preserving tradition

For a year or two now I have been dreaming of canning my own pickles, jams, jellies and goodness. As a kid, I remember each of my Grammys making their own jellies... going out to the garden to pick pomegranates for jelly, picking cucumbers for pickles, and peaches for canning. I think that is one of the reasons I love pickles so much, as a kiddo, it was my number one snack and I remember on several occasions grabbing a pickle or two as my snack before heading outdoors to begin my wild obnoxious adventures.

When I first decided to take the plunge into canning I asked my Ma if we still had the recipe my Grammy would use for her pickles. I remember everyone on the block and the whole family being really excited to get some of her home canned pickles. And alas, my Ma found the recipe and home canned pickles are back in action and the tradition survives! The total time it took me to complete the actual process was only a few hours, I see myself in the future, or whenever I get more storage space or a basement devoting a week or so a year to canning everything possible and always being able to have homemade jams, jellies and pickles available to eat.

The recipe I used. It was ridiculously simple, requiring some patience, a few spices and a bit vinegar. I had to recreate the brine at least 3 times to make the amount of liquid I needed to cover and contain all the pickles I had made. 

I made a few investments in a big ass water bath canner (with a wire rack) and a few utensils like a funnel, lid grabber and can grabber (the can grabber was necessary). I figured I should just go ahead and make the purchase on these items since this was going to be an ongoing thing...

 Before I started the process I went the library (and visited a few blogs) to get a home canning book, just to compare recipes and found a great book on general preserving... I think my next creation will be orange marmalade, since I have about 15 oranges sitting at my house right now, thanks to Albert and Eve.

When I got the idea to make pickles I thought of no better way to share them than to give them as my Christmas presents this year, and let me tell you what a big hit they were... I made at least 20 cans and in the end, barely had enough to go around, I suppose that orange marmalade cant come soon enough... :)

love will give you mental nutrition

what is your purpose? enjoy.

faithful

we were able to get in our annual football game, albeit a little late this year, and without a few members of the group, but things still went off successfully and with a lot delish food. Amazing amazing bbq was had: beer can chicken, pork ribs and jalapeno poppers...

 The group we went along with had a sweet spot right in the front were all the super serious tailgaters would set up shop, I have never seen so many bbqs, man love and steaks in my life. There were random groups of people cruising through the tailgating lot, marching bands, a suited up Niner's player reminding us all to keep faithful to our team and of course the cheerleaders. I had to get a little walk around the rest of the grounds and stumbled upon this kid teaching us folk how to dougie. It was pretty awesome.

Although my outfit does adequetly portray how unusually warm the day was, it was the first time that I was not freezing cold and did not require gloves, scarf and Ugg boots. I wont lie, I was pumped to be able to take off my winter parka and actually enjoy the sunshine once we were in the stadium...

GO TIME!

snapping some good pics of the halftime show...

I suppose I should have posted this yesterday, seeing that we axed our coach. Something I dont understand about football is how quickly they fire coaches, its like they dont do well for a few games and their head is on the chopping block (Now I know its been a shitty couple of seasons for the Niners) but why dont we really take the time to choose the right coach and let him stay there a while to develop the team and make it something great? I suppose with so much riding ($$) on a winning and profitable season, development gets the backseat... what a damn shame to players that have something great in them, but dont have a coach to bring those abilities to the surface. AKA Alex Smith.

tradition

For my birthday, Chandra gave me a mushroom to make kombucha with. I was obviously pumped because the name brand tea you buy in a store is super expensive, or at least is when you buy a several over the course of the month. So getting this mushroom was half the battle to making the tea, which actually requires pretty stable conditions to thrive in. The tea itself is pretty easy to make, only requiring a bit of sugar, water and black or green tea... oh and lots of time. I have linked a basic recipe here.

 

I added a few frozen berries to final product to help add a bit of flavor; and instead of buying new glass containers, I just collected old salsa, pickle, drink and sauce jars. I wont lie, the final product is weird looking stuff. After it sits for a week or so, its time to taste and it turned out pretty good, however, perhaps next time  a little less sugar.

All this saving jars and making things from scratch business has really made me want to go back to the roots and start canning my own pickles and veggies. Its a simple enough business, I remember both of my Grandmothers use to can like crazy (literally they would can everything) and still do pomegranate jelly from time to time. As a kid, I remember eating fresh pickles my Gram use to make that were strait from the garden, and I want to get that flavor back, I want to get the tradition back of canning. Its a lost art really, and I am bringing that shit back. So bet your bums you will see some canning business happening here soon!

loads of awesome coming up

I am way behind on posts... i mean like havent even posted carving of pumpkins and hallows eve festivities late... but this is just a taste of whats in store:

firemen and tiff

It would seem that I didnt have enough crazy shit going on in my favorite month of the year, but no I also found it necessary to throw in my very first half marathon. The Nike Women's Marathon. The training sucked something fierce, and I found every excuse to not run, run a shorter distance, or substitute soccer for training days- which only worked training wise in the beginning. (boo for me)

The above photo is taken while I am standing in line to get my bib. It was.... INSANE. I got there fairly early on the the first day of registration and was standing in line for about 15 minutes. I made sure I got lots of people watching in and secured bib number 588. I think there were about 25,000 people that ran the race, total.

Sam joined me at about mile 8 or 9 to help me through the race and to make him document the scene. He is such a good sport. :) above photo is actually taken around my neighborhood, which was annoying cause I really just wanted to go home and sit down, perhaps have a latte and some breakfast. instead I ran more...

I think this above photo is my favorite of all the snapshots Sam got, it was the best view, right over Ocean Beach, you could see the finish line, which was a good and bad thing, cause at this point I really just wanted to sit down.

thats not really my time, it took us almost a full 15 minutes to even start running when they start the time at the beginning of the race. So please, minus 15 off that terrible time ticker. And at that point all I was thinking about was the awesome Tiffany's necklace and the firemen that hand out the finishing gifts at the finish line.

Secured my tiff and I am a happy girl! :) it was very liberating and inspiring to run this marathon. Lots of the proceeds from the race go to cancer research, and while I was running I saw a few cancer survivors, it was a heavy wakeup call at some points when I didn't want to go on any more, I saw them and knew I could accomplish anything I wanted to.

I finished the race in 2 hours and 19 minutes, making for a 10 minute and 41 second average mile time. Not too shabby for a first timer who didn't train enough. I think I can beat that time next year, for sure.

And more inspiration: running with your friends, they were a huge motivator and a great way to get some hang time in while doing something healthy. :) Congrats to Court and Karrie on their completion of the race too!

warming the soul, sista

There is nothing quite like a warm veggie soup on a cold rainy day. I have already made this veggie stew twice this fall and intend in recreating it several times with different veggies/meat in the wintery cold future. When I first made this, it was a result of an ice box sweep, clearing out all nearing death veggies. So you can use anything you like in the soup, making it ideal for my book.

Also to note, I rarely use a measuring cup when I cook, I eyeball it based upon how many people I am feeding and how much left overs I want. So that is exactly what this recipe will reflect when you make it... 

Best Veggie Soup EVER!

couple of teaspoons of olive oil

diced onions (a half to a whole)
 chopped and diced garlic
 2-3 medium sliced carrots
2-3 stalks of sliced celery
1-2 russet potatoes 
1-2 sliced zucchini
1 medium sized diced tomato (if you have one that's on the verge of going bad, its perfect to use!)
Couple of stalks of rainbow chard (I like rainbow over regular, its not as grainy, if you dont like chard, dont use it!)
about a half a cup of any type of tomato sauce/pasta sauce/pizza sauce

about a cup or so of water

I will take a big stew pot and start with warming up extra virgin olive oil on medium heat- be a little generous, so everything can get coated in oil. Add the onions, garlic, carrots, celery and potatoes to the pot and saute til just soft. Adding salt and pepper to taste. Add about a teaspoon of oil. Then add zucchini, tomatoes and chard. saute til just soft and coated with oil. then add your pasta sauce/tomato sauce* and coat all veggies. Then add water until it is just covering all the ingredients. Stir and cover for about 10-15 or until potatoes and everything is soft. VOILA and ENJOY!

*I end up using whatever is left over in the fridge that I had used for spaghetti at some point. But you could also use tomato paste, I just like the added flair taste of spaghetti sauce.

After my half marathon, well I should say before that wretchedness that was the Nike Half Marathon (more on that later). I created an apple pie, created from all organic shiz no less. (go me!) I was resting on Saturday night before the race, and thought it would be nice to have a pie for the Niners V Raiders game. Some friends, Molly and Mike were hosting a Korean-food-a-bration for said game, so I brought this dude with. It was perfect fare to have after the race. :)

For this dude, I use a combo of two different recipes I found on Foodnetwork.com and Epicurious.com. Crusts are complex beings and I find its pretty easy once you realize the less you work the dough, the better off shit will be in the end. TRUST.

For the Crust

(I hate to say it but Barefoot Contessa has the most bomb and easy crusts)

 

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) very cold unsalted butter

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1/3 cup very cold vegetable shortening

6 to 8 tablespoons (about 1/2 cup) ice water

 

In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, salt and sugar. Add the shortening and break it up with your hands as you start to coat it all up with the flour. Add the cold butter cubes and work it into the flour with your hands or a pastry cutter. Work it quickly, so the butter doesn't get too soft, until the mixture is crumbly, like very coarse cornmeal. Add the ice water, a little at a time, until the mixture comes together forming a dough. Bring the dough together into a ball. 

When it comes together stop working it otherwise the dough will get over-worked and tough. Divide the dough in half and flatten it slightly to form a disk shape. Wrap each disk in plastic and chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. On a floured surface roll each disk out into a 10 to 11-inch circle to make a 9-inch pie.

For the Filling and Creation:

(from EpiCurious)

Preheat oven to 450° F. 

In a large bowl, mix the apple slices in the lemon juice. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon to taste, then add the mace and nutmeg. Pour the apple mixture into the prepared pastry shell. Mound toward the center and dot with butter. Roll out the remaining pastry and carefully lay it over the apples. Seal the edges, cut vent holes, and decorate with extra pieces of dough cut into decorative shapes. Brush the egg wash over the surface of the pastry. Place the pie pan on a baking sheet (to catch any spill over) and cook in the middle of the oven for 10 minutes. Turn the oven down to 350° F. and continue to cook for about another hour, until the top crust is a beautiful golden brown. If the edges start to darken too much, cover with a ribbon of aluminum foil.

ENJOY! Now take these creations to the next place where you want to warm up some souls! :)

the bcp

Once again this post is way over due. as if my birthday celebration was not enough, one of the founding members of the BPC decided to make a trip up to the bay to visit the rest of the board members and celebrate being the coolest crew in Cali.

I would say we spent a majority of the time up on my roof deck, eating homemade breakfasts, lunches and drinking wine. We did make it down to Baker Beach to watch a little Fleet Week action.

ohhhh and once again I make my friends sit still til I line up my shot just so... these crazies were trying to help me out: "so if you're head were right here, then that would mean your boobs would be right here. So this is pretty much where you would be." To that I say, thanks for the help ladies. I couldnt have done it without you.

 and they finally succumbed to my camera pointing antics. and we got a good shot!

 drinking a nice white atop the deck, watching the blue angles. These guys are insane!

dinner in the mission... complete with wall art in the ally

I honestly dont know what this means. Do you?

 Good eats while up on the roof top. I feel like we would have had just as much fun if we never left the house. which is pretty typical of the BPC.

So we went out to walk Union street and ended up on Polk, getting some beer and some apps and while on our walk/bus back to the house we were hit in the face by the amazing smell of freshly cooked doughnuts. this cannot be passed up and without a word we each walked in asked for what we wanted and left peacefully.  It was an easy agreement for all of us and we stood happily and quietly at the bus stop while we stuffed our faces and waited for The 1 to pick us up and take us home.

I have a feeling like these kinds of scenes are only going to get more frequent in the future... bpc fo' life. :)