(no subject)
It's late, really late on a Sunday night. Tomorrow might be a holiday for most of the people I know, but not for me or anyone I work with.
I don't like to let go of good weekends.
Yesterday I picked over 16 lbs of lemons from the little tree by the side of the house that was only a stump when we moved in. Presumably the previous owner got fed up of it and cut it down, but it sprang up again. There must be about as many lemons still on the tree, not yet ready, as I picked.
I decided to make marmalade.
While buying jars I realised that I needed other equipment, but some of it I could improvise from what I had at home. I remembered a piece on NPR with someone named Cathy Barrow (no relation, I don't think) about pickling, which I had found very interesting. Sometimes canning, pickling, preserving sounds complicated, sometimes it sounds simple.
After a day of being with Vaughan (who is 10 months old now), carrying him on my back while I worked in the yard, feeding him, changing him, playing with him, rushing over to San Francisco to surprise Missy at her reading where she didn't expect to see us, I decided that, although I didn't have time to do a full batch and fill the dozen jars I bought, I could do a little test batch, to see how it went and if I had forgotten anything, since it's my first time doing this.
I reused two jam jars from store-bought jam, cleaned and boiled. As the jars cooled and I washed the pans I was suddenly reminded of something Cathy Barrow had said in her NPR piece, about the delightful sound of each lid going "POP!" which means it is sealed. It is a wonderful sound, a nicely definite and conclusive sign that the work is done and successful. It is so pleasing it brings a big grin to my face, and makes me want to make more. I think it has a precious rare quality, because although one could reproduce the sound easily, the quality that makes it so delightful is that it is unpredictable and created by a circumstance that occurs only once for each jar you fill and seal.
I don't know if I could make preserves or pickles any cheaper than they can be bought in the supermarkets, considering the lack of economy of scale and the labour involved, but it is certainly no more expensive and very very rewarding.
I don't like to let go of good weekends.
Yesterday I picked over 16 lbs of lemons from the little tree by the side of the house that was only a stump when we moved in. Presumably the previous owner got fed up of it and cut it down, but it sprang up again. There must be about as many lemons still on the tree, not yet ready, as I picked.
I decided to make marmalade.
While buying jars I realised that I needed other equipment, but some of it I could improvise from what I had at home. I remembered a piece on NPR with someone named Cathy Barrow (no relation, I don't think) about pickling, which I had found very interesting. Sometimes canning, pickling, preserving sounds complicated, sometimes it sounds simple.
After a day of being with Vaughan (who is 10 months old now), carrying him on my back while I worked in the yard, feeding him, changing him, playing with him, rushing over to San Francisco to surprise Missy at her reading where she didn't expect to see us, I decided that, although I didn't have time to do a full batch and fill the dozen jars I bought, I could do a little test batch, to see how it went and if I had forgotten anything, since it's my first time doing this.
I reused two jam jars from store-bought jam, cleaned and boiled. As the jars cooled and I washed the pans I was suddenly reminded of something Cathy Barrow had said in her NPR piece, about the delightful sound of each lid going "POP!" which means it is sealed. It is a wonderful sound, a nicely definite and conclusive sign that the work is done and successful. It is so pleasing it brings a big grin to my face, and makes me want to make more. I think it has a precious rare quality, because although one could reproduce the sound easily, the quality that makes it so delightful is that it is unpredictable and created by a circumstance that occurs only once for each jar you fill and seal.
I don't know if I could make preserves or pickles any cheaper than they can be bought in the supermarkets, considering the lack of economy of scale and the labour involved, but it is certainly no more expensive and very very rewarding.