Remembrance of things autumn

As overcast is the norm here in Zagreb, plus some serious cold from yesterday morning, I decided it is time to finally write the last post of the season. It may look like a selection of fruit and vegetables photos – which it is of course. The only thing going for this selection is that they are all Pruga fruit and vegetables.

Now safely in our freezer or in the jars. Jam jars were left at Pruga to wait for late spring and new guests.

Lots of carrots. Annoyingly, carrots are not that easy to store for winter so they keep young and beautiful. I put some in the sand but transporting that to Zagreb proved a bit silly – you need a lot of  (heavy) sand for only few carrots. Still, one small box was done as a test. In the end I froze the rest for soups and casseroles even if they say they will not be very flavourful. Note for next year – two people and a cat need lot less carrots.

Another note – two people and a cat need more beets. These were gone in few meals after the last crop. I would have loved to pickle some for winter.

Apples I canned for the first time for pies. Definitely taste better than frozen. Will do more of that.

Ah, tomatoes. They started wonderfully and then was too hot and soon after too wet, so some got ill, some never ripened. And sadly, I didn’t save all the seeds after that first wonderful crop so will have to order some or get some from my friends who were better organised than me. I went a bit crazy with the number of seedlings this spring so shared quite a few.

Note no 3 – take seeds from the first and most wonderful looking ripe ones – second good looking crop may never come – don’t be greedy and don’t eat them all. This actually sounds like life advice of sorts. Hmmm…

On the other hand, green tomato jam (with lots of lemon) is not to be underestimated.

Chard is always good.

I just bought Plenty by omnispresent Yotam Ottolenghi – even having only made one recipe so far I think I can say that I see why is he famous. Plus it is a wonderful read if your hobby, as mine is, is reading cookbooks. Yotam likes chard – there are lots of interesting recipes for them in the book.

There were wonderful sunny days this autumn.

But when it started getting like this:

…after one mushroom hunt….

…we decided it is time to pack up and move to the city for winter.

(Mushrooms hunting. Amazing experience. I never went and somehow didn’t even imagine that the forest can be so full of so different kinds at the same time. We weren’t lucky at finding any porcini or significant quantities of other edible ones that Tone knows. I put to one side the fact that I probably wouldn’t dare eat any even if Tone said they were ok. It was raining and it was magical. Hopefully will go again. Thanks to Tone for taking us! In the end, we come across some black trumpets,  which every book says cannot be mistaken for any other kind so we picked some. Not enough for a risotto, but enough to dry a few and add as a flavour enhancer to stews.)

We robbed Mju Mju of wonderful freedom and excitment of Pruga and Lovrinići.

Time now for intellectual pursuits. I hope ear to head size ratio has no negative impact on intellectual capacity.