I took a class on "Preserving and Canning." It was my first experience with canning and preserving of any kind, and it was eye opening! I've always been sort of nervous about it. Michael actually took the class with me, and that was awesome! We prepped the heck out of the tomatoes and strawberries and garlic. (Tomatoes and Garlic were in another recipe. Don't know how good they'd be in jelly.) We make a great team in the kitchen.
So this jelly was soooo easy to make, and in the end you pop it in the freezer and it will stay for a year or so. This morning we had toast and jelly, and it was freaking delicious. It always tastes better when you make it, though.
We also made carrot fennel soup, bruschetta, and bread and butter pickles. All very good.
If cooking is therapeutic to me, then canning and preserving is kind of like Prozac. I'm all giddy knowing that I'll have this wholesome food that I've prepared in my kitchen at all times. Insane? Probably. But seriously good times. I love the idea that i am kind of moving backwards in time. My Nana used to make all kind of pickles and jellies, and she and my grandpa used to preserve and use every penny that they could. We have since gotten away from that - we are all about fast and easy and fake. you can have both, though. You can have wholesome and fast if you just do a bit in advance.
This is going to sound weird - but there are few things in life that have made me feel as satisfied and happy with existence as i feel when i create a huge pot of good soup. Then we sit down and eat it with a hunk of french bread and a glass of wine. Few things.
We have to embrace the process of it all - or else we are just marching through it. Stop and smell the home grown tomatoes. buy the fresh herbs. Follow a recipe. open a bottle of wine while you cook. maybe play some gypsy kings on your ipod while you cook. dance around the kitchen.
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