Sauce day, 2012.


The yellow acorn squash is going to be my dinner tonight, sliced in half, scooped out and filled with brown sugar and butter, baked until soft.

For the first time since I moved here, it is cool. Actually 54 F right now. That will make the day much better. Last year it was 94F. Yuck. I started early. Cleaning, mostly. I scoured the sinks and washed all the pots, pans and tools with soap and bleach. Counters, stove top, etc. three hours of that! Now I have been washing, chopping, pureeing and food milling the tomatoes. That is the hardest, most laborious part. It should take another two hours. The stock pots are simmering-down the liquid tomato sauce. They have to cut the water by about 30 percent. That will take all afternoon. Then I add the ingredients - everything from the herbs and spices to the molasses, honey and vinegars. Then another three or four hours of cooking before I wash the jars and lids and begin the hot process of canning the BBQ sauce. Way late tonight I will be shooting Aleve and Tequila. Pray for me. If you are not a God-follower, toast me.