some of this year's varieties are recommended for sauces and drying, and many will be used for fresh salsa.    As I wait for mine to get ripe

Blackberry Cobbler Bars

These are so yummy!  I will definitely be using this recipe again!  I am going to freeze some blackberries so I can make them later in the year.  They will be great for a bake sale our classroom treat!  Get the recipe here!

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Lemon cucumbers!

I love lemon cucumbers.  They are one of my favorites. I put them on salads, eat them with a little rice vinegar, salt, and pepper, pick them fresh and eat them like an apple, and my favorite, I make a ham sandwich on a loaf of French bread with balsamic, olive oil, pepper, and sliced lemon cucumbers!  My boys like to eat them fresh also, nothing like free, healthy snacks from the garden!

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Pickled Radishes

Pickled Radishes  We will have to grow some radishes and try this!  My family likes pretty much anything pickled!

Homestead Survival: Caramel Apple Cheesecake Dessert Dip

Homestead Survival: Caramel Apple Cheesecake Dessert Dip: http://fakeitfrugal.blogspot.com/2011/07/caramel-apple-cheesecake-dessert-dip.html

Night Fish from Usal Beach

These are night fish or Smelt that we caught with my husband's grandpa's very old dip net.  If you have never had them, they are delicious.  We catch them at certain times of the year when they are "running" and love to eat them fresh, floured, and fried!  To learn more about night fish read this on Ernie's Place or this one at Redheaded Blackbelt.  Both of these posts pretty much say it all about nightfishing.  This year we were fortunate enough to catch them twice and day fish once, so we brought some home.

These are in a brown sugar Worcestershire brine before somiking.  I got the recipe from this website!

This is the smoked fish.  They are yummy!  When we were camping I used some of the smoked night fish to make Smoked Smelt Salad Sandwiches. I mixed up a little mayo, green onion, pepper, and of course, the meat from the smoked night fish.  It was so good with crackers too!

The other recipe we tried is for pickled smelt.  My family really enjoys the wine pickled herring we buy at the store, so we thought we would try to make our own with night fish!  I got the recipe from the Take One Cookbook blog, they are only in their 4th day so we haven't tasted them yet, but I will let everyone know how they turn out.

Fresh Zucchini at last!

 Please feel free to comment with favorite recipes and uses for zucchini, as well as favorite zucchini memories!