The Life and Projects of An Avid Hobbyist

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

First Day of Fall

It has finally arrived, the first day of Fall.  While I love this season, it also marks the coming of darkness soon it will be dark both when I go to work and when I depart (most depressing).  As I say "farewell" to summer, here are some updates on some of the projects I worked on this summer. ~ksp


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Ishbel Shawl - Frogged
As I mentioned earlier here, I either dropped a stitch or created an other yo while plowing through this small scarf in June.  Soon thereafter, summer settled in and it was almost the most hot/humid one on record. I couldn't stand to be near wool, in any form...it was that unbearable.  So, I put Ishbel down.  Now as fall is settling in (officially arriving later this week) and I picked it back up, I have no idea what in the hell I was doing.  So to the frog pond she goes. Alas, I will cast on again on especially since I need to start stockpiling Christmas gifts.

Heirloom Tomato Salsa - Repurposed
I used a water-bath approved recipe for this salsa that called for vinegar found here.  The proportions of tomato to vinegar was over powering as a salsa.  I opened all the cans and threw them into the crackpot for a day and a haf.  I pulsed them down with the immersion blender to a chunky consistency and added sugar and salt.  Not sure of the acid level (I've lost my food grade ph slips) I pressure canned the Heirloom catsup in small jars.  I'll give updates once it's cooled and refrigerated.

Heirloom Salsa


Sunshine Pickles - Failure
I searched high and low for sunshine pickle recipes.  I not-so-secretly love pickles of all kinds.  Once I found the hermetic jars here it was game-on.

After researching recipes I settled on what what I thought would do the trick.  I marked off the requisite days on the calendar and waited.  When I finally opened the jar the pickles had a great aroma and color but a horrid consistency.  They had become a mushy shell of their former selves.  It broke my heart to throw these away, Especially since my homegrown cucumber were not abundant enough to create another bushel.  Next year.


Pickle Failure

1 comment:

Donna Lee said...

My calendar says Fall starts tomorrow so I'm going to waltz around feeling summery today (especially as it's almost 90 degrees).

I have had some slight success with refridgerator pickles. No processing, just refridgeration. I didn't make big batches, just a few jars. They stayed somewhat crunchy but definitely intact and were pretty good. I'm not a pickle fanatic but my family is.