Exotic edibles

     I love this time of year, the approaching autumn, the harvest, the grass not growing! Almost every year I make some exotic sweet to enjoy during winter.  Yesterday I made yellow tomato preserves.  I had to buy the tomatoes as I was not successful in growing any in my gravel infested yard.  I am not sure it's that they taste different or just that I am influenced by the color, like little kids who like "red" candies.  Anyway, I dunked them in boiling water to make the skins slip off.

  
     Then I peeled them.  It helps if I remember to cut a cross in the bottom before putting them in.  I hold them on a large fork and peel them quick, quick before they burn my fingers.  Then I cut the cores out and chop them coarsely.

     Here they are all peeled, well half of them.  Then I boiled them with their weight in sugar and some lemon juice and rind and lastly some ginger.

I do think they are a pretty color and yummy to boot.  My fancy labels are on the counter waiting for the jars to cool.  Visitors sometimes say they won't like them but most people eat them happily.

     On another subject, today the annual letter came from the electric company offering to spread our electric bills out so that they are the same every month.  Sounds good but Hubby figured it up and it runs about $137.00 more per year, and that's if you accept their estimate of what we will use.  Our actual last year's bills ran about $10 less per month than their estimate.  No mention was made of refunds if you don't use all the electricity every month.  So we opted to keep our same old variable rate, large in January and February and almost as large in July and August.  But cheaper the other months.  It's hard not to be cynical about this company.