morsels & sauces

Sweet business.  These strawberries are fabulous. Okay, so you may know that I am participating in the Food in Jars Mastery Challenge (you may also have noticed that I am behind in posting), and I am slipping this one in at the last minute.  People, April has been busy. Before I tell you all about quick pickled strawberries, allow me a slight digression. April has seen us moving from a small duplex in our beloved neighborhood in Oakland to a house with a spectacular view overlooking Wildcat Canyon. We miss the walkability of our old neighborhood, but we love the fact we cannot hear the highway, and once I am fully healed, hiking is at our doorstep.   Fully healed? Well, you see I was putting up curtains while standing on my cluttered desk (like you do). And I stepped back, thinking the chair I had used to climb onto said desk would be there. It was not. And then I was on the floor. And the only thing that happened was that I broke my tailbone. Seri...

Quick.  Before strawberry season is officially over--and let's not kid ourselves, we're getting close-- make oodles of this jam. I have spoken before about the importance of canning in my family and about my own initial forays into this world of setting aside food for later months. For me, canning and jam making and food preserving are connections back to my own grandmother and aunts. I know I am neither alone nor original in this connection, and these days it's quite trendy to preserve, ferment, and cure one's food. And while I am fully ensconced in this trend, I hope and want for this to be much more lasting than skinny jeans, bubble necklaces , and jeans tucked into knee high boots . (Although I admit that one of these trends is one I am hoping will come back.  I'll let you try to determine which one.) Canning takes commitment, or at least a full afternoon. But this particular jam really is worth it. And while I cannot n...

I love poppy seeds. These kidney-shaped black seeds from the opium poppy are highly nutritious, for they boast high levels of iron, copper, calcium, potassium, manganese, zinc, and magnesium. Further, they are a good source of B-complex vitamins. They even are chock full of oleic acid , which helps lower LDL or "bad cholesterol."  But let's face it--I love them because I like to pop them with my teeth. As a teenager, I always ordered the lemon poppy seed muffins or the lemon poppy seed breads when faced with the vast array of pastries at the coffee shop. As I munched the overly lemony pastry, the seeds would pop and crunch.  And according to Wikipedia (site of all reliable information), it's a fine thing that I have enjoyed them, for they not only promote health but also wealth and, apparently, invisibility.  That just might be the opium talking. I did a lot of experimenting with this recipe, but I leave it--for the most part--intact b...

I hate to alarm anyone, but it's August already. How did this happen? August isn't much for holidays. There is no Labor Day, no Independence Day, no Thanksgiving. But it does mean the anniversary of the signing of the 19th Ammendment (Aug. 26),  National Rice Pudding Day (Aug. 9), Bad Poetry Day (Aug. 18), and (as hard as it is for me to type here) Back to School specials (date varies). And back to school means back to smoothies for me. For, you see, I am not  a morning person. I have to leave my keys in the same place every evening, or I won't be able to locate them the next morning without a husband-led search party of himself and the cats. In fact, I usually shower, choose my clothes, and pack up my work bag the night before. I am lucky to make it out the door with deodorant on, with smoothie in hand, and with caffeine in my cup. I have a smoothie for breakfast every weekday morning during the school year. I blend these puppies up the night before, put them...