I am not sure what is happening, either I am pregnant (after getting “fixed” twice, I am sure not) or we are getting ready to go back to school or it is time for something new.
I have had this new weird nesting or something “other” thing happening to me. (Hence, the pregnant comment) I made jam for the first time in my life and fresh pasta sauce and orange marmalade.
So far in the last 2 weeks I have made, blackberry, blueberry, strawberry, peach, peach blackberry jams and orange marmalade and finishing it all off with 20 pounds worth of fresh tomato pasta sauce and 6 cookie sheets worth of frozen apple slices (the apples would have gone bad, a big thanks to my teenager daughter and 2 of her friends (Emily and Jackie) for taking this on). I even watched a small video on "blanching tomatoes". What?
I grew up watching my mom “can” everything. I cannot tell you the hours spent canning and making jam. It is interesting that it has taken me almost an entire lifetime to finally find my way to making jam.
I am not a “cooker” as I have self-labeled myself. I am an entrepreneur, which has always left the serious cooking to my husband (a trained chef and building contractor). I cook and all that, but really only the basics. My kids laugh that I can cook almost 10 things.
So, what started all the “jamming”. Our neighbor invited us over to pick blackberries. Three of my kids and I went over and started picking. After about an hour and a half, we had a wonderfully full bowl of ripe and tasty blackberries. It struck me that this bowl would make fantastic jam. I have no idea where the thought came from. It was such a foreign idea that it stuck with me, so much so that I said to my contractor husband, that perhaps it was time to finally install our new stovetop/oven.
Yes, I have been living without a stovetop for 6 months. We did a kitchen remodel and the stove has been sitting there taking up room and not hooked up. And yes, I have mentioned this before to the husband. Meanwhile, almost everything can be cooked in the oven. Perhaps more on that later.
I forgot one really important thing, my husband LOVES!!!! Jam. Why I did not think of it before is beyond me. I found the right trigger to get the stovetop up and running.
Yea! Jam and pasta sauce. My friends are mystified by the new “cooking” me and similarly horrified by the quantity of jams I have now stockpiled for winter . And I am not even done yet. I can’t be done as my #3 child (son) said after I successfully made the first Blackberry Jam. “Wow, mom, you can do anything!” There is no stopping me now.
Even as I write this, I am thinking of the large bag of pears my friend brought over. What shall I do with these? Pear Sauce, pear jam? Oh! The possibilities are endless!
But what struck me in all of this is, “What was that small moment that took me down this new path?” It is a bit of a turning point for me. I actually quite like it. I can tell you that I never saw myself as a now “cooker/jammer”, who will I be next?
Will this new jamming skill, by some miracle, give me patience for first grade homework? Dare to dream.
What inspired you to do something different?
Jennifer, founder of TruKid and mom of 6 (now Jammer)