I was familiar with the idea of canning well before then, mind you. My mother has made and then canned her homemade preserves every year for as long as I can remember, and it’s always a joy to open up a jar and dive into those delicious tastes of summer no matter what it’s like outside. My grandfather on her side of the family was also into canning, using the jars to hold his applesauce, tomato sauce, and green beans.

When Charlie and I moved to Takoma, some sort of switch finally flipped in the back of my head, and I took the plunge: I bought a pressure cooker that could be used for canning, as well as some supplies, and checked books out of the library on how to can.

Since then I’ve made quite a few batches of tomato sauce (each batch tasting slightly different than the one before), hot pickles, pickled okra, and most recently—my favorite—butternut squash chutney, which with its cinnamon and cardamom and cumin flavors just screams autumn to me.

I can see why people do it. Not just because of being able to preserve an excess of produce, but because of getting the pride and joy in grabbing a taste and smell of a specific seasonal food and getting to halt it until later, and inevitably share it with someone else. There’s a great article on NPR right now about a woman who decided to make and can blackberry jam for everyone at her upcoming wedding. Reading the article, not only did I understand her happiness in doing so, but it brought back my own memories of picking blackberries for my mom in exchange for both blackberry preserves and pie.

I’m already plotting out my next canning ideas, as well as planning on making some more butternut squash chutney (it’s amazing as a condiment on sandwiches!) quite soon. And if I run out of room in the pantry? Well, half the fun is giving the finished jars to other people. I don’t think that’ll be a problem either.

When I finally got my kitchen rearranged, I put the kitchen knife up on a magnetic wooden block on the wall, where it’s been just staring at me, waiting to be used. As silly as it sounds, I’ve been holding off, waiting for some sort of special reason to do so. Fast forward to today, when I was preparing to chop up a huge butternut squash for dinner. And suddenly I thought, “Why am I waiting to use this knife for ‘something special’ when I could use it now?”

And oh, was it a lovely experience. That knife cut through the squash like it was butter, not butternut. Totally in love with the knife. Probably the best Woot purchase I’ve made to date. And now I totally want to chop up more things with it! I also feel slightly silly for not having used it up until now. A good knife really is worth its weight in gold.

Worst Open House Ever?

Probably not. But Charlie and I did look at some open houses over the weekend (not that we’re buying in the near future, but to get an idea of right now what is available in our suspected price range) and there was one house that stood out in particular for being unwelcoming. First, when we got there, the front door was locked. As we were standing right next to the front window (with the realtor slumped on a couch), he saw us trying to open the door and hopped up and opened the door. “I don’t know how that happened,” he said. Because of course the door locked its own deadbolt.

But then, we stepped in and were greeted with an overwhelming smell of cigarette smoke. As we gasped for air, then realtor dealt the final blow. “When I got here for the open house I found out that one of the contractors working on the house is not feeling well and he’s lying down in the master bedroom, so I’m going to have to ask that you not go in there.”

“We’ll just come back,” Charlie said, as he and I scrambled towards the door. Which of course, meant, never. Talk about three strikes and you’re out…

Small Press Expo 2010 A Success

This year’s Small Press Expo (a show I first attended in 1995, first volunteered for in 1997, and have helped run in some capacity since 1998) was a huge success, hurrah! It was also my last year as the grand poobah of the Ignatz Awards, so having that off my shoulders (more or less) was also a big relief. I finished up my wine sketchbook, which I started back in 2001. I am determined to buckle down and scan the rest and start posting those sketches here… soon… honest.

Autumn = Soup Weather

I love making soup in colder weather, both on the stove and in my crock pot. I also finally decided to give Soupergirl a try, a local chef who sells her homemade soups that you order in advance. I’m going to keep making my own soup, of course, but I’m dying to see how hers taste too. Especially since hers is a zucchini pear soup, something that sounds strange at first and then intriguing, and more importantly I’d never have thought to try it on my own.

Upcoming Documentary I Can’t Wait To See

Waiting for “Superman” is opening this weekend in the DC area, David Guggenheim’s new documentary on the public school system in the United States and its decline over recent years. Part of the focus is on the DC school system and DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, and I’m looking forward to seeing it for myself. For the record, while I don’t think she was perfect (and made some mistakes along the way), I do think that Rhee was one of the best things to happen to DC public schools in the past few years.

I’ll spare you the photos because even I couldn’t bear snapping a shot of the yuck.

It’s amazing how good veggies that were picked just a few days ago that never had to be frozen will taste in a situation like this. Ahhhh. Summer, you’re not so bad after all. I almost (but not quite) forgive you for those 100+ degree days last month.

The Arlington County book sale was this weekend, which made me happy because it means that starting May 1st they’re accepting donations again. I stopped by on Saturday to check out a copy of Malinda Lo’s Ash for book club in a few weeks, and while I was there I wandered through the book sale. I managed to escape with only two books being purchased, thankfully. Three things that jumped out at me while was there, though:

Seeing Books I’d Donated
This got quite a few chuckles from me. Every now and then I see books I’ve donated on the shelves (for instance, the time I was walking through the Pimmit Hills Library and suddenly came across a run of fifteen volumes of The Prince of Tennis, which made laugh since I stopped after volume 15), but I always figure the books more often than not end up in the book sale. I think I must have seen a good twenty copies of books that I’d given them in one section alone; one in particular had the same little fold on the top of the cover that I remembered so well. (No, I’m not saying which books I donated and which ones I kept in my own personal library!)

Seeing Books I’d Wanted But Long Since Forgotten About
Do you have books that you thought about buying over and over again but never did? One of those books for me was Tea From An Empty Cup by Pat Cadigan, which I think I must have picked up and put back down on the shelves at the (no longer in existence) Borders around the corner from my apartment, years ago. I’d read some of Cadigan’s Wild Cards short stories, and I heard great things about the book. But I never, ever bought it. They had a lovely hardcover copy of the book for sale, and for $2 I decided to finally scoop it up. I suspect that once I read it, I will donate it back to the library and let the cycle continue for someone else!

Seeing Books I Didn’t Know Existed
I had no idea until yesterday that Food & Wine magazine publishes an annual collection of all the recipes from that year. There was a copy of their 2006 annual available, and a quick flip through showed off enough I was interested in that I decided it was worth a purchase. And once again, if I end up getting bored with it, well, back to the library! And if I like it, well, it looks like a lot of used copies of the Food & Wine annuals are available for under a buck.

That said? I am glad the big book sale only comes several times a year, for the sanity of my own bookshelves and wallet. After I had my two books, I decided to stop while I was still somewhat ahead and fled for the exit. I’m no fool. I know that path has disaster written all over it for me.

I freely admit that I am powerless when it comes to those little bites of deliciousness. Especially the Thin Mints and Samoas, although Tagalongs are a close third. (Or, if you’re in a different part of the country, those latter two might be called the boring names of Caramel DeLites* and Peanut Butter Patties.)

Every year, I tell myself that I’m not going to buy any. I don’t need them. (My waistline certainly doesn’t.) There are other snacks out there I can buy instead. And yet… and yet… Well, so far I’ve only bought one box of Thin Mints. I actually picked it up a week and a half ago as I was leaving the grocery store. The Girl Scouts were out, I walked past them, and then was almost to my car when I turned around and went back and bought the box. Their siren call was hard to ignore.

As soon as I got home, though, I threw them into the back of my freezer. Frozen Thin Mints actually taste better than regular ones, but it also means that I can promptly forget about them. This is a good thing because otherwise I run the risk of eating half a box in the space of about 20 minutes. And so they sat there, completely forgotten about, until someone on Livejournal mentioned selling cookies. *sigh*

So far, I’ve eaten five of them. Three at first, then two more a couple of minutes later. I’m hoping that by writing this up I can push past the craving. And I suddenly have sympathy for people trying to quit smoking.

That said, there is one kind of Girl Scout cookie that I can always pass by, and those are the nasty shortbread Trefoil cookies. I think I’d rather just eat sawdust. Bleah. Bring those into my house all you want, they are about as exciting as watching paint dry. At least I have immunity to one variety, I suppose.

How long until Girl Scout cookie season ends?

* — I don’t know who they’re fooling, there’s absolutely nothing “lite” about them.

(If you have a Flickr account, please make sure to click through and comment on its adorableness if you like it!)

If you’ve never had lingonberries before, it’s a tiny bit hard to describe them. They’re a little tart but sweet at the same time, and they’re an essential ingredient on swedish pancakes. (Places like IHOP actually offer a lingonberry syrup for their swedish pancakes.) As I’ve been on a pancake kick lately (and really, why not?), more lingonberry preserves was a must.

I actually picked up two other similar foods that I’ve never eaten before, though; cloudberry preserves, and gooseberry jam. I have no idea what either of them taste like, but how can I resist something called a cloudberry? It sounds like what Frodo and Sam would have picked off of bushes on their trip to Mordor. Or maybe something Mario would eat to get a temporary power-up while trying to save Princess Peach from Bowser. I, for one, can’t wait to try them. (A gooseberry doesn’t sound quite as interesting. But in the interest of trying something new I bought it.)

If I had been going directly home I suspect I would have bought stuff out of the frozen section, too, but I was saved by warmer temperatures outside this weekend. Perhaps next time I’m up in the area…