Summer in January

We are broke after Christmas and limping through to payday, it's gray and windy and cold, and we all have the Sunday-evening melancholy. This is exactly the kind of day I was thinking about when I canned all that sunny produce this summer. I brought up some jars of garden tomatoes and Palisade peaches from the basement shelves and made dinner.

I made soup with the jars of our Purple Cherokee tomatoes and a Bob's Red Mill soup mix that has beans and barley and tiny whole wheat alphabet noodles. I put in grape tomatoes (from Chile? or Mexico?) I had on the counter, and right at the end stirred in some summer basil puree we still had in the freezer. It had such bright flavor--it cheered us all up. We also had turkey burgers, a pear-dried cranberry-and apricot salad, spinach, and a homemade baguette. I have been making bread with a sourdough starter since December. It smells so good while it's baking with a pot of soup simmering above it.

We ate by candlelight and played Debussy. It was peaceful. D said it was "classy." He was making fun of me, but he kind of meant it too.

I think Charlie is going to be one of the smaller border collies. He's only eight months, so he still has some growing to do. But I don't think he'll get much bigger. He is such a joy in our house.

For dessert I made a galette with the peaches I canned in August. Golden and warm from the oven. Sun in January.