Preserve

Preserve - to prepare (food) for future use, as by canning or salting.

August 9, 2009

This is some of the blackberry syrup I bottled yesterday. After church Lane made up some French toast so we could try it out, and it was really good! I think it needed just a little bit more sweetening, but that's just my sweet tooth talking. Lane thought it was fine as is. Here is the recipe from my Ball Blue Book of Home Canning:

2 1/2 quarts berries
3 cups water, divided
1 2-inch strip of lemon peel
2 1/2 cups sugar
3 1/2 cups corn syrup
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Crush berries. Combine berries, 1 1/2 cups water and lemon peel in a medium saucepot. Simmer 5 minutes. Strain through a damp jelly bag or several layers of cheesecloth. Combine sugar and 1 1/2 cups water in a medium saucepot; boil to 260 degrees F (adjust for altitude). Add berry juice and corn syrup to sugar syrup. Boil 4 minutes. Stir in lemon juice. Ladel hot syrup into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner. Yield about 3 pints.



So here's what I did differently: I skipped over the whole first part with the lemon peel and the cheesecloth. I just dumped the whole load of berries into my food mill, which did an excellent job of separating the seeds out, tiny as they are. So after I did that part, I picked up with the sugar and water boiling part and continued from there. I managed to get 6 1/2 pints though, instead of the 3. The recipe in my Ball Blue Book is actually for strawberry syrup, so among all the things I changed maybe that's why the difference. I would definitely do it again, though, and add a little more sugar just for my taste.

Learn

Another busy day at my house! I got up at 7 when Lane got home from work (for those who don't know - I HATE getting up!) and we went for a long walk. We went the opposite way on the canal road, so I don't have any mileage landmarks and I didn't take my pedometer, but I think we went close to 2 miles. It's a prettier walk to the south than it is to the north, but I have walked the north route so many times I know exactly how far everything is. After our walk, we came home and the berry picking commenced. We were both bruised, scratched and bleeding when we were done, but we had a little over 2 1/2 quarts of blackberries. Instead of jam this time, I bottled pancake syrup. We're planning to have some pancakes tomorrow, so I'll report on how good/bad it turned out. It was gorgeous while it was cooking, and smelled even better.




My parents have been camping for a week in American Fork canyon. We went up to eat dinner with them and my brother & his family who are camping for the weekend. I was surprised to find that my other brother and his family had also shown up for dinner, so we had a good crowd.





Calvin and his family prepared a stew in the ducth oven. I didn't have room to sample any, but it smelled delicious and everyone else said it was wonderful!

For reasons I'm not totally clear on, my parents took their hummingbird feeder. I wasted too much time and too much of my battery power chasing this little hummingbird around trying to get a picture. Since I'm still figuring out this camera, all my pictures of the bird in flight are a huge blur.

This is just the lovely scenery at Granite Flat campground in American Fork canyon. Even though the campground was nearly full, with all the foliage around it feels really private.

Learn - To gain knowledge, comprehension, or mastery of through experience or study.

August 8, 2009

I wanted to take a couple of apple pies to our picnic for dessert, so I made one (the one on the right) and Taylor and Jack made one (the one on the left). They followed the recipe and I gave them no assistance of any kind. Jack has helped me in the past, so he had to "teach" Taylor. I think the two of them did an excellent job! Even though Jack has helped me, he's never rolled out dough, nor sealed the edges. I think Taylor was really surprised to see how easy pie is and really proud that she could do it!

Fad

Oh, it was one of those days today. Too much to do! I was at work until 2:00, and then I came home, loaded up 3 kids and off we headed to University Mall to do some shopping. Michelle had told me about a sale at Aeropostale, so that was our intended destination. That store was PACKED! I am getting very anxious in crowds in my old age, so that wasn't a good sign. I found out that they didn't have anything in there small enough for Jack, but Taylor got herself some new cookie pants and a shirt. So off we went to The Children's Store. Apparently Jack is too big for that store because no pants were long enough. Ok. So, off to Macys. Nope. Their kids department also didn't have pants long enough. Hmmm. The Gap? Yeah, they had pants long enough. For $55!! I don't think so! What to do? I had always shopped for the kids at Mervyns, but since they went out of business it left me in a pickle. There are no stores for Tween boys, only Tween girls. So I threw up my hands in despair and we headed back to Kohls in American Fork. That's where I had done Taylor's shopping last month, so I knew they would have what I needed. Stupid me, I should have started there. So I found everything I needed at Kohls, for a reasonable price even. Then we went over to Target for Addie's stuff. She only needed shoes and a few other things, and since she isn't hard on her clothes I figured that Target quality would be good enough. Plus, the shoes she wanted only came in black at Kohls, and that just wasn't acceptable to my little princess.


So we now have all 3 kids, fully outfitted for school, and me, of course, financially ruined. Since this little escapade took us until 6:30, I picked up dinner at Panda Express.

Fad - A fashion that is taken up with great enthusiasm for a brief period of time; a craze.

August 7, 2009

Everyone just HAD to have Converse All-Stars for school. Really? Converse? Well, I guess I'm really out of the loop. I did have to giggle a little bit when we were in Macys and the mannequin was wearing leggings with a big shirt. I pointed it out to Taylor and said "See that? That's called 1985!"

After dinner, Lane & I went out to do the evening garden watering, and I picked this many blackberries in just a few minutes. These are just the ones I could easily reach! So tomorrow I'll put on my best armor and go out and try to get what more I can. Blackberry syrup anyone?

Bubble

Bubble - a thin, usually spherical or hemispherical film of liquid filled with air or gas.

August 6, 2009

This huge bubble formed when Taylor poured her ginger ale into her cup to make her fresh lime. It stood way up from the rim of the cup originally, but had deflated some by the time I fetched my camera. It continued to deflate, until it was concave inside the glass and then it popped. I wish I had my camera when it formed - it was really big!


I got a very nice surprise tonight - one of my old college roomies stopped by for a short visit and it was great to see her! How fun to spend some time, even if it was short, catching up. I get together with the roomies once a year for lunch, but this roommate, Lori, wasn't able to come to our last gathering. Yes, I did say Lori. It got very confusing, particularly my sophomore year when we had me, Lori, and 2 Heathers in the same apartment.



I went to BSA Roundtable tonight with Lane. They had some very good and useful information for us to use in our cub dens. I don't care what anyone says, I'll take a den of scouts over a group of Achievement Day girls any day! Someday I hope I get to serve as a den mother again. That was a great calling!

Buttery

We had hoped to go for a picnic in American Fork canyon tonight, but that didn't work out. We went ahead and had our tinfoil dinners as we had planned, but since we stayed at home I decided we needed some cheddar bay biscuits, ala Red Lobster, to go with dinner. They are so, so good and so, so easy! I don't know why I don't make them more often. Note to self - 1 dozen biscuits is NOT enough.



Cheddar Bay Biscuits
2 cups Bisquick
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese
1/3 cup butter - and I do mean butter! - melted
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder or granulated garlic
parsley flakes to taste

Combine bisquick, milk and cheese and beat with a wooden spoon for about 30 seconds. Spoon onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 450 for 8 minutes.

Combine melted butter, garlic and parsley. Baste biscuits with butter mixture. Return biscuits to the oven for 1-2 minutes longer. Baste with butter again. Serve warm.

Buttery - Containing or spread with butter.

August 5, 2009

My neice Kassie came over tonight to finalize the whole dress-for-the-cruise thing. I had chosen a dress, and told her I wanted it in brown. So she shows up with about 20 swatch samples and tells me to choose. Yeah, right. Now I know what brides feel like when they come into my shop and I throw the color chart at them. Anyway, she had brought a few dresses with her to check for sure on the size, and it turns out that I fell in love with a whole different dress. She had managed to bring with her a dress that she kept telling me I would like, and I kept telling her that I thought it would make me look too, um, let's just say bottom-heavy. But I tried on the dress and it fit perfectly and I instantly loved it. It is a silvery shade, she called it platinum, so it's a far cry from the brown I wanted, but it's just perfect. Thanks Kassie!

I got in my hour long work out tonight and have so far resisted having a slice of the yummy cake Kassie left here last night. I am cursed with my dad's feet, so they pretty much ache all the time, and Lane even gave me a foot rub before he went to work. What a sweetie!

Grill

Grill - To cook by direct heat under a grill or over a hot fire.

August 4, 20009

Lane made THE BEST burgers for dinner tonight. I don't know what seasoning he put on them, but they were so good. He made 8 and Taylor and Jack were fighting to over the last one, after they had each already had 2. So, so good. We had fresh tomatoes from the garden to put on them, so that made them even better. I love summer meals. Why did we not eat outside? That was dumb.



My neice Kassie found me a lovely new formal for our upcoming cruise. So she came over tonight to help me figure out which dress I wanted and what color, and she brought along her husband who my kids seem to think is a toy. They played that new Wii game with him and complained after he left that he wasn't here long enough, and Jack got to play with him longer than Taylor did, and Addie didn't get to play with him at all. Kassie also brought along her newest assignment from her cake decorating class to share. It was beautiful! She does nice work. I'll have to get her to do cakes for my kids birthdays.

Victory, Puzzle, Fit

We went swimming at the city pool on Saturday afternoon. It was so hot, so the water felt great! Addie was thrilled to be at the pool, but not so happy when it was time to go. The older two kids can walk to the pool whenever they want, but Addie isn't old enough yet. I think its funny how her heart scar makes it look like she's got, um, cleavage.

Saturday night, Lane took me to dinner at Applebees. We are very weak, and it's unfortunate that Applebees is right by Best Buy, cuz we always have to go to Best Buy when we eat at Applebees, and we just can't "look" in Best Buy. We got a new game for the Wii that we thought the whole family would like.

Victory - Defeat of an enemy or opponent.

August 1, 2009

Jack beat Addie at something, and apparently he was very proud of it. Sorry about the exposure on the picture. There was too much light coming in the window so I had to adjust it, a lot.

Puzzle - A game that tests your ingenuity.

August 2, 2009

We like to do jigsaw puzzles. Taylor especially likes them. She can do a puzzly super fast if she has the time to work on it. I went do DI a while back and got a bunch of those Dowdle art puzzles and she can do those in a day or so. They are about 500 pieces, I think. This one is 1000 and takes a little longer. She'll probably have it done by the end of the week.

Fit - In good health.

August 3, 2009

I have been better about my exercising lately. Again, I am weak, so I do it in the evening since I lack the willpower to get up in the morning. Of all my exercising stuff that I have, these are my favorites. I love the Walk at Home stuff because any idiot can do it, it's just the right amount of challenging without me feeling like I'm going to have a stroke. I like the Wii Fitness Coach one because it's kind of interactive and it gets more challenging as I get stronger. It also has different areas of focus so it isn't the same old stuff all the time. Plus, it tracks my weight and inches so I can see my progress. For anyone with a Wii, I recommend it. You don't need the Wii Fit board or anything, just the regular Wii console. Wii Fit is fun because it makes everything a game.

I took Taylor and Addie to the eye doctor today. Taylor's prescription had changed slightly and we got her new contacts ordered. This was Addie's first trip to the eye dr. and she wasn't quite sure what to think. Not surprisingly, she is ready for glasses as well. She picked out some lovely purple frames with hearts on the sides. She looked really cute in them, and was so disappointed that she couldn't wear the sample home. She has asked me about a dozen times when her glasses will be done.

Tomorrow is the very exciting day of the Class List posting at the elementary school. Jack is just bouncing off the walls wondering who his teacher will be. Addie isn't quite so into it as he is. School begins on the 20th!