Well, I DID do what I set out to do today. After lunch, at Dad's house, Dad and I and the niece went out & picked lots & lots & lots (4 pounds worth!) of crab-apples off of just ONE of the crab-apple trees along Dad's drive-way. Then I came home and promptly set them to stewing, and after stewing, strained the juice from the pulp (tossed the pulp in the bucket to go over to the inlaws for the compost pile), and set to making jelly. And, though you can't tell very well in this picture, it's actually a very lovely deep, rich red color. UNFORTUNATELY.... It appears it may never actually jell. It's relatively cool now, and still appears syrupy. *sigh* Not sure what happened, as the stuff that boiled over (when I took my eyes off for just a moment to wash up 2 of the jars before popping them into the pot to simmer & sterilize) sure jelled great on my stove-top! *shaking head* Yes, along with attempting to make jelly, I was also doing a darned good job of making a mess. *grin & wink* So, if this stuff doesn't set up by morning, I'm going to try to figure out if I can reprocess it and ACTUALLY get jelly. I've got some pectin in the cabinet in case I need it, but I hope I don't have to do that as it was a messy process. LOL Though, sealing the jars in the hot-water bath went well! And, worst comes to worst, we've got some yummy syrup! *wink* But I really hope it jells.**********
This is what else I've done this weekend. Actually, Friday night I did this (but I was posting about so much other stuff I didn't get around to posting this). The set of wolf pictures in the center was a present to DH from Dad for Christmas a couple of years ago. The "plates" now surrounding the wolf pictures are recent receipts from Dad. Evidently Mom-mom & Pop-pop purchased them in Germany on one of the visits they made while Dad & Mom were stationed there. (My middle sis & I were both born in Germany while Mom & Dad were stationed there, as egress mechanics on fighter jets.) Anyway, Dad brought these back to Alaska with him when he came back from burying Pop-pop several years ago, and in cleaning up & out the house for sale, he came across them. Well of COURSE I wanted them! They're lovely carvings of scenes in different towns & villages in Germany. Including Neuschwanstein castle (the inspiration for Walt Disney's Cinderella's castle), Landstuhl (my birthplace), Heidleberg, Rothenberg (a smaller carving identical to a painting we had hanging above the fireplace my entire childhood), and a couple of others that I don't recall right off. I'm so happy to get to hang these in my house. I may not remember much of Germany, but I DO love the heirlooms that I've received that came home with my family.
Just had to share!
Have a Blessed Day!
7 comments:
Well, whether they end up being jars of jam, jelly or syrup, they look tasty! I've never tried to make jam, but my Nan used to make chutney, and I helped her one time. I never really liked the stuff, but then I eat a lot now that I insisted as I child I didn't like. LOL!
I love the wolf pictures, and the "plates"
Two things:
(1) After you said you picked four pounds of choke cherries from one tree, I had this vivid mental image of a moose minding his own business going down the line of trees on the driveway as pleased as punch, until he gets to that tree and then being completely baffled as to the emptiness of the tree. (Weird, I know. But I just woke up, so you have to forgive me.)
(2) you may want to change the order of the plates hanging on the wall to give the entire set more balance - perhaps put a big plate on each side of the pictures and each smaller plate below the big plate? As it is right now, the hanging is a bit unbalanced. I'm also, obviously, completely AR. :)
Congrats on making jam! Or syrup. Because both are tasty.
Shelli, I thought about doing that with the plates, but when I went to try it, the larger plates that are on the right side of the wolf pic wouldn't fit in the space on the left. They're too big, and there's not enough wall-space between the pic & the window to hang the bigger plates. So, I simply did the best I could spacing in the area I had available.
I'll tell ya, that tree STILL isn't denuded of crab-apples. (Crab-apples, NOT choke-cherries! *wink*) I could easily (if I could have reached and felt the desire) probably have gotten another 8 pounds or more of crab-apples off that one tree. So, I'm not denying either moose nor bird of winter food. *wink*
By the way, I answered your question on my blog about the recipes I was asking for.
Wow you got a lot done.
I also like pickle crab apples!
It may be syrup, but I bet it would be delicious on some waffles!
The syrup/jelly looks fab!
It is so cool you are able to display such wonderful pieces from Germany.
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