Blog Tour Day 8
TIN SWIFT Blog Tour
Chapter #8 is up today! Click on the link below to be taken to All Things Urban Fantasy where you can read TIN SWIFT’s prequel short story, HANG FIRE. You can also win a copy of TIN SWIFT and other fun steampunk goodies. A winner will be chosen at each stop, so it’s perfectly fine to leave a comment at each blog. Also, be sure to stop by Fantasy Literature (chapter six) where you can also win the amazing steampunk “AC Bracer” devised by Roger Brown at Steampunked Out.
Chapter Eight: All Things Urban Fantasy
Chapter Six: Fantasy Literature
Chapter Five: A Book Obsession
Chapter Three: Tote Bag ‘n’ Blogs
Chapter One: Candace’s Book Blog
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Other Excellent Things
Strawberry jam. Homemade.
When I was a kid, all the lady folk in my family canned during the summer. We put up fruits, veggies, and sauces that we could use all winter long. I still remember the huge bowls filled with diced cherries, tomatoes, beets, beans. I can still smell the cucumbers pickling in brine, and remember how all the aunties, cousins, and grandmas would gather to help in the kitchen.
We used the water bath canning method as often as we could, but sometimes the project required the big guns. That’s when we’d drag out the ancient (and assumed to be bomb-dangerous) pressure cooker. I still have that stomach-clench reaction just thinking f it. We’d load the big pot full of glass jars, then all stand back while one brave soul manned the pressure cooker, watching the needle waver up and up. If she didn’t hit it at just the right time to blow off the steam, we knew the whole thing would blast through the kitchen, the attic, and take the shingles off the roof, canned peaches and all. I am happy to say we never blew up the kitchen. That cooker, while of questionable safety, didn’t let us down.
Over the years I haven’t done as much canning, but this year I plan to put up some jams. I think the old pressure cooker is down in the basement gathering dust and evilness. While it might be fun to fire it up, I think I’m going to stick to the water bath method for now.
Oregon’s strawberries are so sweet and juicy I’ve been told they don’t export well because they can’t hold up to the rigors of shipping. They may not ship well, but honey, they are heaven in a jam jar!
Hopefully, this week, they will be heaven in *my* jam jar.
Blog Tour Day 7
One Comment
Dawn Young
I put up my strawberry jam, low sugar, a couple weeks ago. YUMMY!!! Accidentally made one batch without the pectin – doh! But it tasted excellent the next morning on some made-from-scratch sourdough pancakes. *smile* The kids loved the accidentally made strawberry syrup.