Ellipsis Weekend Cooking... Zucchini And Tomato Tartlets

 

Zucchini and Tomato Tartlets With A Cheddar Crust - NYT - Recipe

"A tomato may be a fruit, but it is a singular fruit.

 A savory fruit.

 A fruit that has ambitions far beyond the ambitions of other fruits."

~ E. Lockhart

Oh my. Have you checked the latest food recall lists? The last thing I read about was. Reds All Natural Breakfast Burrito with Steak Cilantro and Lime. Sigh. Again, so far, my state of California hasn't been affected much regarding recalls, but I am pretty concerned about when that shoe will fall, and we will be right in the center of a doozy of a recall. But, for now, I am doing my best to not become too hypervigilant about this whole situation, but things are fairly spooky. 

Mr. Stripey

Anyway, how about a nice little tomato and zucchini tart, or two, to enjoy on a lovely summer afternoon? I love tomatoes in summer and fall, Heirloom tomatoes like Mr. Stripey in particular. They're all good! In fact our love for fresh tomatoes took on some added enjoyment, when we began our own tomato garden several years ago!  As far as I know tomatoes are not under recall, at least not as of the writing of this post, so why not enjoy some yumminess?

 Just wash, and cook, thoroughly!

The Spruce Eats has a really great guide to different tomato varieties.

95 Days, Knucklehead

 

95 more days until the midterm election and we

 flip the House of Representatives, and the Senate.

95 Days.

Then it's all about those three little words...

Impeach

Convict

 Remove

95 More Days.

Update: The Knucklehead said this today, isn't it treason to give aid and comfort to our enemies. I'd say publicly letting Iran off the hook for the recent cyberattack on the utilities in Minnesota, and the likely attack on 7 other states! And impeachable offense I believe!

95 days to go, pass the popcorn please.

Yes, I've lost my stressed out mind!

A Never Ending Stream Of L's And P's

"A different language is a different vision of life."

~Federico Fellini

The cats ran across my computer keyboard again! You see, it was all about the nom noms that were sitting on my desk. This is a fairly long story, but I will try to shorten it a bit. Temptations Cat Treats, are a big hit in our house. They have been for many years. Dylan, in particular, loved them. Joey loved them too, but it wasn't until we tried the dairy flavored yummies that he became a true believer. Temptations seems like a great product, and it makes the boys happy, but with the price of things, well, it's getting way too expensive to keep buying them treats. That fact saddened me. Joey asks for so little. Those treats perk him right up, and he seems to get a little extra pep in his step when he has some in the afternoon. Joey misses his best friend, Hendrix, he just never got over him, so any little thing to make him happy, I'll do. Who else am I going to spoil?

Oh right, Simon and Tyler. I am currently spoiling them too. So back to the point, I had to figure something out. And I did. Back in the 80's, on an episode of Roseanne, Roseanne's kids were sure that they'd hate having to eat an off brand cereal. Yuck, who would want to eat cereal from those big bulk bags, after all, Kellogg's Corn Flakes are clearly much more tasty then any other brand, especially the knock-off variety. Then came the big shock, Roseanne had been buying the bulk cereal, and pouring it into the original empty cereal boxes! WOW! What a crappy, yet economical idea! So, while I hate the deception, and the lying to of one's own children, folks had to stretch a dollar in the 80's too any way possible. So, instead of buying their nom noms at $8 a container, I tried purchasing a 3lb bag of the regular, dry cat food, and pouring the tidbits into empty cat treat containers! And... as you might expect... they had no idea that it wasn't their favorite expensive noms.

Now I know what you're thinking, they're cats, of course they didn't know the difference, well, you don't own my cats! They are not easy to fool, but for some reason it worked this time. In fact it worked a little too well! I had two full containers sitting on my desk, for nom nom time before bed, but one of my little goons waited until I went to bed, and lifted the lid on the container, with I assume, their nose, and helped himself to a little extra midnight snack. And as they enjoyed their ill gotten gains, they decided to spend a little time, driving my AI Copilot a little wacky and a bit sarcastic! One thing I will give my boys, they didn't make a mess, they didn't knock anything over, they just did a little keyboard surfing. I suspect that Simon was the ring leader. He's scary smart sometimes, but it's all good. I love the moments my kids give me. We just made a new memory... what could be wrong about that?

The Full Buck Moon

 

"I will never be a morning person, for the moon and I are too much in love."

~Christopher Poindexter

Full Buck Moon

Tuesday, July 29th, 2026

Ellipsis Movie Of The Week... Minions

 

Scarlett Overkill: Work for me, and this will be yours... respect, power and...

Stuart: Banana!

~Minions 2015 IMBD

Cast: Alison Janney, Sandra Bullock, Michael Keaton, Jon Hamm, Geoffrey Rush, 

This cool little movie came out in 2015, and I am just seeing it now! In fact, I watched it this past week, and thoroughly enjoyed the break from the reality of being a grown-up! I am going to be watching a lot more of these movies, because life is just too short to dwell on the distress of being an adult American in 2026! I was under a lot of stress in 2015, I was scared, and depressed, in the middle of a BIG move. It was the move that meant I would now be living in the San Joaquin valley. I could have used a day at the movies, just escaping from the stress of what ended up to be, the worst summer of my life, but I was so busy, I didn't even realize this adorable film had even been released! And that was is a shame, it would have been just what the doctor ordered! I'm sure you've seen it with your kids or grandkids, but it you haven't, watch it for yourself, I can't recommend it enough! Especially if you need a little while to visit with the kid who still lives in you!

Banana!

Music From The Movie

Happy Together

The Turtles

My Generation

The Who

Sleepy Squish

 

"Cats are the visible soul of a house."

~Jean Cocteau

Simon's nicknames have fully emerge I think, but you never know, he could develop more as we move along as a family. Right now he is called Simon, but also, Squish, Squishy Face, and the Mighty Simon. He makes the most adorable squishy face, when he is tired, or annoyed, or when he's happy for that matter. He is just a dream to photograph, and I might be a proud mama, but I don't think he can take a bad picture!

That's my little boy, the Mighty Simon. My Squish.

I Recall The Recall

 

Pexels (Free download) Photo Credit: Ekrulil

"You can't see bacteria, they're everywhere, so keep it clean."

~USDA

Do you practice food safety? Do you wash your hands, before and after handling food? Do you know the proper cook temperature and time on your homemade meals? How about cross contamination of your foods? Do you ever wonder what the food handling protocols are for the meat packing plants are? How about the fruits and vegetables... how are they deemed safe?

Do you know what products are currently under recall?

Personally, I am terrified of catching food poisoning. I've had salmonella once in my lifetime, so I have NO interest in experiencing it again. Both hubby and I wear kitchen gloves when working with uncooked foods. We separate ingredients to lessen the chances of cross contamination. Like on the cooking shows, prepare your work space, and have all the components of the meals chopped and measured separately when indicated. I was all surfaces as I go, so clean up is easier. Do your research about cutting boards. And the temperature probe is your friend. Refrigerate as directed, and writing the recommended expiration dates on the containers is such a nice way to keep track. It sounds like a lot to do, but it's really not. Experiencing "exploding diarrhea" is a lot more time consuming, and not nearly as fun!

As with Covid-19, the Trump administration isn't going to be very helpful about letting us know the statistics. We have to educate ourselves. You can contact the FDA, or the Department of Agriculture, if you trust them, but you can also check with local health departments for information, and the CDC lists recent recalled items. But reading from different sources, and checking with your personal physician is great too. Look, just take care of yourselves. We are heading into autumn, children will be back in school, and different pathogens will be making the rounds again, so be prepared. Stock up on basic over the counter stuff now. Don't wait for Trump to make it all cost more!

I think it will be well into the autumn before I try eating a salad again. If you have a favorite restaurant, check with your county health department regarding their current safety rating. Have they ever received a warning? Have they been shut down? what you find might be surprising! I still can't bring myself to buy, Boar's Head, lunchmeat. If you haven't heard about that nightmare, click the link below. Ugh.

NBC News

Boar's Head Indefinitely Closes Virginia Plant tied to Deadly Listeria Outbreak.

Take care of yourselves.

Wired

CDC Has Cyclospora Lab. Doge Downsized It Last Year.

Recalls, Market Withdrawals and Safety Alerts

Food Safety Charts at FoodSafety.gov

There are several PDF's you can download that details, Safe Food Handling, from the FDA.