You All Are So Smart

And really good looking, too.

I never do giveaways because I never feel like I have anything worthwhile to give except my book and the only ones of those I have left are the Navajo Quilt Edition. I could knit you some socks but it would be next year before you got them and that sort of negates the whole Immediate Gratification that one associates with the Blogosphere.

However, since you asked for it AND since I have no idea if it's even legal to ship relish and pickles around the country...Announcing the Relish My Relish Giveaway! Just leave a comment and...well, let's see...you all know everything about ME, maybe tell me a little bit about yourself. OR just tell me what you'll do with the tomato relish and pickles. Or just tell me how you found my blog, if you remember. Leave some sort of comment by next Friday, September 4, 2009 at midnight EST. I'll use one of those bloggy number widgits and choose three winners at random.

I'm so excited! I love the idea of sharing my garden's bounty and I love the idea of getting to know my fantastic readers. Let me know if you're a knitter and maybe I'll throw in some yarn. And/or my book.

Comments

Unknown said…
I began reading your blog back when you made the other tomato relish in 2007. I was fascinated by your story of the courthouse in your father-in-law's town. I continued reading because I liked reading a blog written by a fellow Texan. Then you moved, but I have stayed on. I am also a knitter, which I think is how I found your blog in the first place.
Unknown said…
Oops! Of course you're still a Texan, even if you do live in NY for the present.
Candy said…
You're willing to mail to Texas? Girl, I'm in! I've tried and tried, but I can't grow anything. My father in law used to keep a garden and I'll can tomatoes and tomato sauce for our families and split it with him, but he doesn't do it anymore. I LOVE garden canned stuff... yummmm *drools*
Annabanana said…
Whoohoo...that goes for FL too? I did not plant a garden this year because our house is on the market, and apparently people in subdivisions don't garden :-(. I also have a knitting project to do, baby hats to promote midwives and no c-section births. ANYWAY, I've been reading your blog since before it was a blog, when it was just email. And I met you because I knew your hubby, and we got invited to the same party. I was a brand new mom, and your realistic take on motherhood helped me relax and not feel like a failure because I bought my baby food in jars. I've enjoyed every moment since, and will continue to do so! LOVE YOU and all you do!!!
Unknown said…
I started reading your blog a couple of years ago, found you from an article that Hoagies Page has. Then I found out you knit also. Woo Hoo bonus.

About me? Ummm, I knit, I homeschool my 6 (almost 7) year old son. I just cleaned his toy pit and threw away a ton of plastic toys.
Stacy L. Dill said…
I found your blog in a very unusual way and know it was kismet. My kids have been patients of Dr. Elizabeth Reidy's in Austin since my oldest was 15 mo. old. Well, just as we were getting ready to make our annual appts. to see her, she was suddenly no longer with that practice. As I was rabidly searching online to find where she went, your post was one of the returns for my search. The rest, as they say, is history and I've been an avid reader ever since.
joannamauselina said…
I started reading your blog not too long ago, and I don't even remember how I got there. From someone else's blog, I imagine. I have you as a favorite on my blog so I can be sure not to miss any exciting cucumber stories. Not very exciting, eh? (I mean my blog reading story, not the cucumber stories, which are indeed exciting.) I don't think I want a prize though. Maybe just honorable mention.
Karen said…
I can't even remember when I didn't read your blog ... Somehow, though, I am pretty sure I found your book before your blog - I bought 3 copies and gave two to good friends :-)

And I knit! And I have been to Texas and New York so that counts for something, right? And I am jealous of your garden ... I am a gardener only in my mind.
Kerry said…
About me: Insanely jealous of your produce. We planted a TON this year and so far we have one itty bitty tomato, about the size of a ping pong ball. It rained here in Maine for the entire month of June. In fact, there wasn't a tomato to be found in the state...not at the farmers markets, not even the local produce mart. They literally just arrived at the mart this weekend.

My girlfriend and I have been making organic grape jelly from the orchard of a friend of hers. Last year her husband realized how much they were worth, implying that it was the last year we would be getting them for free, so we make enough grape jelly to last at least two years. My children flew through the peach, the russian olive berry, an the blueberry jam, barely touching the grape from last year. I just got an email that we are getting the grapes again, only they have cut down some trellis so we should expect at least double what we had last year! HOLY GRAPES!
Joni said…
Have the book, but the relish sounds interesting. And yarn, you know I LOVE yarn -- I'll even knit my own socks :-) Thanks for making us smile, Barb. We can all use more humor in our lives
Donna in Ely said…
Have been reading your blog since before you moved. I have 2 girls and knit...

Didn't know you had written a book, congrats!! Would love to have a copy. Oldest daughter is a liberian and I would have to share!
Anonymous said…
Hi Barb. I am not a knitter. In fact, there is not a crafty bone in my body. I kill everything I try to grow. If I don't kill it, either the deer eat it, or my son and his friend launch what few tomatoes I produce off the second story deck. My dh loves tomatoes. He would love anything made from home grown tomatoes. Sadly, I cannot grow them. So take pity. If that's not enough, maybe the fact that we've "known" each other for so many years, starting with our Oct 2000 mom's group. I subscribed to your newsletter and now your blog. And in a bit of "it's a small world", we met online, you are friends with a college friend of mine (MadMad), and my parents live less than two miles from the intersection of 110 & 25A. You guys are practically neighbors!

Bethany (mom to Cameron)

PS - If you need another reason to take pity on me, I can never get my google account to work, so I have to post anonymously.

PPS - If you want to save on shipping, I'm sure my mom could meet you somewhere in town. (And I'm sure she and my dad, a real gardener who can't garden anymore since he moved to a tiny wooded patch of land in your town in 1987), would love some tomato relish, too.
Hannah said…
Ah, but it takes a smart woman to yield to wise advice. :-)

Um, let's see. I started reading your blog when my SIL forwarded me one of your "So the thing is" emails. This was a couple months before you decided to move -- I think?

I have never had tomato relish, but I would relish the opportunity! Although maybe I should win the pickles since my last name is Diller.
Mrs.Q said…
I don't remember how I found your blog, but it was fate. Drawn together by our shared appreciation of mayo, perhaps?

As for what I'd do with the pickles and tomato relish, well, that's easy. The butcher shop in our neighbourhood makes amazing bison burger patties. I would cook them up, & serve them on toasted whole wheat buns, garnished with the pickles and relish. And, of course, real mayo. Ideally, I would do this in the company of fine friends, while sharing a bottle of wine and laughing a lot while we enjoyed that captured taste of Summer and Real Homegrown Vegetables. There would be a toast to you. And then maybe some ice cream.
Amanda said…
I found your blog through a comment you made on the Yarn Harlot's blog. It was clever and witty, and I followed the blog link over.

What I would do with the relish - I make a dish called Magistrate's Muffins. One of the restaurants I cheffed for in Australia was called Petty Sessions - so named because it was down the street from the local courts.

The muffins were English muffins, halved and toasted, then spread with a chutney or relish, then topped with a ix of - mixed dried herbs, smalled diced red and green capsicum (bell peppers), and grated tasty cheese. Then under the grill (broiler) until bubbly.

These are the standard veg. version - you can also add diced ham for the meat lovers.
smalltownme said…
I've never had tomato relish, so I'm longing to try something new.

For years, all I could knit was scarves, but thanks to my M-I-L I learned to make a few baby hats for Direct Relief International. Could I learn to knit a sock? It took me 4 years to knit a sweater.

Love your blog, but I don't know how I found it.
Mama Ava said…
I found your blog through my friend Karen (who is fully capable of making her own relish, even if she doesn't garden--and she could knit a little relish cozy to keep it warm in the winter). I love reading you and check in every couple days as I travel from Tanzania to Beijing!
Gayle from PA said…
I found your blog, because you left a message on the Real Simple magazine blog which I found funny.
I have followed your blog ever since. I even was thinking about making my own sweet pickle relish -but we live in PA and since you posted the recipe, the weather has been hot/rainy so all of my cucumbers remained yellow and non-ripe.
erincowden said…
OK, so, I found your blog because your husband told my husband that you were a writer, and then he told me and so I looked you up and have been reading you since the year 2000freakin'3!....and I would eat your pickle relish on a hot dog cooked over an open flame, and I would probably drink your home-grown tomato relish straight out of the jar!

And also, I NEVER leave comments!
Stefanie said…
I believe you know the circumstances of my finding my way to your blog. They involved you closing your door while I distracted your children so you could work. It rained a lot that summer... (Good times, good times.)

Ooh! If you find a big enough box, I bet you could squeeze Thomas in there with the pickles and relish!
Mama Ava said…
Do I win bonus points if I'm willing to only win the relish but then donate it to someone that can actually receive it by mail?
Bullwinkle said…
Mr Google can't tell me how I found your blog, but he can tell me when I first commented. (That would be when, for a few moments, I thought you might be someone I knew in college. It was the 11:11 bit in 100 Things About Me (June 2007) that had me confused.)

So, about me ... my boss has been telling me to practice an "elevator speech" (because I need one). And I can't figure it out.

I'm no closer to summing up my "real" life either. That makes me confused - with 1 dog, 2 cats, a new-to-me Dude and lots of yarn.
Ream O Rama said…
Wow, you've got longtimers here! I am relatively new...found you right before the move to NY and shortly thereafter found we both kept up with NieNie. Used to be a knitter but since I have the attention span of a NoSeeUm, I've moved on to a long list of other brief obsessions. Currently, I am fixated making sea glass jewelry. Not that I live near an ocean, but still. As to what I would do with your generously bestowed tomato relish? Let me count the ways...Bruschetta, panazanella, on a hamburger, with crackers....oooh I am drooling already! Have mercy on a small town Georgian whose tomatoes got the blight and whose cucumbers were discovered by the dogs and sent airborne!
Katie said…
Oooo I would love to be the recipient of some illegal Relish! Teehee!

Glad to see that your crop hasn't been consumed by the blight like most of the rest of the country.
ToyLady said…
Illegal relish. . . I'm thinking that's gotta taste even better than the legal kind, right?

Barb, I don't remember how I found your blog - probably through a comment you left somewhere else, I'd guess. It was a few months ago, I guess. I put you on my google home page, so I don't miss anything. . .

I don't knit, and I haven't crocheted in YEARS - and even then, it was mostly the doily-curtain-lace variety. . .

Do love the puppy though!
Ei said…
I AM smart and good looking and I think you are a brilliant and beautiful writer (and the socks are totally WORTH the wait). But I don't want any relish, I just wanted to take a minute and say "Dahling you loook MAHVELOUS."
Ei said…
PS...I was reading you before the blog...before I even had a second child. I subscribed to your column, and discovered it when I was online searching for some holiday sprit, I believe ;)
Unknown said…
I cant remember how I found you..sorry, but I love you all the same.
Tiny Tyrant said…
I found you through Kate. And hubby would love the relish for his hot dogs.

Me not so much, but this would mean I don't have to go and buy any. ;-)

Love you honey. Thanks for the comments and support over the past year on my blog.

And I should make you some socks. I'm averaging one a year. lol
Candi said…
Like Earthami, I found you on Hoagies too!!

It was either just before or right after your move to NY. I thought, "oh I don't think I could be brave enough to move to a whole other state that is so far, far away." Haha - here I am a year into OUR move from Texas to Mass. and I am still wondering how you did it with such grace and an outstanding sense of humor.
Miri said…
I found you through your Joy Rush contest and am so glad I did. You are a shiny spot in my computer time!

If the random number thingamabob were to choose me I'd have to defer though.

I just want to say that you somehow help me find my Elvis every time you post something new.
Adrienne said…
Let's see...hmmm...OK: I found your blog through the Sept/Oct 2000 moms group on iVillage. Jane is the same age as my daughter, Claire.

And also...I really want to try some tomato relish!!! I don't know what you DO with it, but I love tomatoes!!

Oh - and I'm a knitter! And a reader! And a lover of pickles.

;-)
MadMad said…
I have been trying and trying to figure out how we first "met" (blogwise). I can't remember! This getting old thing bites the big one. Oh well. I love you anyway.
Kathy Ireland said…
Don't include me in the random generator thingy because, I know that, if I asked, you'd just send me some anyways, and I would like it and I would eat some on a hot dog, reading your blog, in the fog, but what I really wanted to say was, what a nice bunch of readers you have and how great must you feel with all these fantastic compliments!

You deserve every one my soul sista/girlfriend - you rock!
Heidi Malott said…
Hello! I found your blog through Carol Marine's blog, a couple years ago. Your relish looks so yummy. I am a knitting wannabe, hopefully someday...
WendyJ said…
Well, I thought I'd comment because I've just spent 3 hours hunting down the comment on the Yarnharlot's blog which led me here.( Apparently I have no life)
Anyway I've been reading your blog for (just over) 2 years, from the first time Edward went missing. Course you know I'm pretty sure it'd be illegal to send me pickles (not to mention expensive) being as how I live 3000 miles away across an ocean but I am a knitter and a reader ( and I have a dog a lot like Scout )
Mokihana said…
Hi there... I found your blog because you'd left a comment on somebody else's and I followed you here because you're not only funny but are raising two delightful girls just like I did.

I stayed because you're such a good writer and also because you're so darn funny... and well... I have to admit it... because of Edward.
Whew, thanks to Heidi, I remember finding your blog on Carol Marine's Blog or was it Heidi's blog?? Anywho, you hooked me with your funny (ah la Erma) observations about life with kids, cats, dogs, husbands, moving...gosh, I think I've been reading you for YEARS! Love relish, can't grow a garden (even in California, so you know I suck)...I want to win me a jar!!
AND I have a Texas connection...lots of relatives and a showing in a gallery there in 2010...does that count???