the end of summer

chris and myself out for the night

sunset in malibu

well, that was it. our so. cal. summer has come to an end. i will miss- heirloom tomatoes, all the beautiful fruit dinners in the backyard with good friends, sipping wine on the back porch with my man, nina running in the sprinklers naked, flip flops, the beach and being a little tan. what i won't miss-ants, black widows, the dogs chasing every creature that wanders though the backyard on a hot summer night, ice cream melting before i can eat it, summer clothes, being so hot i can't sleep and air conditioning.
  i am so excited to turn my raised beds and add all of the compost from my chickens poop and the veggie scraps from the restaurant! lettuces, broccoli, cauliflower, leeks and raddichio. i cant wait to start making soups and stew and curries again.
  its a special time at the farmers markets right now because there is a mix of late summer veggies and fall veggies. there is a soup that i love to make this time of year-butternut squash and roasted tomato. i will post the recipe. it freezes well too, so its a nice way to use your end of summer tomatoes, which see to just keep coming and coming. now is also a perfect time (if you can handle a hot and steamy kitchen in this heat) to make and freeze tomato sauce to use though out the fall and winter. you can also pickle your extra cucumbers, beans, fennel and onions-anything that tasted good pickled. save the jars for the middle of winter for a pickley treat!
  all four of my chickens are now laying eggs. they all lay brown eggs. i thought they were blue egg layers, but i guess not. it is really an amazing feeling walking down to the coop in the morning and getting the eggs and going back up and making scrambled eggs with toast and butter.
  we are becoming more and more sustainable here at our house. we are now making enough compost for our gardens. this was a tough feat, because i use almost all of the veggie scraps from the restaurant, and all of the leaves that the trees shed in the yard as well as the chicken poop. i have finally figured out the right recipe. i poke around in the compost, watch the chickens rummage through it, and sometime just sit and stare at it with a cup of coffee. yes, it sounds a bit strange, but i have never had such a successful compost heap in my life. im very proud. here are some random photos from this summer.

nina and sammy, morning cuddles

 a painting by my friends grandmother

popeye

cloth bought in little india

lucille

morning eggs

patio

sammy

squash blossoms