Shae took off for the Alaskan Interior and left me, Spike, the porcupine, in charge of her blog. When she asked me to do it, I thought she was joking, but then she handed over the laptop and flew off in a helicopter. Crazy. She worked so hard trying to get this recipe right before…
I’ll be away for three weeks and I’ve decided to leave the porcupine in charge. He’s an industrious dude, perfectly capable of watching over the few posts that will appear here while I’m gone. Besides, if I don’t give him something to do, he’ll chew through everything in sight. Seriously, this guy and his ilk…
I was thrilled to get this month’s Can Jam assignment — tomatoes all the way, chosen by my buddy Julia — because I knew it would give me a chance to redeem my favorite condiment. Ketchup, ketchup, ketchup. I love ketchup. When I was a kid, I’d sometimes insist on eating a hot dog bun…
This is my favorite kind of canning project — making something wonderful (and a little bit quirky) from a plant, bush, or tree that we live with every day.
Today is International Beer Day, so I thought I’d tell you a little story about a great beer and a nice guy. The beer is Dacker. It’s a full-bodied, goes-down-easy ale, first brewed in the Adirondacks in 1885. We happened upon it in 2007, when it was recommended to us by a server at the…
If I’ve learned one thing in the few years I’ve been canning, it’s that what you make is only as good as the ingredients you start with. I believe you should taste everything you put in the jar. Everything. If you don’t want it in your mouth, it doesn’t belong in your preserves. You definitely…