Week #3 of The 52 Weeks, 52 Jams Challenge: Fig & Pear Jam With Wild Turkey Bourbon
I had totally forgotten about the ziplock bag of Brown Turkey figs I’d picked from Julien’s tree back in September. It had been hiding at the bottom of the bacon drawer in the freezer. How I missed seeing anything in the bacon drawer for four months really is beyond me. Julien is a fan of [...]
Week #2 Of The 52 Weeks, 52 Jams Challenge: Lemon-Ginger-Honey Marmalade
Since my neighbors have several hundred pounds of surplus citrus, I’m trying to develop some marmalade recipes that even non-marmalade-lovers will enjoy. I’d love to create a ginger lemon marmalade that tastes like the lemon echinacea juice from Trader Joe’s and is, as far as I am concerned, the nectar of the gods. I wanted [...]
Week #1 Of The 52 Weeks, 52 Jams Challenge: Tangerine Jam
My friend Billy gave me eight pounds of tangerines and four pounds of lemons off his backyard tree. Since I’m not a huge fan of marmalade, I decided to try and make a citrus jam instead. Recipe 32 ounces of tangerine juice 4 cups of granulated cane sugar juice of 2 lemons 3 tablespoons of [...]
The Jam Slam 2011: A Call To Preservationists Everywhere!
One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to make a different variety of jam every week for a year. As canning is one of those fake frugal hobbies like knitting or quilting, I’m going to offset my jam costs by sourcing free fruit by growing my own, collecting surplus produce from my neighbors, gleaning ingredients [...]
52 Letters, 52 Weeks Challenge–Letter #1
Check out this fabulous, enameled and bejeweled, bee-shaped pill box my friend Stephanie sent me for, oh, no good reason. She’s definitely tuned into my psychic radio station, because I know I’ve never mentioned to her that I’ve been looking for a pill box to replace the grubby little Tupperware container I’ve been carrying around [...]
The Lurid Details Of My Only Handmade Mandate for 2011
Because, you know, it’s never too early to set yourself up for crushing failure, here are my initial expectations/rules for my ONLY HANDMADE IN 2011 Mandate: Unless I can figure out how to get a full-ride scholarship to an Italian school for shoemakers this year, I will not be getting new shoes. Why? Because any [...]
New Year’s Resolutions! Now With Less Money And More 2011!
What? It’s the New Year already? But I’m still trying to finish up last year’s resolutions! Although I had many successes in 2010, such as getting beekeeping legalized in Santa Monica, California and driving fewer than 5000 miles in my car, most of my leftover chores mocking me from my half-done Master List have to [...]
