Vanilla recipe

I have been enjoying my homemade vanilla that I had posted about earlier. Now that it has developed a nice color and flavor and has been refreshed a number of times, I thought it would be good to revisit the subject.

The vanilla recipe I used came from make some vanilla extract.

Pictured is my current stock.

Here is how it looked when first assembled.

I picked up some Indian vanilla beans from Stone Cottage (my favorite spice store), and some cheap vodka from my local liquor store.

Freezing Apricot Pies

Over the winter and spring we like to have "fresh" peach and apricot pies. We do this by making up the fillings and freezing them in pie pans until they set. Then bag them in gallon freezer zip-lock bags.

Tromboncino squash

I still have (well, had) two tromboncino squash fruits from last fall's harvest.

I have been impressed by how well they have kept over the winter. I just had them set on a shelf in the basement. I've had a couple of them develop a little bad spot at the end that then starts to rot. Once I cut that part off the rest is in good shape.