(no subject)
There is nothing like doing a little canning when it's nice and cool to make you not hate summer for slipping away a little too early. It has in fact been slipping away since the moment we got back from the lake, which is fitting as every year the trip to the lake has marked the last bit of respite and summer before fall. I could have done without the millipedes this time though. But really, there is nothing like getting in the car to come home with your hair still soggy from that last all-too-brief dip in the lake, and your cheeks soggy with the realization that you do not get to stay there forever. It gets harder to leave every single year. Hopefully someday we won't have to.
However, the rumble of the canning pot makes me feel so at home, wherever I may be. This year has already consisted of 23 quart jars of whole tomatoes in their own juice, 9 pint jars (one lost to explosion) of peaches in light syrup, 9 pint jars of honey-spiced peaches (of COURSE I just couldn't follow the recipe when baking spices are involved!), and 8 pint jars of dilly beans (again, not exactly following the recipe because how DARE they call them dilled beans when the pickling serum doesn't match my pucker-face dill serum??)... and the season is just getting started! I still have my old favorites of late-harvest raspberry jam, cherry studded apple pie filling and apple butter for sure to go, and maybe a shot at roasted red peppers too. Oh, and Mr. K has given me no choice but to try my hand at mustard this fall.
Are there any other canning treasures I'm totally missing out on?
I am SO grateful for our new, enormous kitchen when it comes to canning. I'm not fighting for counter space (as much), and oh my god do I want to hug my high output burner as the canning pot comes to a boil in 15-20 minutes! Salvation!
While I'm not looking forward to winter, I'm not loathing the dawn of fall as I have for the last good-god-nearly-two-decades. Maybe time does heal all wounds. Or maybe he's just back for a visit now that I have a home. It's still a little tender and I'm still a little sad and wistful, but that's nowhere as bad as it used to be.
All I know is that when my feet hit the cool wood floor this morning (damning my slippers for not being by the bed all the while) and the kitty and I sauntered down the stairs (stairs... STAIRS!), even through the mess and the knowing we're not totally unpacked yet and still seeing those GOD AWFUL STENCILS in the hallways (it's their last refuge before total annihilation), this was home. It's good to be here.
...now I just have to rip out those god awful bathrooms and I'll be all set.
I promise I'll post some before and after pictures soon too. The transformation is really stunning. And green. ha!
However, the rumble of the canning pot makes me feel so at home, wherever I may be. This year has already consisted of 23 quart jars of whole tomatoes in their own juice, 9 pint jars (one lost to explosion) of peaches in light syrup, 9 pint jars of honey-spiced peaches (of COURSE I just couldn't follow the recipe when baking spices are involved!), and 8 pint jars of dilly beans (again, not exactly following the recipe because how DARE they call them dilled beans when the pickling serum doesn't match my pucker-face dill serum??)... and the season is just getting started! I still have my old favorites of late-harvest raspberry jam, cherry studded apple pie filling and apple butter for sure to go, and maybe a shot at roasted red peppers too. Oh, and Mr. K has given me no choice but to try my hand at mustard this fall.
Are there any other canning treasures I'm totally missing out on?
I am SO grateful for our new, enormous kitchen when it comes to canning. I'm not fighting for counter space (as much), and oh my god do I want to hug my high output burner as the canning pot comes to a boil in 15-20 minutes! Salvation!
While I'm not looking forward to winter, I'm not loathing the dawn of fall as I have for the last good-god-nearly-two-decades. Maybe time does heal all wounds. Or maybe he's just back for a visit now that I have a home. It's still a little tender and I'm still a little sad and wistful, but that's nowhere as bad as it used to be.
All I know is that when my feet hit the cool wood floor this morning (damning my slippers for not being by the bed all the while) and the kitty and I sauntered down the stairs (stairs... STAIRS!), even through the mess and the knowing we're not totally unpacked yet and still seeing those GOD AWFUL STENCILS in the hallways (it's their last refuge before total annihilation), this was home. It's good to be here.
...now I just have to rip out those god awful bathrooms and I'll be all set.
I promise I'll post some before and after pictures soon too. The transformation is really stunning. And green. ha!