211. eating local

I think Fig might be asking himself, "What the HELL is that?"
Honestly, you have to applaud the first person that ever looked at that creature and thought that it looked like dinner.
But? Dinner it is.

The lobster (Lobstah, really) showed up here as a bit of a thank you present for my taxi services for my in laws as of late. Andy does not care for lobster too much so he went without. He would have to pry a bite out of my cold dead hands anyway!
:)
As luck would have it, I had planned a steamed clam dinner so that little lobster fit right in!
Notice the little clam salt and pepper shakers on the table? They were a present from my Norma. I can't tell you how much I love them~! You may have seen them on their little adventures over on her blog. They've had quite the fun this week!
Quite the yummy staycation this is turning out to be!

210. Some people take naps on their staycations

First of all, the man that was holding the sign at Shakespeare in the Park?

He did not find anyone to share his blanket or blueberries. At the time I have to admit that we all kind of snickered at him. We are all ingrained with a mistrust of strangers and this just smacks of maniac, doesn't it? But then Norma and I got home and looked at his picture and he looks like a well groomed, learned, lonely man. Which makes me a bit sad that I did not even think to say hello to him. If I could turn back time perhaps I would have given a hoot.
Norma has now left my home for the long, super dooper long drive back to Vermont made even longer by a wrong turn for her. We had such a great time and I'm so grateful for friends like her. Thanks, Nor for sharing my staycation!
We went to Rockport today and had a blast. Here's a bit of a photo gallery of our day!

Norma contemplates the sea

The girl and the fig

Anybody want a fisherman?

(Right about here we met one of the rudest men that we've ever met who said, not once but twice to us as we were taking touristy type pictures, "DO YOU MIND? I'm trying to get a photo of the whole statue". I ducked. He did not know he was messing with! I knew that Norma would rip his head off and beat him with it! She said "Do YOU mind? We are here taking pictures too!" Or something. I was busy shaking. She spoke up. I was proud. He was such a jerk! Little did he know that we'd blog all about his ugliness! haha!)

We shared a wonderful lunch at Woodmans in Essex. Erm, this is what was left of it when we thought about the camera.

The sky was a mixed medium of clouds. It was a gorgeous day!

If I drank coffee, this would be my motto! Because everything goes better with a motto!

Lost your Muse? I found it!

And this garden? Really, it's a good thing I do not live there because that would have been some treacherous weeding that Norma would have had to do. She had it easy in my postage stamp weedy yard!
And tonight I have to go to bed early. This staycationer is tired!

209. Staycation is Wicked Pissah!

Wicked pissah shirt seen on our travels today! Which aptly describes our day.
From lobstah lunch to Shakespeare in the Park, it's been a soul satisfying day, more of which I will write about tomorrow because I am sleepy right now.

And if you think this entry is late? You are sorely mistaken because my day does not end until I put my head on the pillow.
AND? Here is a preview of something for tomorrow:

208. I is for itinerant Gardener

BOING!
She has arrived. She brought me some organic compost matter (really, how many friends can bring you poop and you'd be happy about it?) AND? She pulled my weeds. She came all this way to garden in Beverly.
Lucky me.

207. WWYD?

My first homegrown yellow cherry tomatoes of the year! I was surprised to find them ripe on the vine waiting for me. Not quite enough for a salad or a meal yet but certainly a yummy tasting snack. As I held them in my hand (after taking the requisite blog picture of course) I pondered whether it would be rude to pop them in my mouth and not admit to the rest of the family that they exist. I hesitated quite a few beats while I dreamed of the sweet, tangy taste.
I did decide to offer them around. But? In a cool twist of fate? No one wanted them as badly as I did.
Yum.
~~
My house is ALMOST clean for my staycation guest. She will have to put up with some cluttery, homey goodness. It's not a museum here. I hope she'll get over it.

206. Saturday Sky

And by "sky", I mean "CUPCAKES".


These are from the Cupcake Cafe on Rantoul St. in Beverly.
chocolate buttercream flowers, strawberry shortcake, chocolate mousse, boston creme and key lime. I had a chocolate mousse and Bethany and Andy have eaten a boston creme and we have all rated them to be
1. Scrumpdillyicious
and
2. Quite dangerous!
~~
Oh, and there's a blue sky above me. Yeah.

205. Things I've noticed

~Today is Christmas in July. So, Merry Christmas in July
~Outside of my grocery store? Mums. Mum time already? My.
~All of a sudden I hear the word STAYCATION a lot.
~I am on a Staycation
~I'm having a special guest join me on my staycation on Monday
~She is not having a staycation, she is having a Sancation (I'm trying to put my name into ...CATION)
~I'm sick of hospitals
~Which is a pun if ever I've seen one
~Margene put the next part on the haikai.
~I tagged her even though she had already announced that she was going on a VAcation for the weekend.
~I often skim blogs
~Even the ones that I love
~I can't seem to help myself
~We have had some of the scariest weather I can remember lately
~Bethany has officially started her job as an EMT
~My daughter is an EMT. Wow.
~You should see her in her uniform. It about makes me cry.
~She has warned me that I had better not come near her with a camera.
~Party poop.
~Derek is not having a stacation this year
~He is going to Arizona and Las Vegas
~Be gentle on him, Las Vegas!
~I dislike the month of July more than any other of the months
~But it does seem to go by fastest!
~look who's back:

Cabbage Patch Dolls
(Look at that blanket she is sitting on!)
~Do you think little old ladies will be beating each other over them this time?
~When I was first married, I remember watching this phenomena with horror and one day happening across a huge shipment of CP Dolls. I'm a bit ashamed to say that I left the store with one that day. It sat on our bed for years. Until my little girl confiscated her, that is.
~This now concludes the random flow.

204. Haikai, it's a good thing

I am always fascinated by words. Haikus are some of my favorites, as you may know. But I had never heard of the Haikai before yesterday! Thanks to Terry, I am now enlightened!
The Haikai is a form of collaborative poetry starting with 3 lines, up to 17 syllables total. The next person adds 2 lines, up to 14 syllables total. Alternating these 2 verses, it gets passes around and all have a great time! There are more rules, of course, but not many. Read them HERE <------ CLICK and play along! Leave your name here if you'd like to play and you'll be tagged along the way!
Terry started with this:

Steam heated days

Dramatic summer storms.

My addition:

Winds howling through the leaves
Birds clutching branches tight.

The story as it stands now:

Steam heated days

Lightning splits dark skies

Dramatic summer storms.

Winds howl through the leaves

Bird clutching branches tight.

I pass the Haikai baton to Margene, fellow wordsmith. (*It's a PUN, Margene, get it??)

203. Irish vs. Aran, a knock down drag out battle

Yarn is Foxfire Cormo/Silk, one of the most scrumptious yarns ever. I mean EVER.
I have always had a "Thing" for the Irish Hiking scarf.
Remember these? Circa December 2007

These were gift for Bethany's college roomies. I've wanted one ever since!
The cormo/silk yarn was bought as a twin with Norma. We thought maybe we would each make a pair of the Aran Island Mittens from Folk Mittens. A fine pair they'd make too.
But I've been all about the scarf lately. Visions of a toasty warm neck dance through my head, making me a happy knitter indeed. So, I welched on our plan to do the Aran Island Mittens. I happily started this Irish Hiking Scarf. The thing is? It's not doing IT for me. I don't feel the love. I mean, it's a perfectly FINE scarf and all, but with that yarn? I should be head over heals WHoo and Hoo in love with it.
And I'm not. It's okay. Blahdy Blahdy Blah.
You know what that means, right? I must rip. Must. I have no choice. It's the knitter's code.
~raising right hand~ I promise to love my knits with all my heart, to be IN love with them, not just love. I must feel the yarn is the peanut butter to the jelly of a pattern. I do. ~ Lowers right hand.
What can I do? It's the law. I must rip it and do the mittens.

202. Raspberries on the side

Yesterday, inspired by Julie's homemade crackers, I followed this recipe: They were scrumptious! I ate more than my share. Unfortunately, I did not wrap them right away and the humidity got to them and took their crispness away.
The crackers inspired my lunch

The crackers went well with red pepper hummus (my personal fav) and raspberries. Because lately? I think raspberries go with about everything!
~
Let's see: Today is my 4th day of vacation and I spent a tad of the day cleaning (which is my goal for everyday this week) and then into Boston again to visit my FIL. Today was supposed to be his big cancer surgery but overnight he developed a high fever putting the kibosh on the surgery. I have so much more to say about the bad decisions of the doctors during this process but I won't bore you with that rant. I have become the super spokeswoman though. I have been transformed.
We will overcome!

201: H is for Hands

My hands have hugged, caressed, knit, created, wrung, cooked, picked, scrubbed, planted, buried, grieved, celebrated, hurt. They have given TLC and have needed TLC. I'm a bit ashamed to say that my hands have struck. They have been quiet and angry and loud and happy. They have built things and ripped things apart.
I'm sure yours have too.
H is for hands.

(not all hands are mine, can you guess which ones are?)

200. Some things I'm thinking about

Hello from the land that has endless (or so it seems) thunderstorms. I know that this could most likely include most of the US but it seems we are stuck in a pattern.
Most of the times, I love patterns. But this one does not have knits, purls, or any yarn overs. No cables. Just loud noises and bright, scary lights.
I heard on NPR today, although I cannot find a link anywhere but I'm still reasonably sure that I did indeed hear it in real life, not an imaginary one, that hemline lengths are a historical indicator of recession. Longer hemlines in difficult economic times and shorter the better mini skirts during economic boomer years. Here is a NY Times article.
This just fascinates me. My instinct would think that shorter skirts in hard financial times would be a distraction to the dismal bank accounts. But apparently it's more of a confidence thing.
Interesting stuff. The hemline of my favorite jeans has not wavered though.
Day 2 of vacation was only a bit more productive than the first. I took an inordinate number of naps. In fact, I should be a bit ashamed to talk about how much I napped. I pretty much "napped" until 2 pm with small periods of waking in between to eat some breakfast or to watch a bit of tv or noodle around on the computer. But mostly? Zzzzzz's. Then at 2:30 I finally felt like I had some energy. I was a bit nervous that energy would elude me.
Glad it found me again!
How was your weekend? Do you have endless thunderstorms too?

Fig says Hi!

199. I guess I'm going through a muppet phase

John Denver has always been one of my favorites ever since I can remember. I finally saw him in concert right here in Beverly at the North Shore Music Theater (sans muppets). He died a week later. I'm not ashamed to say I cried.

First day of my vacation and I can tell you that I've done nothing. Not one thing. Well, showered, but I really cannot get a pat on the back for that.
Maybe tomorrow..

198. Today is

Today is Nelson Mandela's birthday. Sharing Mr. Mandela's special day?
Hume Cronyn
Red Skelton
John Glenn
and
Vin Diesel.
Also, it happens that it is Norma's birthday. You can see that Nelson, Red, John and Vin are in good company!
Happy Birthday, Norma, I am privileged to call you my friend.
Have you wished them a Happy Birthday today? Especially Norma?
~~
I am now officially on V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N in the summertime! Color me happppppppy! Of course, you get no vacation from me, I'll be here. Every day. As planned and promised! :D
P.S.
I started an Irish Hiking Scarf. Yes, dear, dear readers, that would be KNITTING! wow.

197. Washing the desks and clapping the board erasers!

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You'll never know dear how much I love YOU (Point dramatically at child)
Please don't take My Sunshine away!

That was my favorite song to sing with the kids* complete with dramatic finger point.

I am greatly looking forward to tomorrow as it's my last day (1/2 day actually) of work for 2 whole blissful weeks. I love last day. Like the last day of school. A lot of kids used to skip out on that last day saying "why bother? We don't do anything". But it's the spirit, the festive feeling that is what is worth it. I love that.
I look forward to that tomorrow.

196. How a manicure would remind me of Nancy Drew

Today, while getting my manicure

(complete with bruise from being on the losing end of an argument with a Pam can-left index finger)
and a pedicure:

I learned a couple of things. Mainly that I love getting manicures and pedicures. But also, that a pedicurist (?? IS that a word?) can cut a person's toe by accident (see right big toe) and that toes can bleed. Alot. A. Lot. I encouraged her to go ahead and put her gloves on because you know, even though I know I don't have aids or hepatitis, SHE did not know that. And she was looking a bit shifty eyed and nervous by the non ending bloodstream. Although I exaggerate only a bit, it did bleed a lot for a silly toe. No discount though. FYI.
And before my manicure, she laid out a handful of cards in front of me, told me to close my eyes and think happy thoughts and pick a card at random (PICK A CARD, ANY CARD, I was thinking). The one I picked said
Revisit your Childhood Dreams
Hmm. Now I don't think it was "revisit". I hope it comes to me. Something similar though.
Anyway, as soon as I read it, I thought of those Nancy Drew books at BJ's that I did not buy. God, I'm sure I mentioned the lending library I set up in my walk in closet complete with card catalog filled mostly with Nancy Drew books and of course, the Little House books too. I remember also some Anne of Green Gables too.
Thinking about my childhood dreams always consists of books somehow. I'm not sure WHAT I wanted to do with books (Other than starting my own library) but I decided then and there that I would go and buy those books.
So, that is how my manicure reminded me of Nancy Drew.

195. Up and Down and a stamp

Looking up, I see:

I have mentioned how I love sky gazing, right? See the tall pole with support wires to the left of the photo? That is Mr. Connelly's (the flower neighbor) morning glory pole! I'll show you towards the end of the summer when that thing is filled! It's quite spectacular! Last years morning glory pole (MGP) was not as tall and weaker because it blew over in a strong wind. The MG so far are about a foot tall.
And looking down:

"Whatcha doin', Mum?"
and if Fig were to be a postage stamp, this is how he would look:

~~~
And that's what it's all about!

194. Crickets are chirping in my brain...do you hear them?

So, here we are. Monday. 4 more get ups until my 2 week vacation*. I am excited beyond belief. My goals for vaca are simple:
~Sleep late
~eat well
~Go to the Museum of Fine Arts
~visit my FIL in Beth Israel Hospital more times than I care to think about
~go to Shakespeare in the Park if it's not blazing hot (Any Boston area knitter/non knitter want to meet up?)
~did I mention sleep in? I feel a bit like a teen but there you go.
~~~~~~
Here's a bit more random bits from my brain:
I think all of my Romaine has bolted. I tried a leaf last night and it was BITTER! Bitter had nothing on my Romaine leaf. I could cry thinking about how I was so looking forward to my own lettuce salad
~I keep forgetting to water my porch plants until they are practically screaming for water and hanging in their pots, poor things.
~As I said on Plurk, I am heading to the Beth Israel with my MIL to visit FIL (no new news yet except that he was rushed there yesterday with a possible infection) and am hoping that a dish fairy will arrive and do her/his thing while I am gone. Is that too much to ask?
~I'll share the dish fairy with you, perhaps I should set up a trap?
~I could have a blog contest!
~gotta run and bring my garlicky breathed self amongst the sick at the BI. (Perhaps a bit of mouthwash on my way out?)
Blog ya tomorrow!

193. Christian the Lion

Many thanks to Annie for showing me this video, I hope she does not mind that I use it as a blog post but I want all of you to see it. Get a tissue. Seriously, you'll need it!

192. lily and a robot

The lily turned out beautiful. The story goes (in case you did not remember) that my Mom gave me the bulb last summer and it never grew more than leaves. I was surprised that it came up this year because I had frankly, forgotten about it. I was looking forward to seeing it's color and I couldn't be more pleased! I thought it might be a run of the mill orange lily (not that there is anything wrong with that) but I'm pretty happy about the 2 tone color!
(Have I gone on long enough about a lily?)
~~
Bethany and I just came home from seeing the movie Wall-E. The animation is beautiful, the environmental message powerful and the sounds stunning! I do think that the beginning of the movie could have been shortened a bit but the rest of the movie was quite good. I love Pixar animations as a rule and would have gone alone tonight but Bethany took pity on me and came with.
Now, I'm thinking that there is a glass of wine with my name on it!

~~~~
I had to close the comments on this entry earlier than I usually like to because of a huge case of spam.
Sorry, spammers! I've got a case of spam rage!

191. I play with yarn sometimes

I hope you are sitting down. I'm going to show you some knitting now. I know it's been a while and perhaps you thought I gave it up for Lent or something, but I have been happily knitting on the dragon scale scarf for a while now. I could knit this all summer long.

I look forward to wrapping around my neck come autumn. The yarn? Jade Sapphire Mongolian Cashmere, is the softest I have ever felt. No kidding.
Knitting. It's done here.

190. In which I rant a bit

I made an appointment for a manicure AND a pedicure for next week. I have never had a pedicure and did not think I wanted one either. But for some reason, I started looking at my sad looking toes in my sandals and got the brainy idea that I'd like to throw away more of my money! :)
I can't wait!
You know what else is on my mind? The Olympics. I do love me some Olympics, don't get me wrong. I watch and I watch lots. But as I'm listening to reports about Beijing building up suitable Olympic arenas I have to admit to being a bit sickened at the waste of it all. I bet we could do a google (please say it in the way I intend it: GOOGLAY) search and find plenty of underused Olympic "villages" that were built up and sitting gathering dust. Sure, they are tourist attractions. How many of you will flock to Beijing after it is all over and done to see where the Olympics WERE?
I know that my SIL went on a vacation to somewhere (I'm sure this story would be enhanced by actual facts, but I'm busy ranting right now and can't stop to check silly facts) and visited the huge, hulking Olympic buildings there. Does this not seem like such a waste of time and money and resources to anyone else? Perhaps we need to just hold the Olympics in repeat places. GASP! Blasphemy, right? Will the 5 rings crumble? Will the torch be extinguished from the heresy of it all? (remember: I am not Against the Olympics, just the building and rebuilding)
And while I'm on the subject of waste:
My friend went to a farm stand and asked them for their garbage produce (you know, the wilty outside lettuce leaves, the fruit that isn't spoiled but won't sell) to feed to her chickens and they told her that they could not give it to her. It was their POLICY to throw it away. Heaven forbid little chickens would eat it. OR that it would be a wonderful compost pile for the FARM.
AND?
The US is embarking upon another Presidential Election (heaven help us it cannot come too soon). I would LOVE the new President to Just Say No to the wasteful Inauguration Balls. Take that money and fund a school or two, feed some hungry children, build some homes in New Orleans, for pete's sake.
~~
I'll stop now.

189. Pay no attention to any weeds you may be seeing

I had a bit of a chat with my garden guru today and asked some questions of the growing things in my yard and she asked to see photos. I think that means that it's time for a State of the Garden Update.
First up?
Yellow coneflowers. I wasn't sure that I would like this pale cousin of the purple coneflower but I shouldn't have worried. I love them!

A mystery lily:

My Mom gave me this bulb last year. It was planted and did not do much of anything so it's a pleasant surprise guessing what the flower will look like.
A green pepper flower:

A surprise sunflower plant:

A bird dropped this here, so I nurture it.
Tomato watch:

I can almost taste it!
Summer squash:

My favorite! The plants seem to be turning a bit yellow and the flowers seem to be EATEN right off the plants. Dang it.
A romaine failure??:

Norma has used the word BOLTED. It sounds fatal whatever that means. See the dark stalk? There were dried up seed pod-dy type things that I picked off.
The rest of the romaine look like this:

Tall and leggy looking and not very salad like yet.
~~~
I cannot thank you enough for your loving words of encouragement of yesterday. I have shed a couple of tears at your kindness. Now? Please look the other way from that Pink Elephant. Pay him no mind.
~~

188. It's not the heat, it's the humidity.

Call the WHAAAAA-mbulance, I'm going to whine a bit about the heat. Okay, maybe I won't really do the whining, I'll just let you decide what my whine would sound like and put words to it yourself.
Done?
Need another minute?
No wallowing now, it's not pretty. I know.
Life is a bit simpler these days, working, coming home and taking a bit of a snooze (I'm back to some kind of exhaustion lately), drinking plenty of water, trying to eat my veggies and eating a popsicle or two, knitting on a scarf and lots of reading. I just finished the book The Sister by Poppy Adams. It was a great story, well written and a page turner (for me anyway). People's character and relationships are a fascinating subject and one that I seek out in books. The Sister was one of the books recommended on NPR as a summer read. I'm glad I bought it. I'd share it with you but I already passed it on!
~~
My mind is busy with thought. At almost 80 years old, my FIL has the fight of his life with bile duct cancer. I was prepared for the grim statistics because of my research on the disease. Bob's cancer scares me to death. I wish I could take it for him. We know that having him in our lives until we are almost 50 is a blessing. But this doesn't feel very blessed right now.
It's really not the cancer or the dying. We all know that is coming. It's the suffering. That is what is hard to face.
As cancer becomes a huge presence in our daily lives, I will try not to dwell upon it here on the blog. That is not a subject that should be talked about daily. Just know that it is the pink elephant in my room.
Please keep Bob in your thoughts and prayers.
My FIL's Cancer sucks.

187. The first day back in the real world is the hardest I think

A weekend on a lake: little squirrels hiding in trees, little dogs obsessed with the little squirrel in a tree, 2 loons on a lake, more blueberry pancakes than a person has a right to consume, swimming until we were pruney, home fireworks show, boat rides, sparkly water, blue skies, sunny days, cool nights, flat tire on the way up there, tie dying shirts and fingers, and more than a couple of beers and some glasses of wine.
These are the things that make a tired Sandy on a Monday.
~~~
A HUGE thank you to Norma for babysitting the blog while I was gone. She posted my words so I would not miss out on the 365 success. THANKS, NORMA!!! :)
~A big thanks to the spammers who were on duty this weekend. Poor things working through a holiday weekend. They really did their job well, making me think I was supremely popular in my absense. Thanks, spammers for making me feel loved there for a minute
~I still owe a lot of emails.
~Perhaps I can forward you a spam?
~No. No that would be wrong.

186. Back

We are back from our weekend away and tired as anything. Sleeping in my own bed will be great. Now? I must post this quickly to get in under the wire for midnight. I do not want to miss a day of posting. Then? I'll edit it.
Be back. You won't even know I'm gone this time!
~~~
Okay, I'm back. We had such a great relaxing time. I can't rave about it enough. Being near water is quite therapeutic when you need it. Apparently, I needed it!
But I must get to bed now. 5 am comes quickly! Here's one of my favorite pictures from the weekend!

185. 3 quizzes and a you tube

You Are a Positive Person

No one would accuse you of being too negative! You're a naturally upbeat and optimistic person. Like everyone else, you come across things you can't stand every day. But unlike everyone else, you ignore what annoys you and focus on what uplifts you.

You Are a Spoon

You are a well rounded, balanced person. You are friendly and welcoming. You get along with everyone. You are easy going and laid back. You don't have any hang ups. Non judgmental and accepting, you are a comfort to people around you.

What Your Peanut Butter And Jelly Sandwich Means

Your eating style is reserved. You are a bit of a fussy eater, and you have very specific ways you like your food prepared. You have an average sweet tooth. While you enjoy desserts, they aren't exactly your downfall. Your taste in food tends to be pretty flexible. You may crave sushi one night, and your favorite childhood recipe the next. Admit it, you're a little trashy and low class at times. You're definitely more comfortable at a tattoo parlor than the theater. You are a tough person who isn't afraid to live life fully. There isn't a lot that scares you. Precise and controlled, you can be a bit anal retentive when it comes to how you like things. You're definitely a perfectionist.

184. letter from a cat

Dear Blog,
My family has abandoned me and gone to New Hampshire to something called a lake. If it thunders, you can find me under the chair.
So, cat party at our house. BYOT (Bring your own tuna) I do have a small number of catnip flavored treats to share but I'd appreciate you bringing me a host gift of more. Or ham. Yes, ham is good.
This is a secret from my family. Please keep it to yourself. No posting of pictures on youtube or My Space or even FaceBook after. I had better not see anyone here on LOLcats. I'm serious.
For now? I'll be snoozing, getting my beauty sleep. I'll leave the door open and the light on.
Fig

183. Green thumb or careless housekeeper?

I noticed these forgotten sweet potatoes in a bag on the counter today. They want to be planted so bad. Perhaps I will take them up on that offer. I have never grown potatoes, sweet or not. How can I just kill off those green leaves? All those stems? They want to be a plant so bad, not dinner! Perhaps it's like a motherhood urge, a ticking biological clock. When they were not being roasted for dinner, they decided the time was right to procreate!
And while we are talking about green thumbs?

A craptastic picture of Little Dougy II. I thought he wouldn't have a chance either when his needles stuck together in the seed pod and it would not let go for a couple of days. But I left him alone to work out his problems, like a good mom should do.
I guess this means it's another Green Day:

182. A word about pectin (and I'm wondering if I used enough parenthesis in this post) (let me know if you see a spot where I can add more) (I'd hate to miss an opportunity) ( )

So, if you are thinking of making freezer jam and are wondering if you can use any old pectin, I have your answer. (Stacey, I'm looking at you!) (Poor Stacey has been combing the grocery stores in California for freezer type of pectin to no avail) (see the freezer pectin here)
First of all, the process of canning jam (or canning in general) is now referred to as FreshPreserving. Who knew. Of course, they have a website, which may answer some of your FreshPreserving burning questions if I do not cover them. Which is likely. See all the pectin products here.
To make freezer jam, you can use regular pectin by combining 3/4 cup water with the pectin and bringing it to a full rolling boil for 1 minute, stirring. Then add the boiled pectin to the fruit/sugar mixture, ladle into jars, screw caps on and put in fridge/freezer.
This is the recipe I used, which is a fairly basic no frills strawberry freezer jam recipe:
4 cups of crushed strawberries (I used the food processor because we don't like big pieces of fruit in our jam, but it's a personal thing. Perhaps you like huge chunks. Go for it. Use a potato masher)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 package freezer pectin or regular pectin boiled with the water
~~
Stir together well, put into jars.
It's that easy. It is.
Then take this recipe and plug in whatever fruit you can dream up. Fig? Sure (not the gray kitty kind), strawberry banana (this is my next one, I would add some lemon juice to that one), peach, blueberry, kiwi. Really, if it's a fruit, you can make a jam.
~~
So there you have it. All you've ever wanted to know about making freezer jam and probably some things you did not want to know.
If you're up my way, stop in for some biscuits and jam.
~~
Yesterday I received a package in the mail. Bethany warned me that it could be a bomb. And she might have had something because it was a small package, from a mystery person that did not put their name on the label. I opened it up, kind of throwing caution to the wind. I mean, what if it WAS a bomb? It did not explode. Good sign. Inside? A heart box filled with chocolate chips and some cute cute stitch markers but not a card or a note to see WHO sent it. The bomb sender WAS from California though, so that narrowed it down.
Then I noticed that the chocolate chips were not all melty and it was about 120 degrees F (Sure, I exaggerate) and then I realized the WHO and WHAT (I am a regular Nancy Drew myself. Reading those books obsessively when I was younger paid off finally)
It was:
Stacey
with the
Hollyhock seeds
in the
Sandysknitting blog.
Am I right? Do I win??

Not chocolate chips

181. A list for a Tuesday (it IS Tuesday, right?)

~My father in law is still in Beth Israel Hospital awaiting more tests and most likely an operation to remove a tumor from his common bile duct. Awaiting the biopsy, nobody has said the C word to any of us yet but secretly we feel the writing is on the wall. The internet is a blessing and a curse in this way.
~My heart aches for him
~But I am still hopeful that it is just an obstruction. I will keep hoping until the last minute
~Driving home from Boston was spectacular. The nighttime view on Storrow Drive is breathtaking. I appreciated that.
~We had many thunderstorms tonight, one viewed from the solarium at Beth Israel
~I missed the final episode of Hell's Kitchen (gawd, I love that show!) I did DVR it so I'll watch it tomorrow. But curiosity is trying to get the best of me. Who won? I bet it was Petrozza. (Don't tell me) (It WAS Petrozza, wasn't it?) (It would be so easy to do a bit of a google search to find out) (But I won't)
~Today is July 1st.
~Wow, the year is flying by, one blog entry at a time!
~I believe tomorrow marks the mid year point of the 365 blogging. I am amazed that I am still blogging every day, even if some days like today is just squeaking by. Barely but it counts.
~I'm more amazed that you are reading every day. I'm impressed with you
~I am extending a huge apology to you because I most likely owe you an email. You probably left a great comment or sent an email and I read it and it meant a lot to me and I commented on it (in my head anyway) and then never got around to writing that out in actual words that you could read. Yeah, sorry about that.
~It was Petrozza, wasn't it?????
~I got some great questions about freezer pectin vs. regular pectin for jam making. And I even researched this a bit. I'll let you know the findings tomorrow. Same bat time, same bat channel.
~Did I ever tell you how much I loved the show Batman when I was little? I had batman stickers all over everything including my doll carriage. Robin was dreamy to my younger self. Now? He's just kind of creepy.
~I saw a 3 pack of Nancy Drew books in BJ's the other day and I pined to buy them. Bethany advised me to let the past live in the past because so often the reality is never as good as the memory. She may have a point.
~But NANCY DREW!!!! And it was the first 3 books of the series.
~I did not buy them
~Yet
~Do you Plurk?
~Must sleep now. Nighty night