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06:32 am oulangi [Link]	Real life with recipes! Yesterday I had jury duty which was as tedious as I'd been led to expect. It was also incredibly depressing. I was assigned criminal court instead of civil - which has the benefit of more interesting trials I suppose - and just about every person I talked to was on some drug trial. But Oh GOD it was depressing. Why didn't any of the online blogs about jury duty tell me that? Or give actual helpful advice like, bring hand sanitizer? The building was rather like a run down high school - complete with a hassled cafeteria crew serving up Salisbury Steak for lunch. We were cattle, nothing more - and while I get the civic duty argument, it's completely impractical to expect people to be able to take 70 days off of work to serve as a juror for the whopping compensation of $15 a day. At least offer minimum wage, it would provide some motivation for the system to run efficiently. There were two 70 day trial panels put together my day, and one 21 day panel. I was lucky, I sat in a room and did a puzzle of a little cottage on the Swiss Alps. Twice. It was a miserable place full of miserable people. I felt awful for the people working there, it must steal your soul to be in a place like that day after day. They all had that frozen expression, slow talking I-deal-with-stupid-people-all-day-long PTSD that I see on my co-workers towards the end of the Dinah Shore weekend, only much, much worse. There's no spa day with mud wraps and never dealing with another fucking woman (until next year) reward at the end of their tunnel. Just another day with more functionally retarded jurors in that awful building. After that I decided I needed a reward before returning to the tomato harvest from hell. My tomatoes have decided to all fruit at once - no idea what the hell I did wrong. I staggered the planting so I *should* have ended up with a few every few days. Instead I get a minimum of ten beefsteak size every day. I have tomatoes taking over the house. If anyone knows any good tomato recipes that freeze well - PLEASE TELL ME! I'm desperate here! Here's yesterdays bucket: Note the almost ripe tomatoes on every damned plant. I'll get that many again today. I also thinned out my green onions (It's amazing how well things do when I remember to water them!) and pulled the non sprouting bulbs out. Yeah I know, I need to weed. I WILL I'm just tired all the time and so busy! So I made Greek style stuffed tomatoes from almost entirely ingredients I grew (I bought the olive oil, ground lamb and rice) Shown here with a watercress, sheep feta and tomato salad dressed in a light oil/balsamic/thijm dressing It's incredibly easy to make: Make a cup of rice - I do mine N/E African style: I fry 1/2 cup rice in oil until if crisps and browns ever so lightly, then add the water / salt and cover. Slice the tops off 4 - 6 large tomatoes and scoop out the guts. Set both aside. Brown 3/4 lb lamb with garlic & onion. Add 1/2 a green pepper chopped fine. Add a smidge of cinnamon Add like 1/4 teaspoon and juice from a lemon. Fresh squeezed is important. When I make this for other people I use the juice of 1/2 a lemon, but when it's for me I use the whole thing. I like the tartness with the lamb-y flavor. Add about a teaspoon of fresh chopped oregano and the tomato guts. It should be a bit juicy. Cook another minute or so, then add the finished rice. Now you *can* roast the tomatoes in butter first, but that’s more N/E African than Greek. I didn't bother, instead I stuffed the lot and baked it for 20 minutes at 350.
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