chromedome

They won't be quite as sweet as the days grow shorter, and they won't be quite as sweet if they're picked more than a couple of days before peak ripeness (the best you can expect from a commercial grower). I have some 10 lbs or so ripening off the vine in a sunny spot right now, simply because they've fallen off the vine of their own accord or when I've brushed them in passing (the Romas seem really prone to doing both). Still have lots on the vines, so we'll see how they make out. Currently the 7-day forecast looks good, but I'll be in NS for a few days past that so it'll be tense.

I bring them home occasionally from Costco for the grandkids (strictly by request, if they don't ask they don't get 'em). Their mom generally tries for slightly healthier snacks like granola bars (just as much sugar, but some good stuff sneaking in there as well).

Those look very like what I know as a "Wagon Wheel" here in Canada, though I'm sure there are plenty of international equivalents.

My GF and I have a variation of this disagreement, in that she only likes thick soups: purees, cream soups, etc. I like them well enough, but eat broth-y soups more often than thick ones, by a ratio of maybe 5 or 6 to 1. So I'll often make a base soup, then remove 1/4 to 1/3 and puree it (and thicken further as needed) for her. I eat soup a lot more often than she does, because she eats just twice a day and her breakfast-time corresponds with my dinnertime, so that ratio works for us. Early in our relationship, when discussing meal options, I'd suggested soup and was stupefied by her response that "Soup isn't a meal!" Eventually I came to understand that this is because she grew up in a non-cooking family and "soup" was automatically Campbell's, divided between three siblings. So for her it was something you ate with a sandwich, or before the main dish; whereas for me hearty homemade soups (accompanied by nothing more than a slice of homemade bread) were a standard weekday meal.

At first glance my eye interpreted the cat-cutout and the toy truck as a chainsaw, which struck me as an odd decor choice. Then I blinked and it all came properly into focus. I've been dealing with our winter's firewood lately, so I'll blame it on that!

Doing it because you have to is a great motivator.

Ararat brand tahina/tahini is being recalled for salmonella, in Ontario and Quebec. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/ararat-brand-tahina-recalled-due-salmonella?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23

I grow a chard called "perpetual spinach," which is bred to stay spinach-sized and spinach-tender even when mature (but which is less sensitive to heat than spinach, and won't bolt). It could be that, or some similar cultivar.

Last night was our first "risk of frost" in the forecast (not a frost warning, but still...) so I covered up the more sensitive plants. I have the fixin's to construct better covers for them, and will do over the next week or so, but hadn't had the time to this point. I have two more baby watermelons that just might make it, given a bit of assistance, and maybe a half-dozen cantaloupes. That would be a real triumph, given the circumstances (the loss of my greenhouse, the weird weather, etc). ETA: Everything seems to have come through this first test just fine. The bell peppers are looking slightly unhappy, but I'm sure they'll be fine once the sun hits them.

In her second pregnancy my ex had a sudden fixation with pickles, which ordinarily she didn't much care for. Then, with equal suddenness, she was hit with an obsession over ice cream... plain, inexpensive vanilla ice cream from the supermarket. She oscillated between those two for a month, and then was mortified one day when the penny dropped and she realized that - at least in her case - the old cliche about "pickles and ice cream" actually had some basis in fact. She suffered terribly from nausea during both pregnancies, and in fact hyperemesis during the first pregnancy nearly killed her (she spent a week at the hospital after we finally figured out that she was in real danger).

Clearly you are my brother from another mother. I recently cut myself on sugar, which impressed even my daughter (who's no slouch in the self-injury department herself).

Another brand has been added to the enoki recall. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/super-brand-enoki-mushroom-recalled-due-listeria-monocytogenes?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23

Still more energy drinks are being recalled over "caffeine content and labeling issues." https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/various-brands-caffeinated-energy-drinks-may-be-unsafe-due-caffeine-content-and?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23#wb-auto-47

...and, yet another recall of enoki mushrooms. Only known to affect Ontario as yet, but that could change. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/golden-mushroom-brand-enoki-mushroom-recalled-due-listeria-monocytogenes-2?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23