blog #330 >> Another Post about Chutney

I panicked this morning. I thought one of my chutneys had mold in it. This was very puzzling since I had boiled them for nearly two hours and that is really quick for mold to grow. But when I opened it to investigate, it was only a flaw in the glass that looked exactly like mold. It kinda reminded me of these. I'll have to be sure to throw that jar away. I am also happy to report that the thickness was perfect. I had some for breakfast on toast with happy cow cheese and it was delicious!





T

blog #329 >> Plum Chutney

I actually made up my own recipe for this one. The only plum chutney recipes I found had pretty terrible reviews, but I found one mango chutney recipe with really good reviews. So I ended up combining them. I used the spices from the mango chutney and the ratios from the plum chutney. Only it was still too bitter, so I added more sugar in the end. I also added about a half of a box of pectin. It was suppose to "jell" but even after boiling for two hours it never really did. At last I gave up and added the pectin. Only now I'm worried that I made it too thick. The jars seem fine right now, but the tiny bit I put in the frig to taste turned really "sticky." Perhaps that is just because it was refrigerated, or because it was such a small amount. I don't know. But I can't wait to open a jar. They all sealed and I only had a tiny bit left over to taste. If anything I got the flavor down, it tastes delicious!

Here's my recipe, it's basically my chai tea recipe with garlic, onions, vinegar, currents, and plums.

The spices:
10 whole allspice or 1/4 tea. ground
8 whole peppercorns or 1/8 tea. ground
3 whole cloves or 1/8 tea. ground
1/4 tea. crushed cinnamon stick or 1/4 tea. ground
1/8 tea. nutmeg
a pinch of chili pepper
(crush together in a mortar and pedestal or in a coffee grinder, unless you're using regular spices.)
1 T. grated ginger (freezing it first is the trick.)
1/2 a clove of garlic

• • • • • • •

1/4 cup golden raisins, regular raisins, or currants, or a mix or all three. I used currants.
1/2 cup minced red onion (or any color really)
6 cups chopped plums
3 cups brown sugar
3 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar (5% acid)
1 1/2 cups red wine vinegar (5% acid)
(In hindsight, I think I would have preferred all cider vinegar, but I suppose it depends on your taste, you can also use plain white distilled.)

• • • • • • •

Mix everything in a big pot and boil it for a really, really, really long time. I ended up boiling mine for somewhere between an hour and a half to two hours. And you're going to need to stir that almost continuously. Now hopefully yours will "jell" mind didn't and I added a half a box of pectin. Now I'm thinking that was the wrong thing to do, and it would have jelled when it cooled down. I'll update this when I open a jar and find out for sure.

Process in a hot water bath canner for 10 minutes.
Yields 6 half-pint jars

Let me know if you decide to try it!
T

blog #328 >> create your own relatives

If you don't have any old family photos, don't despair...
just make your own!
That's what Travis Louis did, see his website here.
Being a little bit jealous of other people's old family photos, he created his own. And just so long as you're creating your own, you might as well make them really interesting. After all everyone loves Uncle Six Eyes!







Oddly enough I can kinda see my family in these people too.
T

blog #327 >> Great-Grandma Kohl

I found this great picture of my great-grandma and I think she looks just like me. But no one else seems to see it. It's mainly the nose I suppose, and the hair, and a little of the eyes perhaps, and she has that smug smile I get when I'm trying really hard not to smile... well anyhow. Her name was Effie Cordelia Kirchem Kohl. Her husband was Louis Phillip Kohl. And she was born in Logan, Ore. That part of my family came to Oregon right after the Oregon Trail. I'm going to see if I can get some more pictures scanned in the future. I love looking through them and thinking, "Oh, this one looks like my sister, and this one looks like my uncle, and this one like my cousin, etc. etc. etc."

T

blog #326 >> Lappy's Back!

I'm so happy to have my little laptop back in my arms again. I've spent almost my entire day replacing the missing files and setting up a bigger and better back-up system. It's kinda like unpacking a new house, but with files, and an archive drive. But even with all my technological worries, I still manged to get some other things accomplished today in between downloading.




This morning I took advantage of the nice weather and restored my new bed, vanity and an old in-table with some dark wood scratch remover. Now they look like new... well, sort of.


I watered the garden and picked a few more tomatoes, it seems like they're never ending!

Obviously it's getting late, and I hope I can get this dress finished this weekend. (Unfortunately, the dress is in the dark part of the photo.)

And I finished embroidering these dolls for my sisters.




I suppose that's all at the moment.
T

blog #325 >> Sense and Sensibility... and Sea Monsters

I actually really want to read this book now, this makes me just laugh and laugh and laugh...
T

blog #324 >> More Stuff

I don't have much time at the moment, so very quickly, here are some more projects I've been working on.

An owl to sell at Skating with Scissors.

A plum pie.

My new skirt... and

Three of the fabric paper dolls for my sisters' Etsy store Baby Dear. I love their new faces.

All for now,

T