Slaving over a hot stove

I tried something new last weekend . . . making tomato relish and tomato sauce. Where as my mother was a great bottler and preserver – I never inherited that gene. But with the world like it is, and money becoming a scarce commodity around here, the vegie garden went in. It is just a strip along the fence with tomatoes, and a wheelbarrow of lettuces to start off with, but we all have to start somewhere. The watermelon never came to anything – that was really disappointing! The pumpkin that appeared from the compost is going great guns – three pumpkins on it – and I have no idea how to tell when they are ready LOL

We have an abundant supply of tomatoes – so many that my freezer is full of them as I haven’t had the time to do things straight away with them – I’ve just picked and frozen them so they don’t go to waste.

I picked the ripe ones off the vines and used them straight away last weekend, though. It was one of those “if you feel like doing it, then do it straight away or it won’t get done” sort of moments.

I have to say that I was a wee bit disappointed at how much it all reduced down while cooking. I was thinking I was going to have a shelf full of jars, when in reality I got only five jars in total. A miserable little amount for the work that went into it! But the bottles do look nice!