It dawned on me (like last week) that I had never posted my IMK October post. I really don’t know where that month went and I can’t believe it’s November. Sherry (the IMK host) is eeking out that the holidays are nigh. I’m with you girl. (You can read Sherry’s post here.)
In My Kitchen is open to anyone. Just post what’s new in your kitchen world and link up to Sherry’s post.
Are you ready for a double post today? Here goes as I combine October and November (thus far).
As of last week (Oct 30 to be exact), we experienced two hard freezes right in a row.
I’m glad that earlier in the month we were able to enjoy a final caprese salad.
I tried my best to save the spicy basil plant (pictured above) but to no avail. It’s dead now. 🙁
Before the killing freeze, I picked lots of peppers.
A lot of jalapenos have been dried…
and turned into powder.
Powdered jalapenos with some of my St. Pasquale collection.
With the final jalapenos, I made salsa verde.
I picked a few green chiles and roasted and froze them.
I almost hesitate to highlight this pepper but it was prolific this year. I dried a lot of them.
May I present the Peter pepper.
I hope no one is offended. These are a hot pepper but have a great flavor. I dried a lot of these too.
I went to the garden and flowerbeds and picked everything that was blooming for some final bouquets.
I have two curveballs this week.
First, we traveled to Kerrville, TX for the annular eclipse on Oct 14. It was amazing and I can’t wait for the total eclipse in April.
Did you know that you could use a colander from your kitchen to view the eclipse safely?
Learned this tip while we were listening to the NASA telecast that was being done live from Kerrville. We also had our eclipse glasses.
At the end of October, I was lucky enough to hear and meet Ann Patchett! 
I can’t wait to read this!
See you in December! Yikes!!!!!
If you need holiday gift ideas, check out my cookbook reviews for 2023!
It really is sad that the frost has come and ended the growing season for tomatoes and peppers. Your salsa looks yummy.
best, mae at maefood.blogspot.com
wow those Peter peppers! hilarious. I love jalapenos; how wonderful to grow them. Nope didn’t know that about eclipses and colanders. A useful tip. We did Tom lake for bookclub but i missed out cos I was sick and i still haven’t read it. THanks for using the logo and joining in with IMK. have a fab november. cheers!
I love how you are keeping your produce in your kitchen with you by drying them! It is so special indeed 🙂 I wish one day again to have a garden! That’s such a cool little trivia tidbit about the colander vs. solar eclipse, I’ll have to try it next time there’s an eclipse 🙂
You had me laughing at your pepper! And Ann Patchett is one of my favorite authors. I’d like to visit her bookstore. I will be interested in what you think of the book. I listened to it, it’s read by Meryl Streep and she’s wonderful. Time does go into high gear this time of year.
I must read that book, now on my list, thankyou. I grow a lot of chillies in our Summer, but nothing like Peter Pepper, hilarious. I also make a lovely Sweet Chilli Jam which is great to use up lots of chillies if you are interested. I am always tyring to sue them up in various ways.
Peter gave me a laugh so thank you! I am very envious of your pepper harvest, especially the jalapenos! Lucky you!