Veggie Update

It's growing!!!

"OOFDA!!!"

"It's hot out here!" exclaimed my grandma, as she walked into the kitchen with her arms full of Kerr jam jars.

Grams and I had spent the morning at the farmers market in Carmichael, picking up eggplant, summer squash, apricots, fresh wildflower honey (she didn't get raw, only because it came in a big container; I was worried about the potential for getting her sick but the salesperson explained that raw honey was only slightly riskier than filtered), and of course--strawberries! At $18 a flat, I wouldn't call them a bargain by any measure, but they were just barely ripe, big, perfect and delicious that we threw caution to the wind and shelled out a crisp twenty dollar bill.

So what if the strawberries weren't necessarily ripe enough for jam? That's the only way I like them, and I only cook food I like.

**SIDE NOTE I just spilled my soy latte all over my desk at work. While writing this blog and not filing or writing resolutions. After coming in ten minutes late and without my security badge. How have I not been fired yet?

The jam set up beautifully due to all the pectin in the new strawberries. It was lighter pink than last year's batch, and not as sweet (which I love!). I'll be eating it for breakfast all week, and maybe dessert, too, and on Thursday my morning co-workers are throwing me a party (again: Why do they love me so much??) because I'M TURNING 20! So I'm bringing jam and baguette at Grams' suggestion to show off our hard work.

If you are interested in making your own jam, I can't recommend it enough! It is very, very easy--I have literally been making jam with my grandma since i was five years old. Directions vary according to what brand gelatin and what kind of fruit you use, but some general tips:

• Don't use overripe fruit. Most of the pectin has changed to sugars, and the jam is less likely to set. Of course, it will still be delicious as a sloppy mess! My brother actually likes it better when it doesn't set, because he smears it on bread and licks the drippings off his fingers. Nom nom nom.
• Don't get ugly fruit. By this I mean, don't use white plums or peaches without some kind of color. It will look kind of mushy and might turn out discolored later. Apricots and red flesh plums are beautiful--and omg so delicious--in jam. If you are set on peaches, try adding some raspberries or another colorful fruit. This will enhance the flavor and look of the jam.
• Use pretty jars! This is the most important. My grandma recycles old jars from nacho cheese, salsa, etc. and then, if it's destined for a gift, we cover the tops with fabric and tie with a ribbon. Also, antique jars are a nice touch; she gave me some of her wildflower honey in a beautiful antique jar with a rocking horse on the lid. I want to try painting the lids of old spaghetti sauce jars next weekend.

I can't get enough of jam. It's delicious, and (if you use low sugar gelatin product--and ps, most modern products have no actual gelatin in them, so yay for vegetarians!) pretty healthy, plus you can buy local to eat year-round! Summer fruits have such short seasons...

A long, looong time coming

The whines continue; I am still camera-less, and therefore my pictures come at the whim of the people who have lent me theirs. These are pictures from my sister's (S) graduation party at the end of May. (Yeah, I know.)

My mom and I spent three weekends making, like, five hundred thousand cookies, and by the end of the party, we only had about four thousand left over. I have a pretty great story about the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, but I will that for its own post (with the recipes for all three). Hey, I have to find something to do while I'm at work...

Not so great for the diet project, but so so yummy. (In the following weeks, my sister was, ironically, the only person who resisted the temptation to slip a hand into the freezer and pull out one--no, two--no, four!! cookies at a time to munch on. S is also the person who taught me the phrase: "A moment on the lips, forever on the hips!" It didn't sink in.)

S loves chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, so we had to have those. My mom and I also made vanilla sugar cookie S's just for her. The german chocolate cookies were the real triumph, though. They could melt anyone's willpower: crunchy on the outside, soft and truffle-like in the center, and the dough tasted like See's chocolate butter. They were seriously amazing.

Oh yeah, there some veggies, too. And crinkle-cut chips. At my grad party, we made most of the food from scratch. We didn't have a real "main course" but instead had several kinds of appetizers, cheeses, and of course cookies.

I think we may have had too much food at S's party, but there were fifty or sixty people there, so it was fine.

Blogger's Resolution

WHEREAS, New blogger KMO has demonstrated an interest in food and travel, and an excess of free time to waste--ahem, to devote to improving her health and cooking skills; and

WHEREAS, An avid reader, KMO spends way too much time reading other people's recipes and never ever trying them except that one time (brown sugar cupcakes!) that it turned out really well; and

WHEREAS, Like many young women, KMO is an omnivore with a penchant for game but an environmental conscience, and finds herself not uniquely at a moral and political crossroads at just the lifting of a forkful of lamb; and

WHEREAS, She really, really wants to finally lose weight; and

WHEREAS, A whiner at heart, KMO can no longer make excuses for not following-up with any wishes on her blog, and recognizes that her original recipes are rather lacking in both creativity and substance; and

WHEREAS, Despite her schedule, KMO will set out to cook at least three meals a week, of substance, and a substantive meal shall be defined as a meal which contains vegetables, grain or starch, and a significant protein; and

WHEREAS, A young woman with impeccable taste and like-minded friends, KMO has also committed herself to bake at least once every two weeks a bread, cake, or similar item to be shared with the people she loves and/or hoarded for herself; and

WHEREAS, KMO has finally chosen her birthday dinner and will for once eschew the grill for a more classic dish, Agneau de sept heures, or in English, succulent leg of lamb cooked on the stove with carrots, onions, and herbs for seven hours; and

WHEREAS, KMO recognizes that there will be many missteps along the path to this perfect meal (JULY 9!!!); now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED BY KMO, That she will share with all of you--or, as the case is, with no one in particular--her fumbles and triumphs, her pleadings for mercy, her bellows of triumph, and most importantly, hopefully, her non-expanding waistline.

DATED THIS TWENTY-FOURTH of JUNE, TWO-THOUSAND and NINE.