yep, I missed a day...

Although I don't believe I've whined about it in this blog, I've spent the past week with my legs and feet polka-dotted with fiercely itchy bug bites.  By Friday, I had missed two nights of sleep. Showers, antihistamines, hydro cortisone creams... nothing made a dent.  The only itching worse that this used to come from chiggers during my  Kansas years.  They love to go for the tight places... waistbands, panty lines, bra bands.  But these were scattered, and too many to be spider bites... so our guess is that I'm enjoying Minnesota's high percentage of occurrence of bed bugs.  I can only hope that they bit me last weekend at Dunrovin (which is where I began to itch) and have not moved in to my own bed.

Anyway, on Friday night, I finally hit them with my friend Pat's "Master's Miracle II" gel (whose first ingredient is 'prayer') and an evening soaking in cool water with baking soda.  That seemed to calm it down enough for me to lay down for a while... and I woke up about 10 hours later, the itching still minimal, slept for another few hours and then threw myself into my Saturday.

A little more Master's Miracle and some anti-itch spray -- and, probably, the sheer passage of time -- made the day totally tolerable.  Which was good, because I spent 11 hours helping with the big annual salsa-making event a church.  It was my first time canning anything, and was lots of fun because of the other people involved.  So, the thing I created today was salsa, and here are some photos of the process.

Jamie Johnson coordinates the event. He and Copper were at the Farmer's Market shortly after 5 am, buying bushels and crates of several  types of tomatoes, onions, hot and mild peppers, celery, cilantro, leeks and scallions and garlic.

I arrived about 11 AM.   The tomato blanchers and cutters had been at work since 9 AM.

I double-gloved and went to work slicing the hottest peppers.    This is me with Jamie.

Then suddenly it was lunchtime! Roberta had sandwiches ready.  I sure know how to pick a good starting time.

What really makes the time fly is that some of the most upbeat and affirming people on the planet show up to help.  These two wonderful human beings are Lee Bauers and Fr. Tony Kilroy.

Copper Schadow is another of those people we couldn't operate the parish without.  She's the one who met up with Jamie at 5 AM for the Farmer's Market run, and she worked non-stop until 9 PM, shortly after the hardworking Tim Marzen left.  Jamie and I wrapped it up around 10 PM, hauling the cut tomatoes for tomorrow's six batches over to Soderberg's Florist. They were kind enough to let us store our ready-to-cook pots of tomatoes in their walk-in cooler overnight.

I like the aesthetics of canning... the blue graniteware pots...

... the shining glass jars and lids...

... and you just add water (boiling)...

.

... and you get something beautiful and tasty that makes delightful little popping sounds as the lids seal.


It was ALMOST fun enough that I'd go back tomorrow and help finish the last six batches... but my feet have suggested that I shouldn't deprive some other parishioner of the joys of participation.


This week I'll get to work on creating labels for these jars, as I have done other years.  It's been called S.A.B.L. Salsa (for St. Albert's Basement Ladies) but last year -- in honor of the men who work on it -- I changed it to Alberto's.  This year, at Jamie's request,  it will be a blend of the two.  It'll be for sale at the Fall Festival and Roast Beef Dinner on Sunday, October 17.  $5 a pint.  Mild, medium and hot.  Step right up!