Blehh...

Tuesday, the day after Memorial Day... gotta go back to work. Bleehhh...

How am I going to make it through five more years of this??!!

Well, I guess I have only five more Tuedays after Memorial Day to deal with.

And Six more holiday seasons.

I never thought I’d get short timers this early...

This is LIVING!!

Okay, so this was the best - ever!

I came home early today because I had two HOUSEKEEPERS coming over to clean my house. (I feel soooo naughty). So they are here, and it is a little uncomfortable because I’m now a lady of leisure --- oh, except for those hellish hours spent at work.

Anyway, lady of leisure has decided to spray bug spray outside because the spiders are taking over the awning over the koi pond and the fence. So, I’m trying to figure out how to connect the nozzle to the power sprayer (I bought a separate one for the bug sprayer) and lo and behold, I hear a lawn mower going. Now I didn’t start a lawn mower --- don’t even own one! It must be..... My GARDENER!!!

I have two Housekeepers and two Gardeners working at my house at the same time....

I LOVE THIS!!!!!!

And all I have to do is sit here and write my blog. Oh, and clean the muck out of the koi pond, and spray bug poison, and feed the dogs, and make dinner.... hmmm......

Strawberry Season is here!

Gary and I took a drive to Brentwood area (No. Calif) to see if we could find cucumbers for his favorite bread and butter pickles. I should have known better - too early in the season for cucumbers. But we did find....

STRAWBERRIES!!

They weren’t just any strawberries - they were from the field behind the fruit stand. And they smelled heavenly.

We bought a flat (that is like 12 baskets), took them home, and thought of all of the wonderful things that we could do with a flat of fresh, ripe (did I mention there wasn’t a green one in the bunch!), strawberries... mmmm

So, here was the list:

1. Eat plain strawberries (which is what I did as I made the list),


2. Strawberry ice cream,


3. Strawberry shortcake,


4. Strawberries with champagne (naaahhh.. I don’t like the bubbly that much)


5. Strawberry jam.

Gary opted for number two,

I opted for number five, and
we both were guilty of number one.

(did I mention there wasn’t a green one in the bunch!), strawberries... mmmm

I hulled one basket for Gary. Then set out to take care of the jam. Because I do a lot of canning, I have all of the equipment on hand. One of the things that I like about canning is reusing the jars. I don’t like throwing things away and love the idea of recycling jars. Some time ago, I saw some pectin that was designed for low or no sugar jams and jellies. I don’t like super sweet jams and jellies so, I picked up a box of this pectin... And I’m so glad that I did!

The jam...

Strawberry jam is one of the easiest things to make. All it takes is strawberries, sugar, pectin (and not even that if you are willing to cook the berries for 30+ minutes) and a little bit of butter.

I hulled and mashed enough berries to make 6 cups of fruit. I heated that in an enamel pot (I don’t know why I use enamelware - I just do...) and added 1/2 t of butter. The butter helps to keep the foaming down. And as that was heating, I added 1/4 c. of sugar mixed with the pectin. I brought that to a rolling boil, then added the remaining 3 3/4c. sugar.

BTW - if you think this is a lot of sugar, the recipe for ‘normal’ strawberry jam is: 5c. berries to 7 c. sugar!!

I brought that back to a rolling boil, and once the boil hit, stirred it and boiled it for one minute. Then I removed it from the heat, skimmed the foam, and ladled into sterilized jars, put the lids and bands on them, and inverted the full, hot jars for 5 minutes.

And there you have it - Strawberry Jam!

The taste -- Ohmygosh - tastes heavenly! Not as sweet and sugary as normal jam - tons of fruit in each bite - and the local berry flavor.... out of this world!