the potted cherry tomatoes ....

It wasn´t  my plan to have any tomatoes in my garden. I once potted a normal tomato newbie, it grew big but never had any fruit nor flowers... From that time on, I have avoided to include tomatoes in my list of vegetables for my container garden. This season though, I never thought that planting cherry tomatoes in pots would be a success. 

In fact, it´s even more than a sucess!!!

We live in a townhouse (rowhouse)  in the outskirts of the city that has  a 

small backyard. The backyard has conifers that we planted on 

all three sides  to make the garden a bit closed and private. 

The conifers , hibiscus are slug resistent and some of my flowering pots contained 

geraniums which the slugs do not like at all. Of course, all flowering plants such as 

begonia, petunias & co. are either hanging or attached to the walls using 

plantholders from Spain. The slugs would have a fiesta 

if  my veggies were planted in the backyard.

 I have learned my lessons on the slugs... our backyard could never be a venue 

for my vegetables. Good that I still have an option and turned my 

top terrace of 9 sq.meters into a container garden... . We seldom use 

the terrace anyway, it´s just too hot up there!

Since years, I´ve been planting my veggies particularly the salad greens 

in cracker containers. the rest veggies are in 5 gallon plastic pots...  
Plastic pots are good, they never ruin your back compared to the 4 big clay pots 
I have,  particularly when you move the plants here and there to 
get maximum sunlight.

This season, I bought 2 newbies of cherry tomatoes and gave them a try.

As the days went on... each grew and grew more than 2 

meters high and started to flower, many flowers... Yuhuu!!!

I planted them in 2 five-gallon pots with ordinary garden soil.  Never did I 

think that this would be a thriumph, really!!!

I was so excited to see the first clusters of green tomatoes. I was so proud 

of my green thumbs  and felt so happy :-))

The first harvest had not been many , I  braised them to accompany the 

other veggies in the pic below ... hmmmm!

So, as the tomatoes got red everyday, I harvested them... sometimes in one picking, I could gather 800 -900 grams.. and they are so awesomely crispy!!!  I started roasting them and put them in sterelized containers adding olive oil to just cover them to prolong the

shelf life ....just like the way Oma  (hubby´s grandma) used to do it her way. 

The easiest way to prepare them was to ovenroast with lots of herbs. I used them in almost any serving. I just let the olive oil drip in a container... the oil drippings can also be used for other cooking purposes because of its aroma. I love using the oil drippings for the Stir-fried rice or by simply topping a slice of baguette or brown bread with it.

Below is  the process on how I roast the cherry tomatoes 

Garlic Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

Ingredients: 

800 grams cherry tomatoes, washed and dried-up

3 cloves of crushed garlic

1/2 tsp dried thymes

1/2 tsp dried basil

2 leaves bayleaf, each cut half

1 tbsp soy sauce

1/3 cup olive oil

salt & pepper

1 pinch of fine sugar

How to roast:

Pre heat oven to 200°C.

1.

Line an oven tray with baking parchment/sheet.

Arrange the tomatoes on the tray, add the crushed garlic,  

 sprinkle the olive oil on top of the tomatoes and add the rest of the ingredients.

I use my hand to mix everything so that all other ingredients coat the tomatoes. 

2.

Place the oven tray on the lowest rack of the oven and roast tomatoes in the preheated
 oven with  temperature of 200°C for the first 20 minutes,
 then reduce heat to 180°C and roast for another 30 minutes turning tomatoes every 
now and then. the skin should get crumpled as in the pic below.

3.
Remove the bay leaf and place the  tomatoes in the sterilized jar, add the olive oil just to cover the tomatoes. Close the lid tightly and store in the refrigerator. Once opened, consumed within 3-4 days. 

Home Sweet Home

In the second batch of my harvest, I oven roasted the tomatoes once more and used them for the tomato tart below. Here, I used a ready made dough for the crust which I blind-baked. Then,  I fried one sliced onion, add this to the 3 beaten eggs and 2 tbsp creme fraiche, seasoned with salt & pepper then add everything to the crust. Baked for about 40-50 minutes or if the test toothpick comes out clean, then the tart is ready.

That´s it for today!

Wishing you all a nice weekend!

xoxo, 

Mercy

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Home Sweet Home

the lavenders....

It already rained in the morning and at lunchtime, it´s an on and off situation... sometimes the sun showed up... then disappeared. But it´s those thick clouds that made me nervous going out in the pouring rain, you´ll never know ....until we went brave and just simply got into the car and drove... we were going to visit Oma´s grave at the Grinzinger Friedhof.

The grave of Gustav Mahler, the famous classical music composer

     Grinzinger Friedhof at the 19th District, Vienna

 Grinzinger Friedhof in Döbling is located in the  19th District. It´s 

the resting place for the  rich and famous, bankers, noblemen of the 

Austrian Society. It´s a very small cemetery that was founded

 in the beginning of  the 20th Century...Though, it´s story goes back 

to the middle of the 19th Century, 

My husband´s grandmother was lucky to have gotten a plot in the 1950`s. 

Nowadays, to get a plot here is almost impossible.

And so we went to visit grandma and we were so surprised that her grave is almost 

covered by the lavender growing on the plot beside hers... The bees were all over the flowers and I was careful not to bother them... and I did cut the so many stalks and one of the bees stung my finger.... Awtsch!!!!

The smell of the lavender is so wonderful and I just love it.... and so instead 

of bringing the cut stalks to the compost, I brought them home and 

made a bouquet and have this in the garden.

The scent is all over the seating area and we´re enjoying it...hmmm,  but maybe 

not the moths, LOL!

Thank you for visiting me! Wishing you a nice Tuesday!

Until next time...

xoxo, Mercy

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it´s gladiola time ....

Yes it is..... gladiola time! 

They´re here again and blooming so wonderfully on that field 

a few meters away from our house.. 

These are the ones I cut & picked today and arranged them in a tall vase.

Looking so good, the pink ones are the

 loveliest shades for me.

So many varieties and all with beautiful colors... each is so unique  and has its  

own characteristics. Each bloom seems to be smiling at us awaiting

 to be cut!

From dark hues to lighter shades, they all stand out on its own.  

My favorites are the ones with pastel colors especially the pink and violet ones.

 The buds of each stalk  started to open end of last week ...  they´re just 

beginning to bloom now and already spreading joy 

to all passers-by.  

I just hope the blooms will still be  there til Fall!  But that would be 

impossible because they are for sale, everyone´s 

picking and picking each day.

Oh well, just maybe!

Have a great Tuesday!

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vintage cups & saucers....

I can still remember how she took those pieces out of her display cupboard and set the 

table for the afternoon coffee... A delicious cake was already placed on the table and 

coffee was brewing.
Oma, hubby´s late grandmother, used these mismatched cup and saucer sets 

 only once when we celebrated  a Christmas afternoon in her home in the late 80´s. 
Oma had been collecting these for years!

I never get to know the story behind each of these beautiful pieces. And I´m not really

 sure whether they are considered collector´s pieces at all. 

But, whatever  category they may fall in, I consider them  all beautiful pieces.... 

pieces that were handed-down by Oma to my mom in-law and now to me.

Each piece was very thinly manufactured.... and one can feel their sensitivity when the 

cups are stack together and that magical "zing sound" echoes all over the room.

You will have the impression when hearing the sound that the pieces are so delicate.

I only wash them by hand.  We have various coffee and teapot sets at home for

everyday use or for special occasion....and so these pieces

 are going to be placed in a glass cupboard....yes, only in a glass cupboard....  

...and will probably not to be used in any of the coffee parties.

Hope you enjoyed this blog!

Thanks for visiting!

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