Meyer Lemon and Strawberry Marmalade

I made it to the other side of the citrus heap!  Marmalade making is really not hard, in fact you break up the work so much, it doesn't feel like work at all.  It was all a matter of timing yesterday.  Some marmalades were started the day before, some yesterday morning.  Some needed to be cooked then soaked, some just soaked and some not at all.  The cooking portion took only a few hours, my head in it's happy place with citrus on the air.  Sunshine in my eyes.  The only time of day my soul wasn't hurting for the open road, my heart had come back home.

I've determined with spoonfuls of jam that I'm a marmalade wuss.  Bitter, it's all bitter in my mouth.  Now I've seen, now I believe, it's zest only from here on out, I'm done with you pith.  I've gone years without you and see no reason to start now.

I made three small recipes featuring Meyer Lemons, the lemon of folklore and myth here in Canada.  The elusive, the wonderful, mine.  (Wouldn't you know, after my celebratory finding of these lemons at a specialty store I walked into entire bins full of them at a huge chain store here in town, boo!  Nothing special about that is there?)  I made a plain Meyer lemon marmalade, a blood orange-Meyer lemon marmalade and a strawberry-Meyer lemon marmalade.  They all turned out wonderfully, though the plain lemon and strawberry features were the best, the orange-lemon being still to bitter for my liking.

The star of the show, the reason I was canning in the first place was for a citrus marmalade I was making for A Jam Collective.  It turned out abominably.  Awful. Nasty.  Disgusting.  Like cleaning products and mealy pears.  It was atrocious.  And now I have 9.5 cups of the stuff.  What am I going to do?  Throw it out, that's what I'll do, it's taking up precious real estate on my canning shelves.  Instead my subscribers are getting small jars of the good marmalades and a second jar of last summer's preserves, apricot-cherry or blackberry-peach.  I'd be happy with that in my fridge!

I blame the failure of the citrus marmalade we put so much work into on the quality of ingredients we got.  It had: grapefruit, cara cara oranges, kumquats and a pomelo.  The grapefruit and oranges were great quality, I knew exactly what to look for.  The pomelo however was something I'd never even seen before!  I scoured the stores looking for one and when I finally did it was wrapped in two layer of plastic wrap, not a good sign.  I did my best to pick one out.  The kumquats were a similar story, both seemed like they had been sitting many months in storage by the time I cut into them.  Once again I learned my lesson, buy local and buy products you trust.

I'm sorry earth, for wasting your bounty, but it's going in the garbage.


Meyer Lemon & Strawberry Marmalade


Source: Hitchhiking to Heaven, a favourite source.
Makes: 4.5 cups

3/4 lb (12 oz) Meyer lemons (about 7 or 8)
2.5 cups water
8 oz strawberries pureed
8 oz strawberries, chopped
600 g (3 cups) sugar

Cut the ends of the lemons off, slice lemons in quarters, then cut out the piece of white pith in the center of the slice.  Scrape out the seeds with you finger, catching juice over a bowl.  Finely slice the fruit to 1/8 of an inch.  (There is a wonderful tutorial here.)  Keep the pithy centers and seeds separate.  Wrap these along with the end pieces in a piece of cheesecloth and tie it up so nothing can escape.

Put the lemons, lemon juice, water and cheesecloth/pith bag into a medium sized non-reactive pot (stainless steel is fine.)  Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.  Simmer for 5 minutes, NO MORE.

Pour the whole pot of ingredients into a glass bowl to cool down and soak.  Cover and leave for 4-6 hours at room temperature.  If you need to leave it longer place in the fridge.  This is so the rinds can soften.

When you are ready to go be sure to have you glass jars sterilized and ready to go.  Place the lemons and all their liquid in a large pot.  Squeeze out the cheesecloth bag and discard.  Bring the lemons to a simmer for 5-10 minutes, or until they come apart easily when pressed up against the sides of the pan.

Get the strawberries (frozen from last summer, obviously) ready.  Add the pureed strawberries into the lemons along with the sugar and bring to a boil.  Cook at a high temperature for 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently.  After 15 minutes add the chopped strawberries and cook the marmalade until it reaches at jelling point, 220F.  Use the spoon test or the wrinkle test to ensure doneness.  This might take some time.

When it is done allow the marmalade to cool for 5 minutes, stirring once or twice to allow the fruit to evenly distribute.  Ladle into jars and water bath can for 10 minutes.  Awesome!

Citrus Season

And this is only half of it!

I realize citrus isn't local.  Not by a long shot, in fact, the closest place to us that grows accessible citrus is California. And folks, that is a long ways away!  But it had to be done, a jammer can't avoid citrus, it needs to be preserved.  So I broke down and bought some, a lot actually.  There were blood oranges, kumquats, pomelos, grapefruit, and limes. And above all else...there were Meyer-freakin'-lemons!  Meyer lemons, my first ever.  $20 worth of citrus is going to taste wonderful all winter long.  Thank you globalization!

I have a weekend coming up, Monday and Tuesday and I hope to put a heavy dent into my loot.  A citrus-blend marmalade for A Jam Collective, a Meyer lemon-strawberry perhaps?  Lemon and blood orange would be great, or maybe just a plain Meyer lemon to celebrate the fact it might be a long time before I taste one again.  What do you think?  

Mushroom Miso Soup

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.
      -Edward Bulwer-Lytton


What a fantastic opening line.  And what a pity it is that until just a few minutes ago I had never known the fantastic finish to the start of "It was a dark and stormy night,"  Aside from the quip about flickering lamps, which could easily have been electricity in my house, every other word is accurate in describing the night I had in mind.  

Just home from a day of shopping, when the darkness had fallen long ago, the rain did ride on sheets of wind and the sound of fat drops washed over my ears, I made this soup.  What better night for a steaming bowl of soup to stave off the cold and impending sickness that could surely follow.  There was therapy in making, chopping, moving, cooking and therapy in eating, smelling, slurping.  On any one of the coming cold, wet nights pull together this soup and warm your soul.



Mushroom Miso Soup 


Makes: 5 servings
Source: a combination of two recipes


3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp grated ginger
1 Tbsp sesame oil
4 cups chicken (or vegetable) stock
2 cups water
1/2 jalapeno, sliced thin (ribs and seeds removed)
4 scallions (I didn't have these) sliced then
2 small bok choy (washed very well) chopped into bite sized pieces
2 cups shredded mushrooms
1/3 block firm tofu
3 Tbsp light miso paste
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
3.5 oz dried spaghetti noodles


Bring a pot of salted water to boil for noodles.  Cook the noodles while you make the soup.  Drain and rinse with cold water while the soup is being prepared.


In a large pot heat sesame oil over medium heat.  Once it's hot sauté garlic and ginger for 30 seconds, until fragrant.  Add stock and water and bring to a boil.  Lower heat to a simmer and add jalapeno, scallions and bok choy.  Simmer for 8 minutes, add mushrooms and tofu.  Simmer for 5 more minutes before adding miso paste, soy sauce and rice vinegar. Taste now for saltiness.  I didn't think it needed more soy sauce but Shane added some to his bowl.


In the bottom of each bowl place noodles, add soup and top with some sirracha if desired.   

Shopping Day

The morning was dark and stormy, headlights on the cars at 9am.  The rain came down in sheets, blowing on the wind, loud enough as we drove down the highway to drown out the sounds of our voices as we continued to shout over the storm. Futile.  The puddles grew, as we reached the border.  We got asked the question again "How can you afford to shop if no one is working today?"  As if they all have the weekends off.  I wonder if they'd ask on a Saturday?  We drove past farms with fields being swallowed by water, making impromptu lakes for the ducks.  Eventually it grew light enough to see without lamps, and the rained tapered, if only a little.  We reached our destination and got out of the car.  The scent was damp, bacteria dug up from the soil made it smell of earth.  We ran through the parking lot, grabbing the doors as the wind gusted them open.  We made it.

And then we shopped and shopped and shopped.  Until we were exhausted.  The end.

January Date Night

I started working on Shane's Christmas gift all the way back in October.  I saw an idea posted on pintrest and I knew instantly it was the right present.  I dreamed up twelve dates, wrote a note for each, prepaid them and assigned them to a month.  Each month was stuck in an envelope and on Christmas morning, without ceremony I brought out the 12 envelopes and handed them to him.

"Your last gift" I said to him handing over the stack.
"What is it?" he asked looking slightly confused.
"Twelve dates. One for every month."  He opened one and read it.  He opened another.  He was getting excited.
"It's the most thoughtful thing anyone has ever got me." he whispered.

Bingo!  Yeah it was me!  Needless to say he was stoked.  He opened each and everyone, by the end he was nearly speechless.  As a bonus to it all, we get twelve guilt-free dates!

Here was January:

 Now a video game night might not sound all that special to you, but in our house it's nothing short of miraculous.  You see, I don't play video games, in fact I have a passionate dislike for them.  It stems from being one of the most uncoordinated, apt to lose players in North America, I'm sure of it.  You wouldn't like playing either if you always lost!  My husband on the other hand is a video game aficionado.  Any given day you'll most likely find him home playing games or at work, it's one or the other.  (Don't deny it sweetheart, if you think about it you'll see it's true.  No?  You're right, I might find you ironing your uniforms or sleeping.)

 Of course I made the pizza, a bbq ham and pineapple.  Everything homemade by yours truly.  It was amazing and delicious.

No we don't have a dog.  What hairy socks are you talking about?

 There was beer, of course.

 And a little game called Mario Party #2.  There was another game called Donkey Kong, but that spelled the end of our date, I may or may not have thrown my controller.  I lasted a good hour and a half before my patience wore too thin.  Shane mentioned afterwards how I lasted much longer than he thought I would.

Lastly there was potato chips, Hardbite to be exact.  They are made only a few miles from here, talk about local!

So that was date number one, easy on the wallet and comfortably acted out in the safety of our own home. Yes!

Project 366

Do you wish you were a better photographer?  That you could come up with creative shots on an as needed basis?  I have serious photo envy, on a regular basis.  I feel dull and uninspired weekly, and bored by what I do capture.  It leads to inadequate camera usage and lacking blogging.  I decided to do something about it.

I'd been thinking about starting this project for a while, but I was always to scared to commit.  With my feelings declared I've decided now is the time to change, I'm going to be a better photographer.  Luckily for you (?), you can follow along.  You can see my skills evolve and cheer (or boo) me as you see fit.

This is what happens:  I take a picture, every. day.  It's called Project 366.  It's a mandatory picture, you are going to hold me to it.  I don't know if I'll post it here, on my blog, but I'll certainly post it here and here for you to check up on.  I've decided to make two accounts, one for my everyday pictures and one food pictures.  I'm excited!  I'm nervous.  I'm going to do it!

P.S: I missed one day already, but that is because I didn't know I would be committing to this project.  It's a sloppy start I know, but I'll do better, I promise.

Wish me luck!

Happy New Year!

We rung in the new year in style!  Okay...our pajamas, but it doesn't matter.  There was wine and cheese and plenty of list making.  Fruit and nut bread, champagne cupcakes and did I mention the cheese?  Just what new years should be full of - fun, dreams and plans.  In the morning we ate blueberry scones, (new year new diet?  I don't know what you are talking about) made by yours truly and drank our fair share of coffee.  I like to start off every year with a walk, on a morning when the world feels wide open and full of possibility.  This year was no different.  2012 will be eventful, no matter what we've got planned.  It's a blank page and that is exciting!

Champagne Cupcakes 

Cheese from Les Amis.  Condiments from my stove.

Fruit and Nut Bread (my dried fruit!)

Blueberry scones, cook's illustrated.