Thursday, February 26, 2009

ummm

it is just possible that the resurrection of the washer/dryer has been exaggerated.

Zombie-like, they are up and running, albeit with a couple of quirks: the washer seems to run hot water when asked to use cold. (guess how I figured that one out, hey?) By contrast, the dryer tosses the clothes around nicely, but doesn't deliver any heat.

It is perhaps unfortunate that the first thing I tossed into the wash was the boys' winter jackets...they are now clean, warm and slowly drip-drip-dripping over the tub. Oh, dear. Those are sort of useful around here.

On the other hand, my sense of status quo is now restored as the Mike virus rolls on. May I suggest thinking hard before offering to let us use your machines?
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Like any sane woman, when this sort of thing goes on around me, I start searching for chocolate. Having inexplicably failed to find some in the house (that is, find any palatable stuff), I tried making blueberry jam instead.

Yes, yes, I know, blueberry jam is not theobromos, but picture this: to make the stuff, you rinse blueberries, pour them into a big pot, grab your potato masher and squash the hell out of the things. Believe me when I say that this is extremely therapeutic. And the outcome is a low-sugar jam, which I'm hoping to use in a barter for sewing expertise. 

So, no. Not chocolate. But the small accomplishment suited me fine, and the process definitely met a need or two...

take that, blueberry. Mess with my machines, will you? I. Think. Not. Heeee-yah!

Note: the recipe linked to above is the one I used, with the natural (sugar-free) pectin. In the end, I added a 1/4 c of sugar to the 8 cups of fresh blueberries, plus 3 cups of juice. So much for sugar-free, eh? More to the point, the recipe I used was hard to follow - great photos, but the layout makes it tricky to read. But the results taste pretty darned good...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

well, at least today is so warm you almost don't need a jacket? hmmm, mashing blueberries does sound like fun...although the image that just popped into my head was Lucille Ball stomping grapes...