Apples and Fried Green Tomatoes

Nico had Friday off from school so we took a trip to the Aquarium. We got there a little early and so we sat in the car eating our snack, and we were pleasantly surprised when a train decided to pass by. Nico was excited about that. At the Aquarium we saw a turtle eating sand. That evening around the dinner table, Guy asked Nico what he saw at the Aquarium and he told him turtle. eat. Then he signed sand. Sure do love it when Nico tells us about the things he sees. He is repeating so many more words and phrases. It is a marvel to be able to communicate with him on this level!

Saturday we went to the Market. We walked to one of the fountains downtown, and then ventured into a game store to look around. It's never too early to get Christmas ideas! :)

On Monday my cousin Sarah came over for a visit. Nico, Sarah, and I spent some time coloring on Nico's collection of fuzzy posters. It was so great to see her and to catch up!

On Wednesday I went to Nico's school to volunteer for the first time. This week is apple week so I cut out a lot of apples! I didn't get to see Nico in his classroom, but it was fun thinking that he was in very close proximity to me. In another two weeks I'll be volunteering again.

For apple week, Nico and his classmates are learning about the life cycle of apple trees. Today they got to taste three different kinds of apples and choose their favorite one. Then they made apple pies. Homework was coloring three different apple trees: one for Spring, Winter, and Fall.

This week we also picked the rest of the tomatoes in our garden and tried out a few green tomato recipes. Nico LOVES picking tomatoes.

You can also see the small leaves of a chard plant sitting on top of the bowl. None of our beans or greens grew very big this year. I'll do some troubleshooting and try again next spring. I think the bulk of our crop next year will be beans. Probably 1 tomato plant, and maybe a lettuce or two. 

So the first recipe I tried was fried green tomatoes. I didn't add enough seasoning and Guy said they tasted much like breaded broccoli stems. ha ha! So I spiced 'em up the second time around and Guy loved them! Adding sugar to the mix seemed to make a difference.

With the rest of the tomatoes I made a salsa. Just green tomatoes, 1 jalapeño, 1 red onion, 1 clove garlic, some olive oil, and that's that! I pureed it all in our food processor and Guy ate it with chips. Yum. Garden success!

On to next week!