You have to pick your battles.....

You have to pick your battles in life.  It's not always about the winning of the battle but the will to fight, the pleasure of the sparring, and in this case, the removing of seeds from tiny kumquats.

I stopped at a fruit stand this weekend to look at early strawberries, still can't believe that in December and January they are picking berries in Louisiana but sure enough they were and they are beauties too. So we stopped at the stand and I run with all the grace of a 52 year old woman with mechanic's knees to the stand to check out the berries.  I swear I must have ADHD or something, I looked at the berries, smelled them ( I tend to smell Everything from socks to interesting things fallen from trees), I held the berries and then promptly put them down and picked up Kumquats, paid and went to the truck.  I am proud of my find when the boyfriend looks at me and asks how the berries were?  I so totally forgot about the strawberries and can not for the life of me tell you why I bought kumquats instead.  I have been peeling, freezing and canning citrus for a month and was looking forward to the smell of something different in the house like strawberries.  He was kind enough to wait a little longer so I could go and get what we had actually stopped for.  Nice berries but this is about the kumquat battle.

As I was researching recipes for the little orange orbs, most all the recipes for them called for slicing into beautiful thin discs.  I found that this was WAY too labor intensive as I would be cutting though the amazing amount of seeds the little things contain. First I cut the ends off into little discs as I thought these would make really a really cool garnish for Lemon Drop Martinis if I candied them. (that will be another post unto itself I suppose)

 I tried cutting them in half lengthwise and squeezing the seeds out but this proved to be futile.

So I quartered them length wise and was able to squeeze the seeds out a little better but really?  I am amazed and the amount of seed these things have in them!!!

OK, check this out, 6 cups of kumquats gave me almost 1/2 a cup of seeds! I soaked the seeds for a couple of hours and got a cup of pectin out of it. That's kinda cool but still not worth the effort unless you are mindlessly bored.

Now that I have decided that kumquats are way to labor intensive to become a "product" the pressure is off and I can totally have fun with an "experiment".  I still had the juice and rind from 5 oranges and 2 lemons that I had previously been making Carrot Orange Marmalade with so I added that to the kumquat cuties bringing the total to 8 cups of fruit and juice.  I added 2 teaspoons of cinnamon and 5 cups of sugar and let it come to a boil and then brought it down to a simmer while I took care of other stuff. Since this was to become a preserve, I didn't add the pectin that I made from the seeds (that will go into the Satsuma Vanilla Bean jam). I let them simmer for about 2 hours reducing and waiting for the kumquats to become transparent, carefully picking out the seeds as they loosened from the pulp (I fished out an additional 2 tablespoons of seeds!) I wonder why Mother Nature gave Kumquats so very many seeds?

I ended up with 7 half pints of goodness available for the low price of $30!! (Do you have ANY idea what it takes to juice these suckers?? and seed them?? We are talking Labor longer then the birth of my Sun!) Look in the jar to the left....what do you see???  Two evil seeds floating in the goodness.  I am thinking I will send these to my friends in Oregon and Washington, they may not even know what a kumquat is let alone have someone go to the trouble of processing them. The cinnamon is a very nice touch.

Next is Satsuma Vanilla Bean.  You have to pick your battles. This is sure to be a winning combination!

That was just one beating too many!

I followed all of your instructions to the T. I learned from my mistakes. I tried and tried to perfect my technique and yet still, I have failed you.  I tried in vain to raise you to good heights, desperately longing to see your loftiness. Alas....you can over beat a meringue. A moment of silence for a failed lemon meringue pie.....We shall weep together.

Let's eat with our eyes closed!

Getcher Glitter on!

Since I stayed up past midnight last night making labels and starting the blog I decided I had earned the day off and went and played with my Fly Chick Cheryl from Vacherie, LA.  Cheryl was on a mission to finish a project she started of making Mardi Gras wreaths for all of her doors. Yes, it's that time of year here when the gaudy comes out (where else is purple gold and green the coolest thing since sliced bread?) We set off for the hobby stores to find the bits and pieces needed to complete her project and before you knew it we had a cart...Why is that you say? Well, I still feel guilty for not decorating for Christmas this year.  I got the tree out, set the tree up but it never was decorated and by the time I got back from Christmas camping it just didn't make any sense to have a reminder of what I did not finish...*note to self* add completion of projects to New Year's Resolutions list.

I am a creative person but I have never been one to do the decorating kinda thing.  My Christmas tree is like a life story with ornaments made and collected over the years and each one tells a story of that year, mostly about raising my Sun and flying...lots of planes, parachutes, blimps, helicopters, tools and tool boxes.  You don't think much about the tree until you get close to it. And the lovely pearl garland....well it's Mardi Gras beads carefully broken and melted together to make swags...maybe I am decorative?

This is what the Mardi Gras aisle looks like if you have never seen it (Please notice the black and gold Fleur de lis cause the Saints are rocking this year!)

This is the bounty of our trip (notice the lovely jars of yummy Lemon Jelly, that's called Prah duct Place mint).  Cheryl assures me that if I can fix a helicopter and fly a plane I can make a wreath but I have my doubts. Although as I look at the glitter on my keyboard from messing with that stuff I am encouraged to Get My Glitter On! (What will the boyfriend think?!)

So next week this Mardi Gras saga will be continued with the actual making of the wreaths. (It may or may not require wine.)

 





Good thing I found these Redneck Wine Goblets! (just can't pass up a good mason jar!)

We have labels!!

I have had many labels in my life, of my favorites is "Mom", aside from that I have worn "Hairdresser" "Massage Therapist" "Helicopter Mechanic" "Corporate Road Warrior" (see my former blog The Diabetic Road Warrior) and the latest label is "Retired".  Thank God some labels are repositionable cause I am not quite ready for "Retired" at 52 and so I Jam. Let me show you around.....