• Travel

    Here Today: 5.12.2010

    Today was a traveling day. San Francisco to Santa Fe . . . We crossed the Sierra Nevada. We found the country of adobe and big sky. We drank Santa Fe Pale…

  • Needlecraft

    My First Quilt

    In the 7th grade, my home-ec teacher, Mrs. Payne — and yeah, we had a lot of fun with that — made me rip apart and redo my felt frog hand puppet…

  • Garden

    Here Today: 5.1.2010

    At last, it’s May and the garden is getting into gear. We don’t have much good ground for planting, so we do most of our gardening in big containers — custom-built planter…

  • Preserves

    Apple Earl Grey Almond Jelly

    I posted a version of this recipe a few weeks ago, when I was making myself crazy trying to get it right. Since then, I’ve worked it over both in my head…

  • Preserves

    Apple Mint Nasturtium Jelly

    A few weeks ago, I promised Stewart I’d make leg of lamb for his birthday in May. I’ve got a lot of learning to do, because the only thing I know about…

  • Preserves

    The Final Marmalade: Clementine Almond Lime

    Except for Meyer lemon marmalade, which is a year-round thing for me, marmalade season is over. Last week, I was planning a final, simple batch of clementine marmalade, using a lovely recipe…

  • Words

    You Are Beauty

    The other day I walked into the gym and on the massage sign-up board, someone had written “You Are Beauty.” This prompted in me a huge, instinctive internal eye roll. I was…

  • Preserves

    Double Meyer Marmalade (Lemons & Rum)

    2010 Marin County Fair First Place Winner! So I was looking in the liquor cabinet, because that’s where I keep my canning supplies. (Honest.) Right up front was a bottle of Myers’s…

  • Preserves

    I Need a Canning Intervention

    Is it possible that someday I’ll just know where the jelling point is, like any practiced artist learns her craft? Too often, I just don’t get it, and even my candy thermometer…

  • Preserves

    Easy DIY Canning Labels

    A few people asked for more information about the labels I made for last weekend’s Rhubarb, Pear, and Vanilla Jam, so here’s a quick post to show what I did. Because I’m…

  • Preserves

    Rhubarb, Pear, and Vanilla Jam

    I wanted to do something to soothe myself after last week’s garlic disaster. That garlic jelly was a total loss. When Stewart came home from his travels, it took me a whole…