And I mean instead of TOMATOES ! This fine month of September, many of you may be in the midst of or getting ready to prepare your home-made jarred tomatoes and sauces for the coming seasons until the next summer. Have you ever thought about EGGPLANTS ? Not only as a sauce, but also as a base for other sauces and foods ?!

Eggplants, yes. They provide the same texture as tomatoes, when they’re roasted (they even smell similar) and the flesh is meatier but less tangy so you need to add some acids. Because of their large size, they’re easier and less time consuming to prepare, cook, preserve and store. You could also use the preparation for dips by adding extra ingredients like lemon juice or briny flavors and aromatic herbs to accentuate the flavors. You could use it as a spread in sandwiches or simmer meats in it. And by the way, good quality eggplants are half as costly as good quality tomatoes and they make a great pasta sauce.

It’s an alternative to tomatoes, which are always lovely but it’s a change because “change” is what we’ve all been experiencing these past 6 months and we might as well incorporate that to our cooking methods, overall approach to cuisine and eating and spending habits too.

Speaking of change and my absence this past month (that many of you were kind enough to worry about and write to me about), rest assured “It’s all good” ! It’s true that our internet has been down often and the blog is wobbly and needs fixing which is why I haven’t been able to send out the newsletters. Oh well, another task on my to-do list.

With so much free time on my hands and no work, hence no reasonable budget to pursue the home improvement plans that I had intended for this summer, with destruction and reconstruction involved, I decided to tackle every square centimeter of my living spaces, by being reasonable and economical, using my own 2 hands and efforts and courage and patience, by spending as little as possible.

I began with the balcony and terrace reorganization, re-flooring and repotting of all plants. I then proceeded to reorganizing the cellar. Since I had freed up that space in the cellar, I began a complete dismantling and reassembly and transfer of all storage units in the apartment and everything that they contained, storing barely used things in the cellar. It was followed by a deep-cleaning and better reorganization of every closet, cupboard, drawer, shelf and storage box. Finally, every wall, ceiling, baseboard, door, doorframe, window sill, tile, floorboard and furniture piece and object was repaired, washed, disinfected and brightened. 

This represented almost 2 productive months of work because I kept on living my normal and peaceful daily life. I prefer to take my time and do all reorganization and cleaning stuff correctly and in minute detail, instead of rushing it in a half-way done approach and getting back to it again in a few months. 

I guess that the next step is to get some paint and brushes and perhaps  launch myself in that phase in a few weeks … I’m still thinking about it.

Now go get yourself a few kilograms of eggplants and start cooking … :)