Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Food all day long

Not that I ate all day long (although I made two trips to a new cafe in town, and enjoyed both thoroughly) but all day seemed to be about food and its preservation.

Esperanza and I picked berries -- so much fun! Then I made 6 half pints of peach jam with some freestone peaches a neighbor dropped off. While I was making, the girls were cutting Principe Borghese tomatoes to put in the oven to dry. After that, afternoon lessons and running around, and when I got home, Sarafina read aloud from a library book to her father and I. Boy, was that a treat. We laughed and laughed.

After a quick dinner, I got myself back into my increasingly-trashed kitchen, and made three jars of straight blackberry jam, four pints of peach salsa, and chopped and froze some hot peppers that were sitting around not doing anything. Sorry the picture is so sad; it's my bedtime.


I'm getting just the least bit tired of making jam, but I'm enjoying the rest of it. That's a good thing, as I have Saturday set aside to can tomatoes. Better make sure I have enough lids ready to go!

8 comments:

Sunita Mohan said...

Wow! That's a lot of jam! Do you gift these or store it away to use later?
i've always been a bit wary of making jam because it sounded like a lot of work but you make it sound so easy!

kitsapFG said...

That was a productive and flavor filled day! The products of your labor are pretty to look at. Everytime I open a jar of jam or tomatoes, the smell of summer overtakes me and I am transported to a sunny warm day. Heaven.

el said...

Great work, and how fun to have had help!

(Does it help you to tell you that you get used to it? And that somehow everything else in your world gets done too? I warn you that your kitchen might remain sticky until November or so.)

GP @ ABloominBlog said...

Wow! You must be superwoman! Don't think I'd have the patience to do all that. I admire your efforts.

Stefaneener said...

Hi, Sunita. I do gift some, but I love blackberry jam, so I'm trying to put away a year's worth. Make a simple batch of jam takes me less than an hour, assuming the water bath is boiling and I have my equipment ready. It's much easier than you'd think -- this is why Denise and I teach jam workshops, as it's so often mystified for people.

kitsap, thanks -- the aroma from the bowl of peaches was almost intoxicating and as I stuffed dried tomatoes into the freezer today, I could almost see them swimming in little pools of oil on foccacia in the winter. Hooray.

el, I'm generally the mistress of "doing too much with a smile," but I think it's probably best if I don't do food preservation after dinner. I'm just too "done" by then. Especially alone. I think we finally de-stickied after the honey harvest, so I have hope for the future.

GP, I'm so far from superwoman it's not funny. Jam addict-woman, maybe! Thanks for stopping by.

Kristin said...

You're a Tazmanian jam devil. Your family is so fortunate that you make so many delicious foods for them every day!

And what a beautiful pantry you will have.

Jackie said...

Congratulations on all your preservation and perseverance! I know what you mean about getting kind of tired of it... We'll be so glad come winter, though. -Jackie

Stefaneener said...

Kristin, all I can think of is how I was spinning between salsa and jam, trying to do too much so I could get in bed!

Jackie, I do know it's worthwhile, just gets to be a lot! Denise is back in town, so maybe I'll get her in on it.