It rained this morning! Woo hoo! LOL. I can't explain just how excited we get when it rains, here, in southern California! I was glad that I had procrastinated on watering the vegetable plants, yesterday, because Mother Nature took care of it for me, today! After the rain, we had hazy sunshine and a high of 65F.
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| Feijoa (Pineapple Guava) |
Today, I made a batch of feijoa (pineapple guava) and ginger jam. I didn't have a big crop of feijoa this year and a number of the fruit I did get had something wrong with them (a big cavity inside where, normally, there would be seeds and flesh!) After I put those aside to compost and scooped the flesh from the good ones (the peels get composted, too), there was exactly 1 lb. of fruit to be made into jam! A lot of cutting and scooping to get even that amount of usable fruit! Just enough for almost four half-pint jars (the 4th jar is only 3/4 full). I flavored the jam with a little preserved ginger. The three full jars will be gifted.
In addition to making the jam, I brought in the trash cans, took some cuttings from one of the sweet potato plants to see if I can get them to root, read blogs, watched news, did the dishes, chatted with friend R, and cooked dinner: a fish curry (I used frozen pollock), rice, and a cucumber salad, plus there was zucchini chutney to have with the dinner. My daughter complained that the fish curry tasted too good and she had to have seconds! LOL.
Today, I am grateful for:
- Rain for the garden!
- A good roof to keep the rain from leaking in!
- Fruit from the garden
- Homemade jam for gifting
- Chatting with friends
Today's joyful activity was making jam.
Tomorrow, M will be here in the morning to tend to the garden. I need to start on a couple of other holiday gifts!
How was your Tuesday? Does it rain a lot in your area? What are your plans for Wednesday?
So glad you had some rain. We have it so often we do not get very excited about it, except for a summer when we have a drought (which happens but not a lot)
ReplyDeleteI would love to taste that jam. I bet it is delicious!
We need all the rain we can get! It is so dry out here!
DeleteI think the jam turned out well. The preserved ginger gives it a nice flavor. :)
We need to send some of our plentiful rain in the UK over to you :) The jam sounds wonderful, I love ginger in whatever form it comes. That mane me smile that your your curry was too good and seconds were needed :)
ReplyDeleteOh, yes, please for the rain! :D Too bad it doesn't work quite that way, though. The jam turned out well, I think (I had a bit of a taste when I was testing to see if it was done). As for the curry, I cooked what I thought would be enough for two meals for the two of us; I just didn't expect both meals to be eaten in one sitting! :D
DeleteI live in the UK so yes, it rains a lot!
ReplyDeleteM is here tidying the garden and I've just finished my piano lesson - M rang the doorbell just as the lesson started! C was happy with the progress I'd made on the carols even though I didn't think I'd played them as well as I usually do. She's given me a couple of helpful tips which should make this week's practice much easier. This afternoon will be spent doing a bit more practice and them settling down to start reading the book group choice ready for next week's session.
I suppose if it rained as much over here, too, I'd get quite tired of the rain very quickly! :D
DeleteGlad that M was over to tidy your garden and C was happy with your piano progress. My M is here, right now, as I type this, tending to my garden. :) I haven't sat down at the piano in several weeks! I think lessons will resume after the holidays, so I am taking it easy! :D Hope you are enjoying your book. :)
Your question about rain had me looking up the rainfall amounts in my area and I was correct in my guess. We have about 45" per year and it rains on about 1/3 of the days throughout the year. Of course, it is not even and sometimes there is too much rain and the plants suffer and sometimes there is a drought and the plants suffer. But for sure we get more rain that you do.
ReplyDeleteYes, you get about 3 times as much rain as we do! Our average annual rainfall is just under 15". Last year, we had a total annual rainfall of just under 6" (5.86"). This year, too, we are currently below average for this time of the year.
DeleteI am sure your friends that receive the feijoa & ginger jam will enjoy not only the jam but the efforts in growing, harvesting & preparing. Maybe the gift tag can include that tale :)
ReplyDeleteI usually simply say "Homemade with homegrown fruit" on the jam labels. :)
DeleteThe jam sounds delicious. I would have been excited about rain, too, the other day when we woke up to so much snow. In Ottawa it was followed by a full day of rain and temperature well above zero, which cleared all their paths. Where we are, the snow just sat and it is still just sitting. Maybe it needs to get up and walk away! Oh well, it looks pretty.
ReplyDeleteThe jam turned out well, I think. I added lemon juice to give it a tang and the ginger adds a very pleasant flavor (in my opinion, of course). Mother Nature is presenting you with a White Christmas! Enjoy it from inside the house! :D
DeleteYes, we have had a bunch of rain lately, and I believe there is more on the way Friday, but Sat & Sun promise temps in the 60s, like Southern California weather. I am glad your 4th jar of jam wasn't full, so you (and daughter) and enjoy that.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your So Cal weather on the weekend, Susanne. :) We are supposed to get more rain, tomorrow, and a high of 57F! But, today is sunny and in the mid 60s. I've turned the heater off and opened the windows to air out the house. :)
DeleteHa, ha, yes, those less than full jars of jam are what we eat and I've found that they make a nice glace for meat that is broiled, etc. :)
The jam sounds great. I doubt very much it is a flavour that I will ever get to taste. Or even feijoas for that matter... do they taste of pineapple? Really happy to hear that you have had rain. I know in the summer when we sometimes don't get rain for a few months, I'm always delighted to see and smell those first drops. A good downpour is very refreshing, and I do enjoy a storm!
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'll save that 3/4 jar of jam for your visit! :D It doesn't really taste of pineapple, to me, but I guess some people think it does and others say it reminds them of strawberries! Apparently there are several different varieties! If so, I don't know which varieties I have as the trees were here when I bought the house. There were 3 trees and one died. One of the remaining 2 trees have very tiny fruit which I don't even bother to pick. It probably needs some pruning and fertilizing, etc. Then, again, it grows in the front garden and I don't want to encourage people to come and pick its fruits, either! :D
DeleteWe are supposed to get more rain, tomorrow! Twice in one week! I can hardly wait! :D
The jam sounds delicious. It's always a shame when much of the fruit has to be composted. I made some pear compote last week and I'm sure I threw away more fruit than I used in the end.
ReplyDeleteI ate some courgette chutney with my lunch yesterday. I'm gradually making my way though it all :)
Thank you, Jules; I think the jam turned out well. Yes, it is a shame that so much of the fruit has to be composted, but, I was happy I managed to use what I could. I'm sure your courgette chutney is as delicious as my zucchini chutney! ;) :D
DeleteSadly we have not gotten a lot of rain where I live lately. I love the rain, so that is a big bummer for me. We are in back to back la nina's so I guess that's why. We are getting some rain Friday night into Saturday morning so I am definitely excited about that. Denise
ReplyDeleteHi Denise; I was just thinking of you and wondering how you are. :) We are well below the amount of rainfall we should have had by now, so we really need all the rain we can get! The forecast calls for more rain, tomorrow! I hope you have a good shower of rain Friday night into Saturday. I hope all is well with you and yours.
DeleteYour jam sounds really nice. You are amassing a nice full gift cupboard, as some people call it, with your cooking a crafting efforts this year.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Debra. I have a list of approximately 30 people on my gift list, so, I need to have plenty of gifts on hand! :)
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