Welcome Back!

We have moved!!! I think it said it all about why I wasn't here lately. I tried. But with packing, moving, two graduations, driving cross-country, unpacking, and everything in between... there wasn't much time left for blogging. 
One evening, somewhere in Arizona, while struggling to connect to a hotel's wi-fi, my son said to me: "Why are you getting so anxious about posting? Take a break, everyone needs some vacation time, even a blogger". I looked at him with admiration: smart kid! "I think I might just do that!" was all I said. 
I am so glad I did take a break. I was worn out both mentally and physically. Let me tell you, moving is no fun! Even if it sounds pretty exiting at first, when you get to the reality of actual process it's a lot of work. Well, you know that, right? 
With all that said, I did miss all of you this Summer, no question there! I am so glad to be back indeed.

Unpacking is not the only thing I did upon our arrival. Because we spent a good half of the Summer traveling my other goal was to catch the season by it's tail and preserve something for upcoming winter. 
For that I go to our Farmer's Market every Saturday, and, oh boy, what a bounty there is! I buy berries, fruits and vegetables in bulk. We eat it fresh as much as we can and the rest goes into jams, jellies, relishes, gets pickled and fermented. I experiment with the recipes, and I make things old fashioned way, a.k.a. my grandmother's and my mother's way. 

Yesterday I made this absolutely delicious tomato sauce, after which it would be really-really hard to use a store bought one. The recipe is from my mother (I am sure many home cooks have something similar in their recipe box), she always makes it in large quantities. We are talking about 50-70 liters per year here. I made a small batch to try. Tonight, teenager and his friend had last of the sauce with pork ribs.  I guess I have to do more bulk shopping for tomatoes. 

The recipe for this basic tomato sauce is very simple, the secret is in simmering this sauce for 1,5-2 hours, steering 20-25 minutes to prevent it from scorching.  

2 kg (5 Lb) tomatoes
500 g (1,5 Lb) onions
Basil leaves

Run the sauce through a food mill or tomato strainer, and it's ready to become a delicious pasta sauce (just add salt), or more intense meat sauce, or tomato soup base, or whatever you chose it to be. It tastes fantastic. Try to make it, you'll be glad you did. 

See you,
Marina