kayb

My Weck jars came in today. A half-dozen each 1-liter tall cylinders (pickles, asparagus, etc.); 1/2 liter mold jars (oh, who knows what these might hold?) and 1/2 liter tulip jars (SO pretty -- will hold such pretty pickles!). Think I will try the mushrooms in them, water-bath processing instead of boiling the mushrooms first. Will now be haunting Aldi until they put mushrooms on sale. My mother is laughing at me from her grave. I do love to can.

Wonderful!

My first thought was what the impact of Amazon's pricing, which is generally quite good, might have on WF's prices. Disclaimer: As there is not a WF in town, but there are three other quite good natural markets, I don't go there much. When I do, I generally peruse the "sample cheese" basket, the small pieces for less than three bucks, that will let me sample something I might otherwise be reluctant to purchase. Will be interested to see how it develops.

Well, they have two of my all-time faves on there -- Cool Hand Luke and Pulp Fiction.

I'm very fond of Pick-A-Peppa. It's not as hot as Tabasco, Crystal, Louisiana, etc., but it's a much more complex flavor.

Cool! Thanks!

I am working on my flexibility so you can fold me up and stash me in your suitcase.

The vegetables, although good, did not hit the spot tonight. This, however, did. Both Child A and I agreed I did good on the jam.

How can you tell when they're sealed? Thinking seriously about ordering some.

Well, I have made a dent in the produce I was planning to "put up." Two gallons of blackberries are now 12 pints of blackberry jam. And I have a supply of pickled asparagus for a while, along with some marinated/pickled mushroom, recipe/method also courtesy of @HungryChris. If I wanted to make it an all-Chris day, I guess I could fry some zucchini for dinner, but I'm jonesing for some yellow squash and onions to go with the green beans and new potatoes that have been simmering for a couple of hours. (I'm from the South. We cook our green beans to death. YMMV.) I may throw together some stewed tomatoes from Deep Run Roots, or not; I'm hoping for enough energy to at least use up the leftover mashed potatoes and make mashed potato pancakes. Love these tall, skinny Weck canning jars with the glass lids and rubber rings. Anyone have any experience in water-bath or pressure canning with them? I'd be tempted to order some more for pickles, just because they're so pretty.

@BonVivant -- would you share how one Scotch-cures salmon? I would love to try that, having had some minor success with curing salmon with sugar and salt....

FWIW -- to me, the absolute best way to showcase bacon jam is on a cheddar cheese biscuit. I add a significant dose of white cheddar and black pepper to my regular biscuits, and bake as usual. It also does very well as an addition to eggs en cocotte; I will make cheese grits, put a layer in the bottom of ramekins, create a little divot, add an egg, dollop some bacon jam around the edges, top with a couple tablespoons of cream and a few sprinkles of grated cheese for good measure, and bake for 15 minutes for a lovely runny yolk. Easy to make the grits/bottom layers the night before, then build the rest in the a.m. and bake! With muffins and fruit, it's a lovely breakfast.

Must look for these. I'm presently obsessed with the sea-salt, caramel, chocolate covered almonds one can buy at Aldi. They're addictive.

Came in from church with nothing cooked, no lunch/dinner plans, and hungry enough to eat the house. Briefly contemplated stopping by somewhere to pick up something, decided that was ridiculous as I had two refrigerators and a pantry full of leftovers and to-be-prepared food. Came home and fixed myself a salad luncheon; cucumber salad, jail slaw, broccoli-cauliflower salad, and cottage cheese with peaches. Had the added advantage of clearing the leftover cucumbers and peaches from the fridge. Was still ready to eat the house after that, so I snacked on some blackberry cobbler with ice cream (last of that), some Sugar Babies, and some Cheez-Its. I think I'm full, for the moment, though popcorn is sounding good.

One of my favorites, too! Mine should be ripe in a week or so.

Bless your heart. You absolutely must take the break and tend to yourself. The faire will get along without you; no doubt not as well as it got along WITH you, but it will get along. I hope things ease up and go better for you; sending positive thoughts and prayers and good energy in your direction.

Went to the you-pick-'em blackberry farm today and picked two gallons of berries in something under 30 minutes; lots of unripe berries still on the vines, so there will be berries for a good while yet. I think two gallons (about nine pounds) should make all the jam I will want. Massive berries: I had good help to pick. I suspect the amount he ate while picking may have cut into the farm's profit for the day! Market this morning had raspberries, peaches and nectarines, in addition to blackberries. No melons yet. I managed to limit myself to nectarines, which go wonderfully with the clementines I picked up at the grocery earlier in the week in my morning yogurt.

That sounds marvelous. Particularly as I love most anything you can do with a mango. Going to try it.

Yes, here in the Southern US, strawberries are seasonal. They do not do very hot temperatures well, so their growing season is early, and they are finished with producing by early June. It was a quite long strawberry season this year, as spring came early, but the hot days of summer have really not hit yet. I will be interested to see if there are still strawberries at the market tomorrow when I go. Here they are quite sweet; moreso some years than others, depending on, I am told, how much rain falls during their growing season.

It may well. I thought I'd give it a whirl. Can always dig it up this fall and move it to a pot.

The garden is progressing apace, as is the grass within it (the straw didn't work as well as I'd hoped to keep grass down), due to the amount of rain we've had. Despite the face it needs a good hoeing, the veggies appear to be coming along nicely. Squash blossoms: Peas, which need to be picked today but will likely wait until tomorrow: Tomatoes appear to be starting out what may be a bumper crop. I probably have two dozen green ones of varying varieties, along with lots and lots of cherry tomatoes. Should have ripe ones by next weekend, I'd think. I decided against using the landscape fabric to keep weeds and grass down. I will definitely use it next year. The straw, which I thought would work wonderfully, isn't; it's hard to walk on, and it doesn't really keep the weeds down, either. Didn't take pics of the front herb bed, but they're growing luxuriantly directly in the soil. Will probably make pesto next week, and may make some mint chutney, as the mint is going bonkers, as mint has a tendency to do. Everything else is thriving as well.

I haven't purchased a lot of accessories for my IP (a glass lid, a longer-legged trivet), but this just looked too handy to pass up. Seems like it'd be perfect for things like rice and a main dish together. I think I'll try it with some variety of chicken and rice this weekend. Besides, it's cute.

I make my meat loaf in a 7 x 11 glass baking dish, with a pound of ground beef, so it's between a half and three-quarters of an inch thick, because I like the crusty outside on the bottom and the ooey-gooey charred ketchup top; I cut my servings in squares, about bread-slice size, so they're tremendously handy for sandwiches. And I make meat loaf chiefly to have sandwich makings. I like it much better chilled, then reheated in the oven with the bread and soft cheese for a sandwich, than fresh out of the oven for a main dish. With a bowl of vegetable beef soup, there is no better cold-weather meal.

Locally, we're about at the end of strawberry season, although there are still a few in the markets. Blackberries and raspberries are coming in, and we're starting to get blueberries. Cling peaches have been available in the markets for several weeks. In the next couple of weeks, we should start having watermelon and canteloupe. My birthday is near the end of June, and typically I can get local melons for my birthday. Freestone peaches will come in late next month.

If anyone's in the market for an (or another) Instant Pot, Kohl's has the Duo 7-in-1 online for $99.99, plus another 20 percent off with the code "BUYQUICK." Plus another 3 percent cash back on Ebates, if you use Ebates. Not a bad deal.