JAM TODAY, JAM TOMORROW

It's a Jamboree in this kitchen.  The jam making frenzy is winding down and I thought I'd share my findings.

I made several kinds, with different pectins.  Peach, blueberry and strawberry I made the old fashioned way, with the old fashioned liquid pectin, results: very nice, three stars.  I keep them in the freezer and they still spread just fine on request.

Then yesterday and today, it was red apricot, and sweet cherry, made with the supposedly no cook pectin, all I could find in the store.  Result: nice,  two and a half stars, different texture from the cooked variety, but flavor still okay.

And the last one to go: tomato/lemon, which is a wonderful breakfast jam, well they all are, well I eat them any time, where was I, oh yes, I used the no cook pectin, but followed the old timey Amish recipe anyway, with the cooking and the mixing and the removal of the seeds, etc., except that what I had were grape tomatoes, so this is an experiment, since they're not as juicy as the big ones.  Result:  very very nice. Much better than previous years when I used big tomatoes. And cooking the pectin didn't seem to hurt anything. Four stars!!

In all these recipes I halved the instructions, mainly because I only had half as much fruit in my prep anyway.

Stop me before I jam again!  I have enough now for me, for little gifts here and there and for cheering food in winter, if it lasts that long.  But there again, maybe I'd better get some pectin on the shelf now in case I want to jam in the winter using frozen fruit, when there's no pectin to be had.

Coda to Field Trip

For folks who want to know more about the bronze animal heads in the previous post, take a look here:  http://wws.princeton.edu/news/AiWeiWeiExhibit2012/

Same sculptor as created the Birds Nest at the Beijing Olympics, evidently.  I liked the Birds Nest a whole lot more!

Field trip

The heatwave now gone, I decided it was time to Get Out again, and went off to spend the afternoon on the Princeton U. campus, mainly at the art museum.  I've been going there for many years but never went on an official highlights tour before, so this time I did.

I was in the company of older people from all over, as well as students from Indonesia,China, and Australia, and the museum volunteer docent was a retired doctor I used to know when he served as advisor to a board I served on many years ago, dealing with lowcost dignified funerals and end of life care.  He was a very good doctor, and some of what he said at board meetings came back and helped me in the last few years of my own life.

One odd thing, to get back to the art tour, was that he concentrated on the narrative of the artworks, which to me as an artist is the least important aspect of the whole thing, composition and balance and harmony and all that being the pressing issues, but it was interesting to hear people's response, and how they seemed to like that.  So that was educational as well as folkloric.

I'm spamming this over to Art the Beautiful, because of the pictures here, taken in the Roman gallery of the museum, and of the Woodrow Wilson gardens, which you are welcome to see as possible design ideas.  

I did a couple of shots of a third century Turkish marble mosaic pavement with (narrative!) painting of Hercules and Dionysus having a drink-off, I think.  But the interesting part was how familiar the floor design motifs were, now that we've seen them in all sorts of quilts and needlework contexts.  This pavement is about 25 x 25 feet or thereabouts. 

I definitely am interested in seeing what stitching and beading can do for a couple of these ideas, and you are welcome to do so, too!  It was a bit like reading Shakespeare and thinking gosh, he's full of quotations!

I stopped off at the Woodrow Wilson gardens on the way out of the campus.  WW was president of Princeton, before he fell by the wayside and became President of the USA. This was his house and  gardens, lovely design in all seasons, and absolutely mobbed with tiger swallowtail butterflies today.  Very appropriate in view of the tiger motif of Princeton.

Then there was the Woodrow Wilson School of Government, with a whole new series of strange huge animal heads installed outside, news to me, and clearly a big attraction for visitors, since I had to seize the chance when there were few people around to get a pic.  I remain mystified as to their significance and origin.You can see the scale from the people I included in the shot.

LIly and Call Me Michelle in partnership

What with one thing and another, I needed to do something different, so I decided to finally finish the Dolliver sweater dress that has been on the needles since shortly after the trip to the alpaca farm.

So here's Call Me Michelle, posing elegantly in her alpaca gear, courtesy of Alpaca Lily, whom we met at the farm, and whose picture appears on the tag that came with the yarn.

Protesting that we're in the middle of a heatwave, why get into cosy alpaca gear, she was mollified when I reminded her that fashion shoots always take place in the opposite season from the clothes. Models in heavy winter gear are usually passing out from the heat in July, and bathing suits are organized to be shot in midwinter, when disguising goose bumps is an issue.

Can't believe how long it took me to finish this item, but I feel better now that it's done.  My inner compulsive can now pipe down.  But now Call Me Michelle is wondering if I have enough yarn left for a nice hat...for her, that is.

Sadness and excitement all on one day

I was out watering the plants on the patio against the scorching heat when my friend from down the street, who's moving away, stopped by,and explained that since it is so hot, I should take liquids to stay hydrated.  And gave me a bottle of wine, cracking up laughing.  And a box of rainbow cookies.  And a giant box of Whitman Sampler chocolates.  This is his goodbye gift.  

Moving on Thursday, to the great sadness of the whole neighborhood.  Longtime friend to Handsome Partner and me, visited faithfully right to the end of HP's life, said goodbye while he was dying, shares a birthday with Handsome Son.  Many connections.  But he needs to be nearer his daughter and granddaughter, so he's moving. Not all that far, next state, but I doubt if we'll see much of him.

So I plunged into art after I got back from the farm with great goodies, and if you want to see what happened this afternoon, go here:  http://beautifulmetaphor.blogspot.com/  Art the great healer!

Now I have to go eat a giant salad of Jersey corn, Jersey cucumber, Jersey onions finely minced, and Jersey tomatoes, all the first of the season.  And maybe a little glass of white wine in departing friend's honor.

Second storey work, neighborhood style

No pix of the second storey work in question, because I was far too nervous worrying about my neighbor trotting up to my roofline on his new ladder, in flipflops (!) to clip off a stray cable that the chimney workers left sticking out, trailing down the side of the building and looking awful, but clipped to the soffit so you couldn't tug on it from below without tearing out the soffit, too.

So his girlfriend and he showed up on the patio, and set up the ladder and I begged them to wait a minute, since I was under orders to summon my handywoman in crime from down the street to make sure all went well.  She arrived, having abandoned her husband in the middle of assembling a ceiling fan, much to his dismay,and all went well. 

But my high anxiety about the ladder, and the neighbor and the flipflops rendered the use of a camera, even with the shake function on, impractical.

I returned the favor by helping him prune his foliage, name escapes me, so it looks nice, not all cut about.

Then I went back to listening to Plutocrats on CD while I stitched my latest goldwork and bead piece.  Which you can see here:

http://beautifulmetaphor.blogspot.com/2013/07/latest-gold-and-beadwork-goes-on-and.html

Shortly after that while I was wondering whether I could tolerate going out in the heat to an art opening locally where I have a piece of work in the show, when another friend arrived and needed to give me various bits of news which couldn't wait.  

So I figured the person in front of you has priority, and I made a pot of tea and after she departed put flamenco guitar music on.  It's all go in this supposedly quiet neighborhood.

Show and Tell for the Township

Not my township, but the one where I often go to the library.  Today was Vehicle Day, where one of every type of police vehicle was in the library parking lot, ready for little kids to swarm all over, set off the sirens and lights, play driver on the big fire truck, find out what squad cars have in the trunk (answer: big case of first aid and other supplies), see into the ambulance,  and generally have a great time.  The kid who set off the siren right into my ear, causing temporary deafness, was a civilian about thirty years old, though, but with a slightly youthful sense of humor...

Boiling hot and humid day, police in uniform good naturedly lifting kids up and down all morning, probably thinking the regular beat is a bit more peaceful. 

Dollhenge

Today is Manhattanhenge: the day of the year when the rays of the setting sun align perfectly with the street grid of Manhattan.  At least they will if if stops raining and clouding.

The Dollivers decided they needed to celebrate this annual phenomenon with a Dollhenge tribute.  Dressed in sunworshipping gear, despite the threatening rain,

they got into formation.  Note that Blondie Firstborn, owing to the great delicacy of her complexion, special snowflake you know, insisted on keeping her hat.

Elton was a bit puzzled about what music should accompany this.  He jettisoned his entourage to paw through his sheet music for Druidic items.  Planet Suite?  a bit beyond his range.New World Symphony? nah, short a few instruments.  So he figured that since the original henges were about rocks, the Druids no doubt loved rock.  So he burst into a great retro rendition of Rock around the Clock, amazingly appropriate when you think about it, with thanks to Bill Haley and the Comets.

Teeth and toothsome

So the morning was spent at the dentist getting an expensive piece of work done and listening to his accounts of how he can't afford a vacation because he had to go to a family wedding on the other coast last year, with family of six in tow, and this year his daughter's graduation from law school, another cross country event with six in tow.  As he worked I wondered if he knew that this morning I waved byebye to any vacation this year for me, on account of the work he was doing...but it's very well done, and I'd rather have a functioning mouth and car, did I mention the car needed urgent medical care, too, than most things.

While I was listening to his recital, I was wondering happily what would be in my farmshare today.  The weather has been so unpredictable, what with blazing sun and massive downpours, that the farm people said, sorry, we don't know what we'll be picking but we'll do mystery baskets and you'll like them.  Which indeed I did.

Today it was lovely blueberries, cucumber, green beans and a whole bunch of redskin potatoes.  So the usual farmshare cooking and chopping and freezing frenzy ensued today.

Now I have blueberry jam in the freezer, along with the strawberry jam of a couple of weeks ago, and a supply in the fridge, big bowl of finely sliced cucmber in vinegar for ze Eeengleesh teatime sandwiches, steamed potatoes ready to make into potato salad, bowl of steamed green beans for salad, too.  Happy camper here.  All is well chez Liz.

I had enough blueberries to make half the usual recipe, and it worked so well I think I'll do that from now on.  Smaller batches really do set up well and work terrific.  I have developed a taste for my own bread, thin sliced, with cucumber, and other slices with a nice spread of homemade jam.  I think I'll make a few more small batches over the summer and freeze some of each.  A friend is already on the lookout for prune plums at her farmers market for me.

And I believe corn is up for next week's farmshare.  Now that requires only a single minute in the microwave, then strip off the green soft leaves and the silks, bit of butter, big shake of black pepper, gourmet food.  And I'll strip kernels and freeze them for winter use.  They taste marvelous at Thanksgiving, hard as it is to realize that will be here at some point!

Clearance, and celebrating with flowers

My doctor gave me final clearance to get on with my life yesterday.  Evidently whatever she found has gone away, and I have no health issues now,yay.

So this calls for a quiz (I know, once I get on something, I get on it)

http://www.thisgardenisillegal.com/flower-quiz

I'm a snapdragon!  I guess I shouldn't have asked...

Summertime and the minutes are draggin'

This is my brain on long hot days when I can only get out for a little while, and my art needs a rest, and I've read all my libe books...turns out I'm a Lit Geek, that's what kind of nerd I am! Save me before I test again!

Happy Fourth! from my little corner of America the Beautiful

Hot, thundery, sunny, July day, when I'm very thankful that the signers tolerated this kind of heat and humidity in Philadelphia all that time ago, dressed in warm woollen gear, all the doors and windows shut against spies, to argue out the documents we love today.

Here's the International House of Dolls, posing outside my little bit of America the Beautiful to wish you all a good day!

Elton played a great rendition of every Sousa march he could remember, then America the Beautiful, my choice for national anthem, if I ever get to be queen, and slipped in a bit of O Canada in honor of Canadian doll, and Canada Day earlier this week.  And he played us out, and his backup chorus of small dolls harmonizing along, with Summertime.

The Dollivers sat on the review stand, aka red chair, waiting patiently for the parade to pass, before finding they were the parade, and they join me in wishing you a great day, with all the freedom you can handle, whether or not it's your Independence Day.

Garden Pix in Response to Overwhelming Demand From Blogistas

This year's growing season has been either boiling hot or torrentially rainy and floody with thunder, lightning and tornadoes thrown in, so it's amazing I have anything going out there at all.

I'm posting a series of pix, both patio and out front,

in the form of a guessing game.  You can spot: sunflowers, nasturtiums, marigolds, oregano, rosemary, basil, orange mint, lavender, leaf lettuce, Boston Fern, ficus benjamina, dracaena or diffenbachia, never can remember which, crown of thorns, begonia, spider plant, all in containers.  To be fair the last few are largely hidden in the cherry tree, where they go to camp for the summer.  And there's daylilies, the everpresent pachysandra, spearmint, and other things, growing in the ground.

So if you've finished your crossword puzzle, see if you can Spot the Plants!! no prize for the winner.
 

Beads, net, Tyvek, pesto, where will it all end...

To find out, go here

Yesterday's gardening was done across the street in a neighbor's back yard, hauling out weeds, helping plant tomatoes, transplanting pachysandra in my design for her life.  She's not around enough to weed -- this is her weekend home -- so I'm strongly suggesting we plant pachysandra in her planting beds, then grow veggies in containers put right down on the pachy, as I do.  Works a treat, keeps weeding to a distant memory, and I don't think I'll let her disagree..she has a patio about the size of mine, with a concrete apron where I have a deck, so it's the edges that need the work.

But what looks like a small area in prospect gets huge in the heat of summer and with limited time to work on it with all the other weekend stuff needed.  Very discouraging to come back every Friday and find the patio all overrun again after clearing it last week.

I grow all my herbs and most of my flowers in containers, and they look great. In fact most people think they're planted in the ground, since the pachy covers up the containers anyway.  So I hope Karen will like this solution.  She's looking interested anyway.

Handsome Partner's Birthday

Today is  HP's birthday, and since I'm busy playing music later today, Handsome Son and I will go out to dinner tomorrow to celebrate HP's life.  New place we haven't been to before, seems appropriate, casual, but good Italian food, I'm told.  Typical NJ restaurant: in a strip mall, very low key not much in the way of decor, but they know how to cook!  Nice acknowledgment of the day.

Meanwhile, work in the studio is keeping on keeping on, and the latest finished piece is here

The Dollivers Get in a Jam. Strawberry, that is.

So the Dollivers, insisting that after all the heavy labor of bringing home food from the farm this year, it was time to reap the harvest so to speak.  So, togged up in their denim gear, suitable for farm and house, they decided to use all the strawberry harvest from this year, one of the best ever, thanks to various weathers, as jam.

They delegated me to do the heavy lifting, such as stirring to an unboildownable rolling boil,

too dangerous for delicate Dollivers, and sterilizing the couple of glass containers I managed to find, and pouring the resulting delicious stuff into them.

The cook's privilege is to eat the foam skimmed off the top on plain yogurt. Heaven on a spoon.  Never waste the foam.

Then, the jam done and jarred, not the only thing that was jarred by this time, they decided the jam needed hot biscuits, right away. 

So we made a batch of wholewheat with flaxseed and sunflower seeds. 

And tested it out, using the remaining two Dollivers, the entitled ones who did no work, as guinea pigs, I mean guests to tea.

This is great stuff. It simply doesn't get any better than warm homemade bread with fresh homemade jam from local fruit.

This is after a day of embroidering up a storm, then taking a trip to the thrift store despite numerous road closings and confusing detours
for repairs, to score three heavily beaded and sequined tops, for the beads and sequins, and a bag of leftover tulle ribbon in various colors, right for an upcoming embroidery gig, then some serious debeading of the tops, this is not work for wimps.

I  may sit down and read a Barbara Pym after I get out of here.

Bloomsday 2013

To see a couple of sky pix in honor of Bloomsday and a waxing moon, go here

Lovely weekend of perfect June weather, friends around, lunch unexpectedly with two of them, cooked by one to order, while watching the US Open golf, window washing (their idea my windows their work of removing them cleaning and replacing, beyond my own strength, in gratitude for my explaining how to do it for themselves to save hauling out a ladder to wash the upstairs windows,yay) stitching galore, wonderful viewing of The Guilty, Michael Kitchen actually playing a bad guy, the idea.

Then a quick text today to a literary friend, the kind of person on whom nothing is wasted, wishing her a happy Bloomsday, and a response wishing me about Leopold.  Like I said, nothing wasted on her. Wonderful friend to have.

Annual Pesto Bash and Other Significant Events

Today is sister Irene's (dogonart to you) anyway, her birthday.  Hippo Birdies, and many many more.

And the other annual event was the Making of the Pesto, at least the opening day of same.  Today it was oregano and sage, one batch of each flavor.  This year I'm not mixing flavors like last year, just going to put the batches up separately then mix and match as I cook.  

I freeze each batch flattened out in a ziploc bag, and when it's frozen, it stands on edge like a library book, takes up no room in the freezer and you can break off exactly the amount you want.  I also, instead of washing out the blender (I do chop first by hand, then finish by blending the walnuts, parmesan, olive oil and leaves) I poured in a few ounces of water and blended that, and I'm freezing the resulting mix, to add to soups or whatever will have water in it anyway.  Waste not want not.

The blender is a very nice one, a freecycle, in fact, I suspect because the original owner moved on up to a food processor after watching one too many food shows...perfectly operating blender. 

This freed up my old one, actually a collectible with one switch for on, and one for off, which went to Handsome Son who loves old items like this especially when they function, which that one does.  You have to hold on the lid, I warned him, since it dates back to before they made the deep lid which didn't fly off so readily..and I just remembered that was a freecycle, too.

Ribbons, streamers, balloons, cake, merriment

Tests all done this morning,and they showed nothing wrong, yay!

So after a few anxious days and a lot of helpful messages from blogistas and others, I plan to loaf on the patio, in the sunshine, have a little glass of wine, do some embroidery, make a pot of special Chinese tea I was given last evening, weird little cakes of tea, and generally breathe again.

Meanwhile, it's like a factory floor around here today -- a major tree came down on my neighbor's house, totally unexpectedly, calm evening, no wind, just last night, and she and her kids escaped by the skin of their teeth as it came down on them.  No people hurt, fences gone, huge chippers at work today hauling away a large section of a fifty foot tree. 

I spent the evening with them helping them breathe again! and their son, who had been playing poker with his buds on the deck, in true Y chromosome fashion, moved the poker game to another friend's house!

Never a dull moment.

White Rabbits!

The blogpost title is what you're supposed to say on the first of every month, no I don't know why, I just do it!

Mixed few days -- stove broke down, horror, couldn't bake my bread.  But I did get a good techy out yesterday who examined it and said,well, it looks as if your igniter's all corroded.  I resisted the temptation to say, well, you're no oil painting yourself, and inside of an hour he had whipped out the old part, spliced and organized and replaced it, and we're back in business.  This is good.

Then it was my annual physical which went well, except that my doc tells me my endo has dumped his practice and gone to work in Big Pharma, dangit.  Right in the middle of getting my ultrasounds organized.  But that might not be too pressing, try to get into another practice before the due date of October. 

More upsetting was that she discovered a new thing , and ordered up a mammo and ultrasound asap.  By midweek I hope to know if I'm in any real trouble or not.  Not much sleep last night.

Meanwhile, on the subject of rabbits,  my usual browser isn't responding and I had to go to IE which doesn't like this site.  So my linking didn't work very well. So if you would like to see rabbits, just go to http://beautifulmetaphor.blogspot.com.  Anyway, give it a shot!

And send plenty of vibes that I'm only dealing with a false alarm.

Memorial Day Weekend opening of summer? right

Cold, wet, rainy, not beachworthy.   So the iris came into bloom yesterday, were knocked all over the place by rainstorms today, and I decided this was a good day to declare a stitching retreat.  See other blog for current progress on The Cellist.  And the framed completed goldwork Galaxy, or maybe Constellation, jury still out on the title.

Listening to John Grisham on CD,  then watching The Goodwife on DVD.   And catching up with all the proposed music for a recital one of my consort groups is doing in the fall, plenty of time to panic. And catching up with the paperwork  and copying and printing (some of our members don't do computers) for the board meeting of the embroiderers' group.

And that.  The iris don't care!  perfect rainy weather for their complexions.

Opening Day

No, not baseball.  Noooooo, not trout fishing.  It's Opening Day of the Farmshare for 2013!!

The Dollivers insisted on having special farm style outfits, and declined to wear little carrots as earrings, on their dignity about their calling as farmers, and posed with today's first of the year share. I was a bit too busy to make outfits for everyone, so I had them appoint a delegation, as you see.

Asparagus, growing in the field this morning, lettuce plants ditto, ready to transplant into my container on the patio, marigolds now transplanted into a container out front.  Asparagus now snapped so the bottom woodiest bits are off and reposing in the freezer ready to go into stock, but the choice bits are ready to cook fast and eat with lemon butter sauce.

The homegrown oregano and sage are busting out all over and I will be making pesto very soon, since last year's supply is finally all gone.

An-ti-ci-pay-ay-tion

Irises on the brink. The same ones further down the block are in full fig, the ones next door just a few days ahead of mine, and here are mine, brimming with anticipation!  lovely purple and white bearded iris.  The difference in maturity is all about how the sun hits which gardens first, very interesting to watch. See how just the beginning of the color is starting to show through. I love this stage.

Off to Camp!

The kids are off to camp, at last.  That is, the houseplants are now in their summer residence, finally, several weeks later than usual.  This has been the longest coldest spring in ages, so they couldn't go out when temps were going down to freezing or close at night.  So now I feel as if I have the house back to myself.  And the patio is now a nice sort of bower the stitching of embroidery for, and reading for, and afternoon tea for.  And when the pool opens and all the local kids take their games there, it will even be quiet.

The house looks a bit empty, though....no, must resist the temptation to bring in more stuff.

And I have a sad demise to report on the tech front: my blog uploading wasn't working the other day.  Just stuck halfway through.  So I changed the camera cable, no result, changed the chip, no result, changed the battery, no result.  Finally a rush of brains to the head,and I realize, ah, it's the camera!! after several years of constant use and banging about in my purse, thousands of pics, it finally got a bit tired and worn out, aren't we all, and has been honorably retired.

Fortunately I took a tip from Handsome Son, who's the ultimate believer in backups, well, he's a computer geek,  so of course, and I had a second exactly similar camera, which I've been switching off batteries and chips with, so now my backup is my frontup.  But it's a boring old black. But it uses the same cable, software, chip, battery, everything, yay.

Perhaps I can paint it. Yes, that would work.   I'm in one of those if it doesn't move paint it modes.

Eat Dessert First, you know why..

Years ago I saw a friend, a great cook, arranging food, I think she was putting a slice of fruit beside a piece of cake or something, very simple, and the touch of arranging it made it very appealing.  I remember her when I see videos of fancy chefs drizzing stuff over ingredients and building up food in the middle of the plate, and think, well, there has to be a middle way for me.

So yesterday's dessert: anjou pear sliced, chopped walnuts sprinkled, molasses drizzled.  Very pictorial, and actually a really good dessert.

This was an interlude in a day full of rushing  about, delivering carloads to the thrift store on behalf of HS who can't get there because of his working hours, finding there a one dollar heavily beaded blouse, awful blouse, but a nice collection of beads and sequins to snip off and now they're in my collection waiting to take their turn in my goldwork, knitting more squares in my current Mindless Throw, visiting with friends,listening to the current John Grisham on CD,reorganizing my dried flower arrangements, cracking up that I have time to pay attention to dried flowers,playing music with me mates last evening, and generally having a full day.  Which is why I'm getting a later start this morning.