In a jam!

Oh, what a blustery day on the Bayou! And finally we saw some rain!!! The winds have been blowing a steady gale for quite some time now which makes it nice since I keep the windows open. Weather like this is not exactly conducive to working in the garden although I did manage to sneak out and poke a little fertilizer under the tomato plants. I am sure that the rain will do them more good than my feeble attempts at feeding them. There is just something about a nice shower that sends plants into a growth spurt!

With the drippy day outside, I worked inside. Cleaning house is not on my "favorite things to do" list, but occasionally I do go through the motions. A little dusting here, vacuuming there and that is usually sufficient for me! Today, though, my best intentions were thwarted by Hubby's trip to the store. He called me from the produce aisle.."Hey..want some strawberries?" Now that is probably the most preposterous question that anyone could possibly ask me. Do I want strawberries? Ha! "Sure!" I answered enthusiastically. "Great! They are on sale!" Well, I should have known..Hubby, the shopper, can spot a sale on aisle 7 when he enters the parking lot! He has a nose for a bargain! I must say that I was delighted to hear that strawberries would be on the menu today..I love strawberries! A bit later, I heard him at the door. Strawberries! Lots of strawberries! Ummm...a WHOLE LOT OF STRAWBERRIES! Thirty-two quart baskets of strawberries were carted into the kitchen. WOW!

I guess you know where I spent the rest of this rainy, windy day..yep..in the kitchen. Son and I stemmed and washed strawberries. We bagged and froze five gallons of strawberries. Still there were strawberries sitting on my kitchen table. Then..I was in a jam for the rest of the afternoon. After stemming, washing and crushing the remaining berries, I tossed them all in a huge pot and started cooking them. My, oh, my how delicious that smelled! I added the bare minimum of sugar and some of the homemade apple pectin that I made last week. This will be the test of the pectin! I cooked the jam until it was thick and bubbly, ladled it into the sterilized jars and sealed each. My, oh, my how delicious that looked! There was just enough left in the pot (accidentally, I am sure!) for me to have a taste-test! You know that the cook always has to taste-test every thing she makes! My, oh, my how delicious that tasted!!!!

The strawberries have all been frozen, canned or eaten! What a way to spend the afternoon!