In Which Lloyd Becomes Boom Town

Several of you asked about a recipe for the tomato pie so I thought I'd tell you how I did it yesterday. And by the way, it was delicious. The picture above is what it looked like before it went into the oven although the crust had been blind-baked. For those of you who are not familiar with blind-baking, it's what you need to do with a pie crust before the filling goes in if the filling takes less time to bake than the crust and also to prevent a soggy bottom*. Now if you buy a pre-made pie crust (and no judgement here, those things are fine), there are instructions on the package as to how to pre-bake and you don't have to go through the several steps that blind-baking requires. 
The recipe I used as a sort of template yesterday can be found HERE which has good instructions for blind baking.
That recipe calls for the tomatoes to be chopped which I did not do. I slice them. Also, while I'm doing all the pre-baking, I have the tomato slices draining/drying on dish towels. I salt the slices, lay them on dish towels, cover them with more dish towels, and press on them a little to get some of the juice drained out and then let them sit there for awhile. 

I don't put my onions on the bottom below the tomatoes, either. I sort of do a layer of tomatoes and then onions, repeat. 
The topping for the pie is generally made from mayonnaise (yes, mayonnaise- this is the south and mayonnaise is simply oil and eggs with perhaps a little lemon juice or vinegar and there ain't nothing wrong with that) mixed with grated cheese and sliced fresh basil leaves if you have them. The recipe gives you the proportions for the mayonnaise and cheese. I follow those approximately. Also, when it comes to the cheese, I think you can use whatever you have and/or want. I used cheddar and parmesan. 
I mean, look- you mix mayonnaise and grated cheese and bake it over tomatoes and the miracle will occur no matter what sort of cheese you use. 
As to the baking instructions- the ones in the linked recipe are fine. 

I think a tomato pie is always going to be a little bit soggy. Now if we lightly roasted our tomatoes before putting them into the pie shell, that would not be a problem. However, you'd need a lot more tomatoes. I think if I had tons of them, which I do not, I would try that. 
Some recipes call for the addition of bacon. That's a step too far for me though. 
There are a lot of ways you can go with tomato pie. Have fun. 

I did a lot of work outside today so I am feeling especially virtuous. You know me and my need to suffer. Working outside in this heat and humidity guarantees suffering plus I got some things done so win-win. I actually put on my big girl (Levi's) overalls today which is an indication that I mean business. First thing I did was pick beans and do the garden tour. The bean vines are looking sort of shit beat and the beans were fewer in number. Whether this is a temporary pause in production or a result of those giant grasshoppers, I cannot tell you. However, I can tell you that this is ant-bityest year I've ever seen. Also, here's some good news.

The field peas are podding up! 

And now for the bad news.

The aphids are already sucking the life out of them. 

Yes. This is Florida. It isn't even July yet and the pests and pestilences are already here. Bye-bye, my most beautiful tidy garden. 
The zinnias, however, are still looking very good.

I like that one. It's a little magic. First the lavender and purple and pink ones bloom and then the deep scarlets. Next come the orange ones and then the yellows. It's all magic, honestly. 

After I did the garden stuff, I got to the real, real hard stuff. The sweat-through-your-overalls stuff. The are-you-woman-enough-to-do-this? stuff. 

Oh yeah. I was.
I had noticed that all this rain had resulted in a lot of branches falling from the water oaks in the front yard so I pulled the garden cart there and began surveying what was what. There were some actual almost log-sized branches that had come down and lots of little ones too. On top of that I noticed, while really looking, that there were vines and pyracantha and briars and Virginia creeper and bamboo all growing on and around the fences and around the trees and anywhere the lawnmower can't reach and some places where it can. So I got busy. One branch was so big I had to drag it by itself out to the burn pile and I had to cut up quite a few other branches just to get them cartable. I certainly did not get to all of the raggedy unwanted plants but I got a lot. Here's what the burn pile looks like now. 

It doesn't look that impressive but I assure you I will be sore tomorrow. I'd also toted out all of the boxes that needed to go out there.
After what just happened, though, it's going to take some time and a lot of accelerant to burn that shit. We got a major storm with a hell of a lot of lightning and thunder that shook the house to the point where I came in off the porch and the rain was a deluge. We have a few ponds in the yard now. 
Here's one of them.

I mean, no one's going to drown in one but we really did get a lot of rain. 

I think the storm has passed though. I see blue skies behind white puffy clouds although distant thunder is still rumbling. 

We're going to eat the last of last year's field peas tonight along with some green beans I picked today. Also, leftover tomato pie. A garden meal. I hope we get a few more of those, at least. The peppers and eggplant are still looking fine. 
I think Mr. Moon is going up to the cabin tomorrow although I'm not sure. I know that the weather report for off-shore fishing next weekend looks pretty good so I may not be seeing him much in the coming days. Maurice and I will survive. I've been giving him a lot of hugs this evening though. He spent all day doing his Tom and Daddy things and that man deserves to go work on the project of his heart and then to get out on the ocean. I know he'll be back and he knows I'll be here when he does. 
Unless, of course, I get a wild hair and decide to...what? I can't even imagine. 
So yeah, I'll probably be here. 

Love...Ms. Moon

*Also, a special treat tonight for you from The Soggy Bottom Boys as seen in "O Brother Where Art Thou?" If you've never seen that movie, I feel sorry for you. It's a good one.