Monday, September 28, 2009

Domestic Art

There was a time in my life when I lived every artists dream. I got paid to paint. People invited me into their homes and asked me to create a one of a kind environment for their children. Now, I know I wasn't breaking new ground in the art community. I was not teaching people to look at things in a whole new way , ah la VanGough, or making the ordinary extraordinary like Georgia, but I was putting smiles on peoples faces, and making a pretty good living while I was at it.

These days my life doesn't seem quite as chic. Instead of brushes and paints I work in jars and veggies. Today my medium of choice was a box of green tomatoes dropped off by a friend. My creative challenge was to use up all two boxes. I warmed up with a simple batch of green tomato pickles. They made a lovely background for the relish that followed. A true challenge to my imagination as I couldn't find a recipe I liked. A splash of peppers and a few stokes of onions and things were really beginning to sing. It wasn't until an experiment with a green tomato pie (it was suppose to taste like apple pie) went horribly wrong that I was reminded not every piece can be the Mona Lisa.

I may have given up good money and a exotic sounding career, for the "simple life". But hearing my kids say through mouths stuffed with fresh relish on crackers "Wow Mom, you made this!!! It's awesome!" makes me think my new contribution to this world might just be remembered after all.

Recipe for Southern Green Tomato Pickles

2 qts. green tomatoes quartered

2 cups onions chopped

1/4 cup hot peppers chopped

1/2 cup sweet peppers chopped

2 cups sugar

3 tbls. salt

1 tsp. celery seed

2 cup Cider vinegar

Put tomatoes, onions and peppers in large pot. Mix together remaining ingredients and pour over veggies. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat immediately and put into sterile hot jars and seal.

2 comments:

  1. It's pretty frustrating that all of the artistic abilities went to the one sister and not the other! I can barely conjure up enough creativity to make a scrapbook page. Proud of you Sun! And I am LOVING watching your artistic gifts continue to unfold!

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  2. I truly enjoyed reading this blog! And ... thanks for the interesting recipe!

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