Cathartic Ink putting my own spin on things

25Jul/08Off

Cherry Picking.

Cherries

Things have been busy, but one thing that we've been making time for is trips to Hentze's Family Farm in Junction City to pick our own fruit. On our first trip, the dark sweets weren't quite ready, so we picked 18 pounds of Rainier cherries. The photo above is dark sweets though, because they still looked pretty. Since that trip we've been back twice more, once for fruit to take to a bbq/a bag of apricots and once for blueberries and marionberries. I've been making lots of jams, and even made 4 pints of maraschino cherries, because I could. My adventures in canning aren't over, I plan to make dilly beans and pickles and salsa and tomato sauce as well as applesauce and apple butter. Delicious foods, with a little time and effort.

Good things are happening for me, slowly. There'll be another website soon, with another blog, for another aspect of my life.* This one will stay here, and hopefully I'll pick back up with posting. I've got lots of stories, but making those stories seems to cut into my time for writing about them.

*I feel that I need to clarify that we are not expanding our family. The good things that are happening have also made some other things uncertain, and we're not planning to have children in the near future, much to the chagrin of my mother-in-law.

20Jul/08Off

Aaaaaaaaaaaayyy!!!!!

Lunchtime. Grabbed at quick burger with my husband. Waiting in the car for our food, I see an elderly couple exit the restaurant and climb into a tan Ford Taurus of mid-90s vintage with bumper stickers that read "The only Bush I trust is my own" and "somewhere in Texas a village is missing its idiot." Proceed to laugh at that juxtaposition, wonder if the car is borrowed.

Mid afternoon. Hentze Family Farm in Junction City. Being swarmed by a large group of children. Accidentally knock big rubbermaid bucket full of walnuts on floor with my hip. Metal scoop makes huge, loud bang. Am extremely embarrassed by my clumsiness, and eternally grateful to those men who helped me pick them up. Am royally annoyed by small boy who nearly steps on my fingers [and a walnut] because he is paying no attention to anything.

Late afternoon. A quick trip to office depot. I'm wandering around in a benadryl fog [allergy flare-up] waiting for my husband. A young man approaches me, turns to face me, gives me double thumbs up and says "aaaaaayyy!!!" Yep. Just like The Fonz. Luckily, I wasn't in need of any help, because I had a really hard time keeping my laughter on the inside.

Evening. Make delicious blueberry and marionberry pancakes for dinner. Put 3 quarts of blueberries and 3 quarts of marionberries in freezer. Have gallon bag of Rainier cherries to pit and freeze tomorrow, as well as blueberries and bing cherries to make jam from in fridge. Busy day.

1Jul/08Off

Quick Summer Dinner

Couscous with mushrooms and yukina savoy

We recently signed up for produce delivery from Good Food Easy. Tonight's dinner was a quickie; shiitake mushrooms, Yakina savoy (a variety of cabbage) and garlic scapes sauteéd in a little butter and some sherry mixed in with couscous with homemade garlic scape pesto I made earlier in the day. It was garlic-y, a little spicy and the savoy had a nice bite to it. Definitely tasted like it took me more than 15 minutes to put it together!

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