Frugal and Delicious

Last weekend I stopped by Polk's Farmers Market and found that they had nectarines on sale $.99/lb. They were perfectly ripe and that seemed so cheap compared to apples that are currently running over $2.50/lb at the local Kroger, that I picked up 6lbs. Knowing that I couldn't eat them all before they went bad, I figured that making some jam would be the way to go. (Thinking ahead for Christmas gifts.) After my jam-making practice in June, this went really quickly and easily. Here's the recipe that I developed:

Nectarine Jam
Cut up 6 nectarines - throw away the pit, but keep the skin on.
3 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp cinnamon

1. Bring to slow boil, the nectarines, sugar and lemon juice. Boil for about 30 minutes until you've reached jam consistency.*
2. Stir in spices (I just used what I had on hand that I thought would be good) and boil for another 5 minutes.
3. Take off heat. Skim off any foam. Puree if desired.
4. Decant into jars and preserve.
*An easy test for doneness - place a glass plate in the freezer while making the jam. Place a tbsp of jam on the plate and let it rest in the fridge for about 2 min. Test with your finger to check consistency. If not quite thick enough, keep boiling.

While I'm on the finances kick...

I just read this article on Renting vs. Buying from one of my favorite blogs. It's actually making me feel much better about the fact that I'm nowhere near close to being a homeowner. I've always assumed that home ownership was sort of the holy grail of financial independence and have been working to get down our debt and save for a down payment. In light of recent events, mortgages are going to be much more difficult to get and it will likely take several years longer than I had hoped to be able to buy something. But I'm actually not feeling quite as bad about it now. I think that all things considered, we're probably where we should be at the moment.

Though I really would be happier to be renting a house where I don't have to share walls or a floor with another apartment. There's only so much Guns N'Roses that I can bear to hear coming up from the 1st floor rednecks.

Crafting Update

I actually have been very busy with some creative projects lately, but they are meant for gifts. Once I've given them over to the lucky(?) recipients, I'll post photos of what I've been up to.

To be Debt-Free

In my attempts to getting financially fit, I am happy to report that I've established some good habits (fingers crossed, knock on wood that I don't jinx myself). My Excel spreadsheet has been reworked so that it really is perfect for my bills and spending tracking. I'm not always 100% at filling in my incidental spending, but it's helped me to narrow down where my money is going. I've gotten on top of paying all my bills on time which has eliminated extra fees. I'm also much more conscious of bargain shopping. My downfall areas? Craft supplies and eating out.

My next step is to aggressively start paying down credit card debt. I found this good online debt payment calculator. It's a little bit scary how long it will take to pay it down, but at least I can start to calculate how much extra in there a month will make a difference.

Artsy Fartsy

I can't remember where I heard about this, but I am obsessed. Isabella Rossellini is so graceful and gorgeous, but seeing her dressed as bugs and having bug sex is just too amazing. These videos are actually very educational (I had no idea that snails were masochistic). I fear that I'm incredibly immature though because I really just like these videos because they are hilarious.

Check out Isabella Rossellini's Green Porno.

Summer evenings

So for the past month and half, I've been spending my evenings at the new dog park down the street from my house. The county is relandscaping the Mother Matilda Beasley Park on E. Broad Street and they've graciously included a fenced in dog area. It's fantastic. An added benefit is that I've been meeting a lot of neighbors and making some new pals. Here's a photo of Ahab enjoying the park last night. It took him a month, but he finally decided to try out the pool.

Jammin'

A couple of weeks ago, I went strawberry picking with my pal Ashleigh outside Beaufort, S.C. at Dempsey Farms. I got a little carried away and came home with 10lbs of strawberries. So good but definitely more than I could eat before they would go bad. I figured that it was a good time to try making preserves and also figure out how to can. Making jam is the super easy part - it's essentially a cup of berries to a cup of sugar and some lemon juice, then boil it down for awhile til it's jam consistency. Learning to can wasn't really difficult, but it did require purchasing some supplies and jerry-rigging some things in my home kitchen. Here's a picture of all the jam that I made from that 10lbs of berries - plain ol' strawberry jam, strawberry/blackberry and strawberry/peach.

I've gotten so excited about the whole process that I decided to try out my nana's recipe for marmalade and made some grapefruit marmalade this past weekend. It's not quite as thick as I'd like but hopefully the pectin will set after a week. It's really really good though. I also included the recipe in case anyone else wanted to try it. Trying to decipher my nana's handwriting is challenging enough.