Getting Started...Again

When i started this blog originally, it was because i was pregnant and thought that i would have something interesting to talk about. So here i am finally pregnant. Actually, i am hopefully on the cusp of giving birth and i haven't really chronicled anything about my pregnancy. Though i have discovered most aspects of pregnancy aren't pretty. I feel like any gross thing that a body can produce is amplified and intensified by pregnancy. Just ask my husband.

So here are some pictures taken by CW's talented co-worker of me pregnant. It was a few weeks ago when i didn't seem as large and swollen as i am now.

canning frenzy

Here is the long and short of my canning history - I can remember being in the kitchen helping both my mother and grandmother bottle fruits, juices and jams.

Last year i bought a box of peaches that were divine. I quickly tried to round up canning equipment to bottle up this goodness but this consisted of asking around to family and co-workers with no luck. So I ended up cutting up the fruit and freezing it. Unfortuneatly the fruit browned a bit and got freezer burn and wasn't very good.

Fast forward to this year. In the middle of september i went to Idaho for much needed mom and sister time. My sister had visited some farms/orchards with some people in the ward and when i got there she was in the middle of canning peaches and pears. It was fun to help out as an adult and i realized that it is not that hard.

I may have mentioned that i joined a food co-op and my first week they had an "offering" of boxes of pears. I decided to take the plunge head first into canning and i bought a box. After i bought the box, i looked around to grocery stores and such buy the equipment. I didn't find what i was looking for so i go to my trusty source - amazon.com. I order the equipment on line. Meanwhile my pears are really getting ripe. So i turn to the internet for solutions. I read that you can bottle fruit without the big pot and rack, without the special tongs that fit around the tops of bottles but it is not so easy. I ended up using my (small) stock pot and putting down 2 washcloths inside the bottom to use as my rack. It was a hot sticky mess but i managed to make spiced pear jam, bottle a few pints of pears, blackberry jam, raspberry jam and wait you say, what happened to the canner that was supposed to be coming in the mail - i didn't do all of this in 1 day. After a week after it was supposed to arrive, i called the company and it turns out they didn't have any stock. So it wasn't until after i called and said something that they refunded our money. I ordered another canner through another vendor and i am happy to say that it arrived. Meanwhile the co-op had another offering of Honey Crisp apples. Those are my favorite apples and are pretty expensive at the store so i bought a box. So with my box of apples and my canner, i made lots of applesauce. yumm!

lagging behind

I just told my good friend Jessamy that i have a blog and so i figured that i should maybe update it a little.

To be honest, i haven't posted in awhile because the post that i have been mentally writing has been about how much i dislike the state i reside in. (i could even use the H-word) It has been a painful fall. (if you can call it that) Usually, starting with my birthday i am in a state of bliss. I love the changing of the seasons that starts in September and goes through December. I won't elaborate because it depresses me. But here are a few facts. I like cold weather. I love the color black - especially clothing. I love sweaters, I love wool and tweedy type fabrics. I love scarves. I like layering clothing (going back to i love sweaters) I love lots of blankets on my bed. What is Halloween trick or treating in 90+ degrees? CW went water skiing with his friends on Saturday November 1st. But i would say that finally with in the last week it has cooled down. This past week i have noticed that when i leave the gym at 6:00 in the morning it is actually cooler outside then it is inside. (not to give you the false impression that i actually go to the gym on a regular basis or that i am in any type of shape whatsoever except out of shape) I really have to end this now as i am going to get hostile and/or start crying. The next time i have something to say, it will be positive. i promise.

first friday

Things have been slowing down lately at work and they had to lay off a girl. It was a sad thing. Now our office is down to 4. They also went down to a 4 day work week. We are closed on fridays. It is a good and bad thing. It is always bad when you make less money. I was freaking out. I actually got a job as a seasonal worker at anthropologie. Not that i would actually earn any extra money that way- in fact i would probably loose more money then i make. Plus they started me off at a lower wage then i wanted and wanted me to work a couple of full sundays, 8-5 for training. No thanks. Things aren't that bad. So today is my first friday off. I finally got around to doing that thing that i talked about. I roasted cantolope seeds. I read that the taste is "huskier" then pumpkin seeds. Well i roasted them and think they are about the same as pumpkin seeds only more husk and less seed.

following up

(Michelle this one is for you) I went to walgreens with my list and coupons and bought 2 Bertoilli dinner things and 1 thing of Breyers ice cream to get $5 in register rewards. The deal is when you buy $15 of a few things then you get a coupon thing for $5 dollars to spend the next time you go to walgreens. So here i was, after work and i went through the register and nothing printed up. So i asked the cashier what happens when it doesn't print up and she called the manager. She called the manager over the loud speaker and i at this point was ready to tell them to forget about it. I turned as the manager walked over to see my worst nightmare come true. There were 12 people in line behind me. I counted. The manager did a return and gave me $5.42 cents cash so i walked out spending $13 something for a bunch of stuff. I can't tell you exactly what but 20 minutes later, after i got over my embarassment, i was happy with my deal.

Next up is what am i doing with all of my produce from my bountiful baskets order. Well yesterday i made pomagranate vinegrette. I didn't have cheesecloth to strain the seeds of the fruit out of the vinegrette so i went to my vast ( i am not being sarcastic) fabric collection and found a loose weave piece of linen and strained it through that. It worked pretty well. It was good but it tastes really similar to the salad dressing that you can buy in the store with the picture of the strawberry on it.I don't know if it was worth the effort. Tonight i made banana bread. It was really good. I tweaked the recipe a little bit and used half whole wheat flour. I used brown sugar and left out 1/4 cup. With all the bananas i didn't use any oil. I did use some butter but not that much. It was pretty tasty. I have a bunch of cherry tomatoes that we will never eat so i found a recipe online to dry them in the oven with garlic and olive oil. You can store them for longer and toss them into salads or add them to pasta. I cut up all of the tomatoes and then realized that i didn't have any garlic. I will get some tomorrow. I will let you know how that turns out. It looks like Meat[loaf] is back on the menu boys! (i saw lord of the rings way to many times) I am going to make meatloaf tomorrow. We have red potatos and green beans that we need to use up and CW likes meatloaf. No wonder why i can't loose any weight. Finally the other thing that i am going to try is a surprise. It will be interesting to say the least. I will let you know how it is and what it is tomorrow. ciao folks!

Humble pie

Here is the mish-mash post of the day.
*Restaurant review*
Humble-pie is a great place to eat but not so great on the pocket-book. It is right around the corner from my office and the $11 price tag on one of the best caprese salads for lunch doesn't cut it. So if the boss pays (good thing it is their favorite place as well)i won't say no. But this is no way to start a review. One of CW's co-workers brother in law owns the joint not that you care or does it matter. It is located in a strip mall but a pretty up-scale one at that. I regularly see Bentleys and the like parked here. It happens to be in the same strip mall that the starbucks i regularly frequent is located - for da boss. Anyway so it is a one room place with a few chairs on the patio. I would say that the decor is nothing special. It is nice but not fantastic. They have pizzas which are good - hence "humble pie" but are specialty pizzas. If i order pizza, i usually get the margarhita. Their steak salad is good but the dressing- a mustard, caper vinegrette is almost to die for. The fries have too much cheese garlic parsley stuff which is good because i don't need to eat fries. But i have to say the best of 'em all is the Caprese. Before i worked at my current job, i had the salad once or twice but a co-worker of mine loves it and so i think the whole office now eats it a lot more. So instead of your typical tomato and mozzarella slices with balsamic vinegar and oil, it comes with roasted small tomatoes on the vine with a glob of their own buratta cheese. Drizzled on top is olive oil and almost a balsamic vinegar syrup or reduction sauce with pesto on the side. yumm! so if your boss is paying- i suggest going. It is well worth it.

I realize that i am sort of hit and miss with this blog thing. I always thought that my life wasn't interesting enough to blog about and i would start when i had a kid or two to talk about. So in anticipation of that I started. Well since that sort of got derailed (see dust and clean) I guess it is purely just me and my life. I don't want to seem cavilier about anything but you just gotta move on.

So on to what i am doing. Last week CW and i had a conversation that put the fear of "ecomomic disaster, market failure, and job loss" in me. I work in a "luxury" industry and it could dry up with the market. So i decided that i needed to be a more effective and efficient consumer. Now what does that really mean? A few things. I will start with the coupon thing. I got a sunday newspaper with coupons and adds and went to work. There are 20 billion blogs on how to save money and get things for free. There is quite a contingency of women in my ward that are way into this. I kind of scoffed at this because i don't think there were being 100% smart about it. That is neither her nor there and i don't want to offend anybody. Talking to my sister in law, Michelle, she kind of changed my mind about it. It is all about moderation. Sure there are lots of stuff that you can get for free but i decided if i wouldn't buy it normally then i won't get it for free. I feel that there is enough waste in the world already why get it just because it is free. (i have come along way, baby to get to that mental point) Also, i think you need to be careful because this might not be the most healthful way to eat.

This leads me to my next thing. There is a co-op here called bountiful baskets. It is a non-profit group that buys straight from distrubters and local farms for fresh produce veggies and fruit. $15 bucks every 2 weeks for a laundry basket of goods. You don't know what you'll get but i was impressed with the selection. I split it with a friend because i didn't think CW and i could consume it all ourselves. They also have other offerings. Crazy me, i bought a box of pears. I can't remember exactly how much but a lot. I did it with the idea that i would can it. So i know, canning Amy? I will let you know how it turns out.

There is more but this is entirely too long already and i need to get dinner going.