Up to Our Elbows in Tomatoes

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Mama Cormier

….that motorized food mill looks better all the time

After spending 12 hours with daughter number one on Saturday, I felt I had to extend the same courtesy to my second daughter, G.

I called G, early Sunday morning to see if she would be interested in making tomato sauce and learning how to use the pressure canner that she helped pay for. It was a Father’s Day gift for my husband who is becoming more and more conscious of the food we eat.

It took a bit of coaxing but G’s husband was away and she needed to do laundry. Being able to use my washing machine and having her father pick her up clinched the deal. G lives about 35 minutes from us, when the traffic is good. Luckily it was.

After putting a load of laundry into the machine we started the process of making our own sauce about 12 noon. A bushel of tomatoes is a lot of tomatoes. Until you start cutting them up and putting them through the hand operated food mill you don’t realize how big a job it’s going to be.

While one person fed the tomatoes into the food mill, another one turned the handle to grind them and the third person scraped the sauce from the screening and the slide into a shallow bowl. The advantage of using a food mill is that the skins and seeds are separated and deposited from a separate orifice and you can eliminate the blanching and peeling and straining steps.

This is only the beginning. We had tomatoes next to the food mill and there are more tomatoes hidden behind this pot.

We started to fill the large pot that you see behind the smaller one in the picture. After preparing one bushel of tomatoes we ended up filling that pot about 3/4 full with sauce.

Our fancy new food mill.

Once we were ready to start cooking the sauce we realized that we didn’t have enough propane for the new burner outside. I volunteered to head out to Costco to purchase a new tank and have it filled. Nobody said that making your own sauce is economical.

My trip to Costco was a nightmare. You would have thought it was Christmas. I searched the entire parking lot before finally finding a spot to park and the line-ups to pay for your purchases literally snaked halfway through the store. I wish I had taken a picture of that. The girl at the checkout said that it was just as crazy the day before.

By the time I got home it was almost 5:00 and G and my husband got tired of waiting for the propane so they started cooking the sauce on top of the stove. Now you might wonder why we didn’t do that in the first place but I think when you see the next picture you’ll see why cooking inside isn’t the most ideal place.

K standing on the ladder so that he can stir the tomato sauce.

As you can see from the picture, K literally has tomato sauce up to his elbow. Another purchase that we need to invest in is a much larger wooden spoon.

After cutting, grinding and simmering tomatoes for 7 hours we were too tired to cook dinner so we ordered in. After regaining our stamina we started the canning process. Having never used the pressure canner before we did a lot of checking on the internet and watching youtube videos to make sure we didn’t end up with tomato sauce erupting over the entire kitchen.

The process was relatively simple but time consuming. We only managed to process 7 jars last night. By 10:30 G packed up her dog, Lucy, her laundry and 3 large jars of sauce and I drove her home. By the time I got back it was going on midnight and I had no energy left to write about our experience.

“The fruit of our labour”, 20 jars minus the 3 our daughter took.

Today K processed 7 more jars and hopefully he’ll finish the rest tonight or we’ll be eating a lot of sauce this week. Is canning your own sauce economical? We figured it will take us years before we recoup what we spent on equipment but the time spent with family is priceless.

Will we do it again? Absolutely!

Cheers

P.S. By the way for those of you who are following my fitness journey, I got out this morning and ran 2.4 k with the kids at school. Feels good!

Following in the Foot Steps of the Netherlands

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Mama Cormier

A big cheer before starting the second half.

….. alas we lost today

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and the temperature was perfect for a soccer game. The girls were in a good mood, positive and upbeat. In the first half it was quickly evident that our opponents were a force to be reckoned with. Our goalie had to work hard as did the entire team to keep the ball out of our net. At half time there was no score and as you can see from the photo the girls were eager to get back in the game.

Unfortunately our luck turned and the other team quickly scored on our goal and then again a few minutes later. I’m so proud of the girls that they never gave up. They played hard right to the end.

We ended up staying in the hopes that the next team from the North division would lose against the South division so that we could play another game to determine second place. Much to our surprise the team from the North was just a little better and won the whole thing. Kudos to them!

Back at school the girls told everyone that we came in third…. which is technically true.

The Girls Won!

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Mama Cormier

… and we’re off to the city championships on Wednesday

The temperature was over 30 degrees celcius today and there was a smog warning. Luckily neither of those factors seemed to impact negatively on the girls’ soccer team. Our first game was suppose to be at 10:00 in the morning and there was still a nice breeze. Of course the soccer fields are in large open areas and the girls and coaches were exposed to a lot of sun today.

The first game was delayed because the team before us arrived 45 minutes late. This was the first of many delays today. When we finally played we won 2 – 0 and then we had to wait and see who our competitors would be. It seemed like all the other games today went into overtime and shoot outs.

Our final game took place at 2:00 in the afternoon. We were fortunate enough to find a tree to sit under while we waited. The last game was against a school with whom we have a history. In the last few years we have been unable to beat them and it was a personal goal of our principal that we defeat them this year. No Pressure!

I’m happy to say that the girls never gave up and in the second half scored 2 goals and won the West Conference Championship. Special thanks to Coach Susan and Coach Laura. Their leadership and coaching skills really paid off today.

We get to do this again in two days. Yipee!

Cheers

Ate Well, Worked Hard ……BUT Feeling the Stress

Posted on June 10, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. and it shows on the scale

Now it’s not all bad news. The weight that I’ve lost is still lost but I seem to have plateaued again. In the last 2 days alone I’ve walked at least 12 km and I’ve put in about 4 hours of gardening (mowing the lawn, pulling weeds, trimming trees and clipping the hedge … no power gardening tools at our house).

I’ve been eating a lot of salads with a protein or stir fried vegetables and fish. I can’t remember the last time I had a cookie or ice cream and I think in the last 8 weeks I’ve had bread once (one slice) and pizza twice (2 slices) and that was weeks ago. I know that I need to hang in there and that eventually the weight will come off again.

June is always a very stressful time at school. The biggest stress for me is the writing of report cards. Once I finish those I know that I can breathe a little easier and get on with the 101 other things that need to be finished….but none of these other things stress me out as much as report cards. It didn’t help that for period of time this weekend our internet didn’t work. We had to actually go out and but a new router. It amazes me how much we depend on technology even for writing report cards.

I better finish here so that I can go back and do some more work on you know what and I need to prepare some lessons for a supply teacher tomorrow. No, I’m not calling in sick. I’m actually taking the girls’ soccer team to a semi final game and if they win they will play again to see if they move on to the city finals. Wish us luck!

P.S. If the scale moves down tomorrow morning I will post a very brief update.

Cheers

A New Week With Many Challenges

Posted on May 27, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. bigger class, EQAO testing, report cards, more soccer practices, Girls on the Run, and K’s last round of chemo

I’ve probably forgot some things but I have to take one day at a time and one task at a time. Of course on top of all of this I’m trying to to get through the curriculum and I’ve assigned more projects to keep the kids engaged.

Today was a good activity and food day. I started the morning off with a nice walk/run with K and Frances. About 3 km. I spent about 3 hours working in the garden, cutting grass, trimming the edges, pulling weeds from the brick work on the patio and washing down the deck. We have birds nesting in our tree and our neighbour’s bird feeders attrack pigeons, so we have a lot of “fall out”, so to speak, to clean up.

Later in the afternoon I did a little bit of shopping and then I went to a “NOT a book launch” party. Unfortunately the word NOT did not come up in conversation when I was told about it and I expected to go there and buy a book. I stayed away from the usual party food and nibbled on some turkey and vegetables. No wine, chips, nachos, spring rolls, etc.. Feels good to be in control.

Till tomorrow!

Feeling Better About Myself

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Mama Cormier

….. all the compliments don’t hurt either!

Today was photo day for the grade five students that will be leaving us at the end of June. Traditionally the girls get all dressed up and the boys not so much (but there’s always one or two who wear a suit). This year I decided to wear a dress that I had bought at the end of last summer. I don’t very often wear dresses but I thought I should go the extra mile this year.

When I got to school I had a lot of compliments about how good I looked and some of my friends even noticed that the dress was a little bit too big. I’ve only worn it one other time. I think I’ll invest in getting it altered but I’m going to wait until I lose some more weight.

It’s interesting that I didn’t say “if I lose some more weight”. The difference on this weight loss journey is that there’s no question in my mind about my success. I am going to lose more weight.

After school the girls in Girls on the Run had their first 5 km run. I was worried about the heat today but everyone of them did it. As a coach I can’t always run with the girls because one of us has to stay behind and make sure all the girls drink their water and keep moving. Today we took turns running with the girls. I’m pleased to announce that I actually ran today and walked/ran at least 2 km.

I know that I can walk 5 km pretty easily. My goal is to run a little farther everyday until I’m running 50% of the time. I have 3 weeks and 3 days before our 5 km race to reach my goal, barring any more injuries.

Cheers!

Lack of Sleep Makes Me Grumpy

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Mama Cormier

Didn’t get to bed till after midnight. Had to stay up and watch Survivor. Not a good idea in hind sight. Up at 6:30 and out the door at 7:10 to get to school in time for soccer try outs. Met with the book club during my lunch hour and then took 2 grade one classes, back to back, to the computer lab.

I love the little ones but they’re not very patient at the best of times and today was no exception. Unfortunately the computers in the lab decided not to cooperate today. The internet worked for some students and not for others. There was a lot of whining and sad faces as they struggled to complete their cartoon strips.

I held it together for the most part but I could feel how weary my body and mind felt. By recess when I realized that I was also on duty today I was ready to cry. My friend L came out with me and let me vent for a few minutes and I felt somewhat better. I tend to internalize my stress so it’s always good when I can talk about it.

After recess my patience had worn thin and my next class had to suffer my grumpiness. I try not to let my emotions show or I will warn students ahead of time when I’m not in the best of moods. Most of the students are good but today I just couldn’t abide a couple of the boys who always use my library likes it’s the gymnasium. Time to call the parents!

Three o’clock finally arrived but now I had to get ready for day 4 of Girls on the Run.

Girls on the Run – Week 2 Day 4

Despite my exhaustion I managed to complete all the tasks today with the girls and walk/run 1.2 km. I’m running a little bit further each time I get out for long walks or ‘run’ with the girls. I have to confess that I feel like a bowl of jello. I haven’t run in over 30 years. I didn’t like it then and I don’t like it much more now but as long as I can stay injury free I think I might start enjoying it and hopefully reaping some benefits from it. A few years ago I ran on pavement for a very short distance with some students who wanted race me and I paid for it all summer with a painful injury to my foot.

The other exercise that I did today with the girls was jumping jacks. Every time the other team answered a question correctly my team had to do 10 jumping jacks and the same held true for Coach C’s team when we answered a question correctly. I think in total I did about 80 jumps. Not a pretty sight! We also did a lot of running on the spot.

After an hour and a half with the girls I went back to my classrooms (my home room and library) and tried to prepare for tomorrow. I finally left school at about 6:15.

NEW GOAL: In bed by 11:00