Well, I both sorry and happy to say that I finished the last canning class of the year this week! It makes for a hard day, canning all day, hustling the children everywhere, cleaning the house, and putting on a good dinner -- only to spend another 3-4 hours in the Summer Kitchen teaching canning. But a very good day, nevertheless.
Taught two new recipes: Cran-Raspberry Jam and Holiday Chutney. I think I just fell in love anew with jam and chutney! The Cran-Raspberry Jam has little chunk of fruit and dried cranberries, plus a little cinnamon. But the chutney really wowed all of us: pears, apples, brown sugar, cayenne, cider vinegar, etc. I served it the next day at a small luncheon I put on for our dentist's office, and the staff loved it. You could argue that everyone loves free food, but this was really tasty!
The pace of canning for the holidays is beginning to wear on me, and it's only the beginning of November! My neck is horribly sore and stiff and I'm bone-tired. I actually wrote a few more paragraphs on this blog about speaking at a gathering of health department officials this morning, and I felt my eyes falling asleep! So that story is for another blog. Good night!