Saturday, October 23, 2010

Hold Everything & Roast Tomatoes

This year hasn't been so good for tomatoes in California, but my mom had a nice little backyard crop. And thankfully, they're still plentiful in the farmers markets.... because you must make these immediately!


It will take you all of 4 minutes to prepare. You do have to roast for 3 to 4 hours, but when these puppies come out of the oven, you will thank me. You will, I'm telling you.

Juicy, sweet (I mean, like candy sweet), and healthy (did that kill the appeal?)! They're better cold, but I am totally not discriminating.

Here's how you do it:
  • Preheat your oven to 275F
  • Cut your medium-sized tomatoes in half (cut top to bottom)
  • Toss them with a little olive oil
  • Put them on a cookie sheet, cut side UP
  • Sprinkle with salt and pepper
  • Roast them in the oven for 3 to 4 hours
  • Take them out when they're wrinkly and a little syrup-y
  • Send Sara a thank you note
So easy. So delicious.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Dry Spell

I've had a bit of a dry spell. We've been traveling and not much creating has been going on around here. I did make a baby quilt for my friend's new little girl, but did I take a photo before sending it off? No. I forgot. But, I have another one very similar, so once that's complete, I'll show you that one (does that sentence have too many commas?).

Because I am so awesome, I break the dry spell with reusable snack bags (!) that I will probably not use (or reuse). Not that I'm opposed to it - these particular ones are just a bit too juvenile for me to bust out in the nursing lounge without having to defend... Anyhow, I made them with a former nursing friend in mind. She dislikes (and doesn't use) plastic snack baggies, so I'm going to send these to her for some testing out/feedback. She and her two little ones can try them out.

Enough talking, here are the bags.


Some new orange polka-dot fabric, lined with royal blue ripstop, and Velcro to close it up. It would have been awesome of me to make them sandwich-sized. Woops - next time.


I got super fancy on my first attempt with iron-on vinyl and a peek-a-boo window...


However, there was a major design flaw...


Pretzels falling out the back when shut is no bueno. I should have made the inner flap shorter than the outer, and put the Velcro on the outer flap. But I hated the black binding, it was too labor-intensive, and now I have a reason to can the design.