Jammin' at home

'Tis the season for shopping at the farmers' market.  I'm particularly proud of the one in our neighborhood.  It's just the right size - about a dozen vendors consisting of veggie stalls, a cheese lady, the meat guys, the fish guy, the nut guy, fruit tents... 


These last few weekends, the cherry-and-blackberry dudes have been around and they consistently carry the sweetest of them all.  My inner-Martha Stewart hit me today - I want to make blackberry jam!  I've read easy recipes online and always wanted to make my own fresh fruit jam with simple ingredients.  After perusing a couple of these jam DIY's, I've created a hybrid and made a conscious effort to use less sugar and let the natural sweetness from the fruit shine through.  Here's my take on Basic Blackberry Jam:

3 baskets of blueberries

1/4 cup each sugar and honey
juice of half a lemon

place all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil in medium heat

then mash the berries and bring heat down to simmer for 50 - 55 minutes

meanwhile, sterilize your clean jars in a pot of boiling water for about 15minutes 

let jars dry and cool down

after jam cools for about an hour and a half, transfer to your impeccably clean jars.  i'm not a big fan of berry seeds so i strained off most the seeds, which resulted in a looser, almost saucy finished product.

Back from Break

We're back!  It's been a few months and I am making another attempt at being a better, more consistent "blogger".  

A Break

This is me.  Ok, it’s not but it’s definitely close to how I’d be if you saw me.  I know I have things to do like laundry that constantly piles up, but somehow more pressing matters need immediate attention.  A friend’s wake, for instance.  Or caring for someone with pneumonia.  Cooking a meal (last night’s beef & mushroom ragu turned out well!).  Or giving my scraggly hair some much needed love (thank you, Kumi, for the fabulous cut and color.  It’s like the greys never existed!)  Today the laundry climbs up to the top of the charts.  Gotta be done or… let’s just say commando is NOT an option.  Yes, it’s come to that. 

Which segues, sort of, to my current blog post.  I have a jumble of topics just waiting to get its fair share of the web clutter.  But alas, laundry happens.  Actual life happens.  Before I know it, the topics have become so last month.

Dear followers (all 5 of you!), bear with me as I create some type of rhythm here.  A posting routine will emerge soon.

~composed during my lunch hour