Vehicular Milestone!

150,000. I added 50,000 km to my car in just over a year. Pretty good, no? Ed was driving when the odometer clicked over, so photo is courtesy of his skills (and my camera.)

A first!

The end of this summer marked the very first time that I have ever put up canned preserves by myself.

Tomato juice was the start!

My first batch! Food mill, jar lifter & other tools on the left.

Simply take your tomatoes & boil them so that they are thoroughly cooked through. You want them soft.
Then, throw them in the food mill, a few at a time, and crank the handle over a large bowl.
Ta-da! Juice.
If you're not interested in seeds or pulp, find yourself a strainer. I didn't have a decent strainer or the time for this, so mine is seedy & pulpy, but deeeee-lish!

Then, use a funnel to pour the juice into the pre-warmed & sterilized jars. Leave a 1/2 inch of headspace at the top of the jars. Top with a new tin top that has been heated in hot water for approx. 5 minutes.

Finally, boil in a water bath for 25-30 minutes.

Take out using a jar lifter, and set on a towel on the counter. As they cool, you'll hear the lid "snap" shut as it seals.

For the next batch of juice, I added one hot banana pepper, 1/2 onion, and some garlic. It was spicy! (Means I got a good hot banana pepper!)

Enjoy!

Cottage friend

On my last day at the cottage with Ed's family, we saw this little guy sleeping on my car. He gets an award: "First Canadian Tree Frog I Have Ever Seen."

Seeing Triple?

The other day, I got stuck behind this sight on the way home from work. Not as bad as being stuck behind a group of bikers taking up two thirds of the road. That was just bad manners. These guys were moving faster than the bikers. And from all I could see, they were cuter too. (I'm not seeing the people weren't cute - I wasn't really checking. It's more of a statement on spandex. Not. Cute.)

Hiatus :(

Sadly...this blog is gonna be taking a spot on the back burner as I figure out my new schedule. Living an hour's drive away from work means two less hours a day to get things done.

And waking up at 5:15 every morning means going to bed a few hours earlier than last year. I'm finding it absolutely necessary. My body never was impressed with such early mornings and it doesn't take the switch over very well.

So...blog posts will come, but fewer and far-er between. And every other page and goal is being let go...for now.