Smug Alert

I've felt inordinately pleased with myself the last couple of days.  Suzy Homemaker, step aside, here comes Keryn!  (Incidentally, why is it Suzy Homemaker?  Why not Holly Homemaker, or Hannah, or Hilda, or Hepzibah?)

On Wednesday a week ago, I attended a little bottling class in my friend's kitchen.  It was my first time preserving anything (except freezer jam, and helping Liz do grape juice), and I was interested to see that it wasn't as hard as I had expected.  

Then on Friday, Liz invited me over to make real-live jam (not freezer) with her.  I jumped at the chance, because my mother-in-law has the most delicious peach-raspberry jam recipe, and if I felt comfortable I was going to try to make it.  Working with Liz first seemed like a good way to learn. 

So under Liz's expert instruction, we made plum-strawberry jam.  Although parts of it were tedious (stirring and stirring and stirring), again it was easier than I expected.  We finished off the fruit with a little freezer jam, as well.

 The plum-strawberry jam (Freezer jam not shown, because it's, you know, in the freezer)

Then on Monday Telima and I rolled up our sleeves, kept the telephone close (I called Eva once and Mema once), and proceeded to make our first solo jam.  It was hilarious and messy--at one point, we were both huddled around the stove, trying to avoid the spitting boiling-hot jam and pull the equally scalding hot sterilized lids (I ordered one of the those awesome magnet lid lifter thingies, it will be here tomorrow), trying to get the jam into the jars without bumping into each other.  Intense, but funny.

And every one of those jam jars, save one, sealed!  Hooray!!!!!  (We've been eating the one that didn't seal, it's really delicious jam.)

Aren't they cute?

But wait, there's more!

I still had a heapload of peaches left over, and they were getting ripe.  What to do, what to do...oh!  Crisp in a jar!  So that's what I did today.  

Freezer peach crisp...yum yum!  Each one has peach pie filling and an oatmeal-sugar streusel on top.

My bounty

If you had told me, ten years ago, that I would be taking and posting pictures of bottled goods, I'd have thought you were a little off your rocker.  Just goes to show how your definition of "accomplishment" can change through the years.