Eggplant

I harvested the first eggplant yesterday!  

In fact, I think I might have waited a little too long because it was a little squishy, but I cut it up into chunks and put the chunks to soak in some cold water and salt for about 1/2 hour to an hour, and they were fine.  Then, I harvested a few cherry tomatoes and a Serrano pepper and chopped those up too.  A little olive oil and garlic in a sautee pan, some seasoning, then the pepper and tomato.  Once they cooked for a few minutes, I added the eggplant and continued to stir every few minutes (I kept it on medium to low heat).  Once the eggplant looked like it had softened and cooked through lightly, I poured in some Rao's Tomato and Basil sauce and just kept cooking the mixture til it had bubbled and cooked for about 10 minutes.  And voila!

I prepared some Fucilli, added the sauce, and we had a pretty good meal!

Just a few more blocks!

So, the baby blanket crunch time is serious now, hence no blogging! The baby shower is next Saturday, and the baby blankets are proceeding, but ... Though it is amazing what you can accomplish when the pressure is on. I hope to figure out how to do pictures on this blog soon so you can see the final products! Ah, so much to doooooooooo.

Anyway, I sort of knew that "mercerized" cotton involved doing something special to the cotton, but I just learned that it was a John Mercer who invented a process in the early 20th century that uses a solution to break down the cotton fibers to make them softer and more receptive to dye. Really interesting the info that you can pick up these days.

Ok, I gotta go back to the blankets! I promise, a better post coming soon...

Today's Thought: Soaking eggplant in cold, salted water for about a half hour makes it much easier to cook and less bitter.