A Labor of Love

Remember this picture? I took it in September after I spent hours with a group of friends canning tomatoes. It was a labor of love, for sure. Yet deep in tomato season, I didn't realize just how much of a labor of love it was.

Fast forward to this week: more than a foot of snow on the ground, temps in the single digits or below zero, and me having a bad case of cabin fever. My new obsession with snowshoeing has curbed the cabin fever a bit, but not all of it. If given the choice, I would gladly be on a beach right now, or in a backyard somewhere, I'm not going to be picky.

The tomatoes have been sitting on a shelf in the basement since I made them. I've been rationing them, in a way. I figure I need to spread the fresh tomato love throughout the winter and well into spring. Maybe one a month, and then it will be time for spring vegetables and fruits. Which will lead to summer fruits and vegetables. And more tomatoes.

So last night, in an effort to procrastinate doing some schoolwork, I made this bolognese sauce. As I popped the lid off the jar of tomatoes to add it to the sauce, I took a whiff of the freshness. They smelled so much different than canned tomatoes from the store. It was like I added some sunshine to the pot on the stove. (Remember when those cans of sunshine from Florida were really popular? Do they still sell those?) When I took a taste of the sauce once the flavors melded together, I said to myself, "Mmmm. Yes." It was perfect.

Perfect for a mid-winter's night. Perfect for procrastinating. Perfect for embracing cabin fever.