Category Archives: food

1 year in seattle!

September 3, 2013

Today is exactly 1 year since I arrived in Seattle. I had spent 2 months in Michigan with my family and finally decided I would head out to Seattle after labor day. I had shipped out a few boxes and packed the rest in a couple of suitcases and both excitedly and sadly flew out to Seattle.

Walker met me at the airport (luckily our friends who had just moved to Eugene, OR were visiting for labor day weekend and he borrowed their car) and we drove into my new city and to my new apartment. We unloaded the car and all 4 of us went to a coffee shop before our friends drove back home. I now know the coffee shop is pretty close to our house but at the time its location seemed a mystery to me. Plus I was a little out of it.

Our friends headed home and then it was just Walker and I. He walked me around the neighborhood a little bit and then we found a place to eat. We explored some more and then made our first meal as a couple living together. It was a big day of new things and I’m sure I was pretty emotional but here I am one year later. I made it, I even kind of like it here, and the best news- we just found a new place to live that is absolutely perfect for us! Or at least I really hope it is. There will be more details on that to come.

For now Seattle thank you for 1 mostly good year.

Berry monday: jam (sauce)

September 2, 2013

Happy labor day!

Today is the last installment of berry Monday. Heading into fall it seemed appropriate to save the jam recipes for last. This is great way to preserve that summer taste in the months to come. I opted out of actually canning the jam since I don’t have the proper equipment and chose instead to use sterilized jars, that once sealed, I put into the fridge where they can stay fresh for a few months unopened.

I made tayberry jam and boysenberry jam. I didn’t want a super sweet jam so I added way less sugar and ended up with more of a berry sauce. It is still marvelous on toast. Here are my recipes:

Tayberry Jam

2 1/2 cups berries
1/4 cup + 1 TBSP of cane sugar
(makes 2 small jars)

Boysenberry Jam

3 cups berries
1/2 cup cane sugar
(makes 2 small jars)

For both recipes put berries and sugar into a sauce pot and stir to break up some of the berries. Heat mixture over low heat to dissolve sugar. Turn up the heat and bring to boiling. Scoop off any foam that forms. Once mixture is fulling boiling turn down to medium and cook for around 5-7 minutes longer. Turn off heat and pour sauce into jars, let sit at room temperature overnight, store in fridge, and enjoy when you’re ready. I couldn’t wait long to try mine so it was open almost right away.

My farmers market finds

August 30, 2013

If you’ve been following me for any amount of time it’s probably pretty apparent that I love the farmers market. Love it! If you didn’t know, then I’m guessing you do now.

Whenever I make it to the market I try and stretch my money as far as I can making sure I get a wide variety of produce that is organic. Here are finds this week purchased for $21.35.

I purchased:

-cherries, pickling cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, corn, tomatillos, tomatoes, ground cherries, and 3 pds of potatoes.

My tips for stretching your money:

-I always walk the entire length of the farmers market before purchasing a single thing. (This might be hard if your market is huge but maybe you could do it in sections)
-Make sure to note the prices of the items you are looking to buy, scoping out what might be the best deal.
-I will usually look for a cheaper by the pound price and avoid the per/unit prices. I like to control how much of something I get.
-If you keep your prices low on most items you can splurge a little on something unexpected.

Have fun! I always love looking at all the colors and the pretty flowers and seeing what’s newly in season. Let me know how you do!

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