This is last Friday's harvest,

Hey, those tomatoes are green! My plants are full of big green tomatoes, so I harvested some that were growing close to the ground. I ate about half of that broccoli, too far down the stem and even fresh, it's tough and stringy. If I was a pioneer, I probably would have eaten it, but I'm not. I was going to pull out the rest of the broccoli plant, but spotted Mr. Frog,

I let him enjoy and waited to pull out the broccoli until today. I've read that frogs are disappearing like the bees, but not in my yard.

Yesterday I sliced up the tomatoes and made fried green tomatoes,

Some of the tomatoes were turning red in the middle and I learned these are too soft to fry. If I do this again I will use more batter and get over my issues with not using hot enough oil. The last of the batch came out better because they fried faster when the oil was hotter. I used a Southern recipe, you dredge the slices in flour, then dip in egg/milk, then cover with a mix of salt, pepper, cornmeal, and flour. The cornmeal adds a nice crunch. I expected them to taste like fried zucchini, but they tasted like lemon. Tomatoes are a fruit, you know.

It has been a hot, smokey week with fires all around Boise. The air looks like the San Fernando Valley in the 70s. I am afraid I am not motivated to do much.

Anyone notice that the price of walnuts has gone way up?

Here is some commodities report from Dutch Valley Foods:

The walnut crop came in smaller than expected. Actually even less than last year’s crop, which had sold out early. A significant portion, about 60%, of the walnut crop has already been sold. The industry is stating that walnuts could literally run out, or at the minimum some cuts will not be available, before new crop in late fall. Walnuts are expected to remain expensive.
(http://www.dutchvalleyfoods.com/home/quarterly-commodity-market-update)

I guess raisins are going to be a problem, too.

Anyone notice that you can't buy Excedrin or Tylenol anymore? I did not realize when I turned in my recalled Excedrin earlier this year that I was never going to get any more. Supposedly the Excedrin plant closed because the FDA found problems in the Novartis manufacturing plant in Lincoln, Neb., where they make Excedrin. That goes for Bufferin, too. Whatever the problem was, you would think the plant would have reopened by now. Seems fishy to my conspiracy theory mind.

According to the Post-Tribune:

The story behind the low stocks of Tylenol is also the story of how its maker, Johnson & Johnson, found itself overwhelmed by quality-control problems known to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which in 2009, pressed the 125-year-old company to start voluntary recalls amid growing complaints about a musty, moldy odor in many Tylenol products.
(http://posttrib.suntimes.com/news/12996510-418/spate-of-recalls-keeps-tylenol-off-shelves.html)

And from the Legal Examiner:

The report details the numerous recalls that manufacturer Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has implemented over the last couple of years, due to complaints of a musty, moldy odor in the products, and later reports of contamination from a pesticide and preservative used to treat wooden pallets. Because of these various recalls—26 in all from 2009 to May 2012, affecting Tylenol and other similar J&J products—the shelves are a little light when it comes to Tylenol and Tylenol combination cold and flu solutions.
(http://newyork.legalexaminer.com/fda-and-prescription-drugs/shortage-of-tylenola-good-thing.aspx?googleid=301878

Hey, there's the FDA again! This must be why we keep hearing about drug shortages this year. Note the Tylenol brands include Benedryl, which I also recently had a tough time finding, now I know why. At least I found some.

So, there you go, two more businesses shut down by the Feds. Thank goodness I do not get migraines.