Package Received

A couple days ago I was going down my driveway and saw a box on my front porch. I just knew it must be my BBM2 package!!! Yay! I jumped out of my car, got the box and did not resist the temptation to rip it open at a red light on my way to work. Ha!

My gal Rebecca from New York sent me a really great box of goodies...delicious chocolate chip banana mini-muffins (which I ate most of in my car), her "secret" sugar cookies (covered with blue sprinkles), a bottle of onion chutney from London, spicy mixed nuts, a little shaker of extra spicy spice plus a bunch of weird candy! Including a cute little box of Dutch chocolate sprinkles--DeRuyter. I'm waiting for a really special morning to eat those on my toast!

Thanks so much Rebecca for sending me all the great treats and to Samantha for hosting BBM2!!! And I had a wonderful time putting my package together and sending it off to Heather ---hope she likes it and looking forward to BBM3!

Hot Pepper Jam

This recipe was stapled to a bag of Santa fe Grande Peppers in my CSA delivery from Basket of Life Farms...

Makes 5 half pint jars

3/4 lb peppers
2 cups cider vinegar (divided)
6 cups sugar
2 pouches liquid pectin
orange food coloring (optional)

Prepare and process canning jars and lids according to pectin directions.

Wash peppers and drain. Remove stems and seeds - remember to wear gloves! Puree peppers and 1 cup of vinegar in a food processor or blender. Combine puree, remaining vinegar and sugar in a large sauce pot. Bring to boil, boil for 10 minutes stirring constantly. Stir in liquid pectin. Return to rolling boil. Boil for 1 minute stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary. Stir in a few drops of food coloring if desired. Ladle hot jelly into jars, leaving 1/4" headspace. Wipe rims of jars and fit with 2 piece lids. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.

Blogging by Mail 2

I put my Blogging by Mail 2 package together tonight and will be sending it off to my partner Heather in the a.m. Thanks Samantha for hosting. I can't wait to see what I get!!!

last batches?

Ok, I may be going a little jam crazy but I can't seem to control myself.

Unfortunately, the figs I purchased to make preserves were starting to get moldy! I had to throw them all away. I only had them in the fridge for 3 days. I guess it was too long. Now I have 3 vanilla beans with no plans for use. Maybe I'll buy more figs. How long do they last?

I made hot pepper jam this afternoon instead. The recipe only made 5 half pint jars, but how much of this stuff can you use? It's supposed to be good with cream cheese on crackers or with chicken. At least I used the peppers for something and didn't let them go to waste.

hope you like jamin'

Made a batch of strawberry jam today! With the precious frozen berries I picked in June. It made me sad to use them. I didn't want to do it---but I know I couldn't save them forever.

I still have one bag left in there...for a winter strawberry shortcake.

Signed up for a Amy's Halloween Swap!

raspberry jam

Last night I thought I had to work. When I got there, someone else was already working. This really irked me off but I decided to make use of surprise night off.

I went to the local berry farm and picked 4 quarts of raspberries! Yay! I brought along my ipod for company and listened to George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl. It was a nice to plug up my ears and ignore everyone else, besides a few bugs and crying kids in the field.

Anyways, at the end of the night I was left with 18 jars of seedy, ruby red, raspberry jam. I have some strawberries I picked last June in the freezer which may be turned into jam as well this week.

Last week I went to Aladdin's Baking Company for lunch and they had cases of fresh figs in! Oh, were they gorgeous, but what the heck would I do with a CASE of figs? Then, (I think it was a sign) I came across Fig Preserves with Vanilla from the hungry tiger. It sounds like a match made in heaven to me.

Signed up for Swap-bot's postcard swap!

csa delivery

1 tiny watermelon! (not very sweet or flavorful, but it made me smile)
2 eggplants
2 acorn squash
1 spaghetti squash
hot peppers
roma tomatoes
small bag of green beans - i wish there were more of these!
1 little bell pepper

Body Worlds

Went last night to the Body Worlds exhibit at the Great Lakes Science Center with my friend T. It was a very educational experience, but not for the weak of heart. Honestly, the bodies with their skin and hair still attached made me a little nasaus. And the mother with baby still inside was terrifying and beautiful at the same time.

I bet that Gunther von Hagens is a really interesting fellow. I better find a biography and read up on him.

White Stripes

Last Wednesday we went to the White Stripes concert. It was at the Ohio Theater in Playhouse Square, which I found to be a very interesting venue for a concert. It was funny to see all the elderly Playhouse voulunteers, showing people to their seats, with those little flash lights. If you like a few cigs and drinks with your music, this is not really the place to go. We had a few beers before the show, but that was all. It's too much work to get in and out of the seats and the theater. A few people did get thrown out for smoking--I mean it was very obvious when they lit up.

We had really crappy seats in the 3rd last row! I waited too long to get tickets and paid for it in the end. Other than that, we had a great time. I love that Jack White!

waves

Do you feel like you do things in waves?

Just this past weekend the last thing I wanted to do was cook. In the past 3 days I've made zucchini bread, gazpacho, quacamole, cha-cha chicken salad and broccoli quiche.

What's up with that?

Cha Cha Chicken

Instead of take out, we actually just went to Siam last Saturday for dinner. That was a big stress reliever. Not even any dishes to clean! Yay! And we had a really fun time.

Last night I did an enormous amount of slicing and chopping. The CSA delivery brought me a head of cabbage last week that I need to use. Cabbage and Nooodles sounded lovely, but aren't necessarily the healthiest thing to make for h. so I decided to do a Vietnamese chicken cabbage salad.

Yesterday afternoon I ran over to Trader Joe's to pick up a few items (salmon and not corn dogs). They just happened to be passing out samples of chicken salad. I was sold right then and there! I thought it must be a sign and put a bottle in my cart. It was tasty and much easier than making the dressing myself. Long list of ingredients to purchase.

I sliced my head of cabbage and a red pepper real thin like, poached and shredded some chicken, added some shredded carrots and topped it off with a sprinkling of peanuts. I made a little assembly line with the dressing at the end. I didn't mix it all together because I thought it would get soggy. We used up all the cabbage and have a bit of chicken left over. Perfect for making some "regular" chicken salad today.

take out

I am really in a bummer mood today. It's my job and I argued with h. (husband) last night. I'm waiting to sign my contract. Until then, I'm only working around 4 hours a day and I feel like I'm wasting away at home. It's quite stressful and depressing. I think I have soooo much time on my hands, but when you have to start work at 1pm it's really easy to surf all day or watch bad t.v. or just putz around and do absolutely nothing. I have no desire to do any more laundry, dirty any more dishes or clean the floors. I'd rather sit around and throw myself a pity party and eat an entire frozen pizza. Oh, and then be disgusted with myself because I am lazy and fat. Good thoughts, huh?

When you start to hide food boxes and fast food wrappers from your h. I think it's getting pretty bad. There is definetly something wrong with me.

So, why is this post titled "take out"? Because I need to be taken out of my house! And my friend and her new husband are coming over for dinner tomorrow. We were planning on grilling out in the backyard, but as I write this I had the fantastic idea of just getting Siam Cafe take out. You see, I work all day every Saturday this semester. That's right! It's my ONLY full day right now. And I don't feel like spending my Friday night grocery shopping and then rushing home on Saturday to work. This is so unlike me. I pine to be be the hostess with the mostess.

michigan tomotoes

Last weekend h. and I went up to Detroit for our friend's birthday party. Good food, but not nearly enough of it.

Our friend has a little garden in her backyard and gave us 4 huge tomatoes. They were enourmous! Well, I decided to make a recipe adapted from Toast's Farm Box series. A very valuable series of posts when you have so much produce on hand! Not only did I procrastinate for an entire week, letting those plump tomatoes get redder and redder and start to bruise from sitting on the counter for so long, then after finally processing the tomatoes I left the bowl in the fridge for two days! Today, I finally made the tomato sauce. Have I used it yet? No. I bought chicken and angel hair pasta but alas, I had to come to work. And I doubt I will start making dinner at 10:30 tonight.

Blast! That reminds me....I left my container of yogurt in my PURSE! I forgot to put it in the fridge :(

p.s. That's right....the majority of the time I'm "working" I read and write blogs! That's what I'm doing to pass the time right now. Oh, you do it too! Well, I doubt mine but someone's!

this week's csa delivery

• heirloom plum tomatoes
• green beans
• red and green peppers
• various chili peppers
• 2 habenero peppers! hot! hot!
• 1 head of cabbage
• 1 zucchini
• 2 squash

peach pie & iNGENUiTY

Well, I made my third test recipe. Peach pie. Late, but I did eventually do it (I cheated and bought a pre-made crust!). Anyways, now I can't find the place to submit the darn recipe and comments. The link is taking me right to the publisher's website. Maybe they changed it or something. This annoys me.

A few friends and I went to the Ingenuity Festival last Friday night. I'm so happy that there are people in Cleveland who have the courage and determination to try and do something here. I'm planning on going back sometime today. Here's to many, many more festivals in the years to come!!! Cheers!

edit: I did submit my 3rd recipe! The website worked the next day! Hooray!