…and banana bread, chocolate chip cookies and sour dough bread.

It seems that the Coronavirus has given everyone a green thumb this year. Quarantined at home, we all channeled our inner gardeners and planted some vegetables and herbs in our back yards, on our patios, balconies, and in pots anywhere there is some sun. Many of us have also turned to our kitchens thinking we are master chefs and bakers, the end result being Covid-15. What is Covid-15 you ask? It is the 15 pounds people have gained while being quarantined for 3-4 months with nothing to do but garden, bake and eat what they have created.

Here in Southern California, we typically plant veggies in March, as our rainy season is ending. I have had varying success with my vegetable gardens, but this year is different. We planted early, and our rainy season was late, sprinkling our newly planted veggies through the end of April. They thrived and we now have an abundance of tomatoes and cucumbers this year. Last year, every one one of my tomatoes, except the cherry tomatoes, was eaten by birds or other animals.

What made the difference this time? A friend in Tucson posted several months ago that she hung CD’s from her pomegranate trees to keep the birds away and it worked. Mr. Twitchy had just cleaned out his CD collection the first two weeks of quarantine so I rescued the discards and put hung them on the tomato plants. Beatles, Beach Boys, you name the band, they are now protecting my tomatoes. And it is working!

The result is an abundance of tomatoes, large and small and endless Persian cucumbers. Now the big question is – what to do with all of this????? I have made fresh uncooked tomato sauce, tomato soup, pasta salad with grilled vegetable ratatouille and more. I am in the kitchen hours at a time trying to make something different with the tomatoes. I think I have used every cookbook, appliance and pot that I own in the last few weeks. Some days my kitchen looks like it had been bombed with tomatoes.

And then there are the cucumbers. I ordered 2 cucumber plants. When I picked them up I saw that the 2 pots had a total of 5 plants. Do you have any idea how many families can be fed by 5 cucumber vines? The raised bed where I planted them looks like Audrey, the man-eating plant from Little Shop of Horrors. They are out of control.

When I asked my daughter if she wanted any, she suggested that I make quick refrigerator pickles with them. She had the same abundance problem and could not take any of mine. So I looked up quick refrigerator pickles and now I am in the pickle business.

Seriously, the pickles are a big hit. And nothing beats a fresh picked tomato in a summer salad. Have a wonderful 4th of July.

WEGO Health Awards

Last year, a surprise nomination led to Twitchy Woman being a finalist for WEGO’s Best in Blog award. Nominations and endorsements are now open for the 2020 WEGO Health Awards. I have been nominated for 3! If you agree and would like to support me please go to this link and endorse/nominate me. Thank you for all of your support of my blog over the last 6 years. I hope we will continue together on this journey with Parkinson’s for many more years to come.