I just got back from a weekend at my mother’s. Dang. I left with a car full of raw ingredients, empty jars and 2 dogs. I returned with 2 dogs, a good deal of dog vomit, no raw ingredients and 120 jars of various well-sealed delectables. Let me tell you something, canning isn’t so much hard work, as it is tedious work and so much of the work is limited by the fact that a stove only has 4 burners! It wouldn’t matter how big or well stocked the kitchen is, there’s always a bottleneck at the point when you water bath the jars.
On the other hand it does force you to sit down and relax for a minute.
Dog vomit? Yeah, I forgot that Chester gets car sick. Do dogs get car sick? I don’t know but he likes to puke on long trips. Ironically, I was just telling Brett that having leather seats in the car is a requirement when you have two dogs. yeah, cleaning dog vomit up in the parking lot of an interstate McDonalds is no picnic, but at least it wiped up and didn’t leave any stains.
Of course today I found a whole batch I hadn’t noticed that first time around. Dammit.
I also lnoticed that every fucking surface of my car is covered in dried coffee.
Anyway, this weekend I produced:
Spicy corn relish
Lemon ginger marmalade
orange cranberry sauce
strawberry ginger sauce/syrup
rasberry chipotle lime glaze
maple pecan syrup
strawberry lemon jam
I also packed up 14 jars of mustard and I will make a lemon orange marmalade this week. Right before I left on my trip what should I get in the mail but the ultimate guide to home canning from Alex. Dang. I’m so going nuts with that thing.
I’m cold and tired and hungry, I’m off to take care of myself.
So long party peeps
ps. Maddie got into a fight with my mom’s cat and lost. Maddie is an exceptionally tough and tenacious dog. My mom’s cat, however, burst forth from hell in a ball of furious flame. That can is MEAN! Of course Maddie didn’t learn her lesson and will seek out the cat again and again.