Today is a perfect late summer kind of day.  It's about 80 degrees, sunny with a light little breeze playing amongst the drying cornstalks and causing the early fall colors to drift down onto the grass.  The chickens are happy, scratching and dust bathing and laying eggs.  I'm taking a break from homework, to the sound of Phoebe the Coonhound whuckling and wheezing in her sleep, while Max chases rabbits in his doggy dreams.

Oh, Sunday.  How I love thee.

In an earlier break from textbooks and discussion questions, I went out into the garden to address the jungle of the hoop house.  Lots of greenery greeted me, with some ripe peppers and tomatoes hidden in their depths.  Once again, I couldn't even walk into the door.  Instead, I reached in, grabbed me some vine, and started yanking it all out.  Thirty minutes later, I had a pile of former plants, a collander full of tomatoes in various states of ripeness, some peppers and a bucket of tomatillos ranging in size from quarters to fat monsters.  There was far more plant than fruit, sadly.  Next year, I am planning to do a little research on varieties that do best in greenhouses, because if I'm going to sacrifice the space in my garden to one kind of plant, dang it all but it needs to produce like crazy.  Keep your fingers crossed that there's a delicious heirloom variety out there that will fit the bill!

In any case, it wasn't a bad haul at all, all things considered.  I have a pot of tomatillos simmering away in a combination of vinegar and water.  I plan to freeze it in small cans or freezer bags, to reconstitute later as a savory sauce when combined with sauteed garlic, chili peppers, and onion.  Oh boy, that will be good come winter...almost makes me long for January. 

Well, not quite.

I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with my tomatoes and hot peppers, but tonight's dinner menu involves stuffed poblano peppers with a goat cheese-walnut sauce.  It's a version of chiles en nogada, which combines meat (I'm using some slow roasted rabbit), walnuts, raisins, onion and spices stuffed into a roasted poblano pepper and sauced over with a goat cheese-sour cream-walnut-and-white-wine concoction that is simply devine.  You can find a similar recipe here but it is one of those recipes you can mess around with and come up with something great, made out of whatever is in your cupboard or straight out of the garden.

I'm back to the books.  Hope your afternoon is a peaceful respite before the work week starts up again!