A Delivery System for Jam

It’s always fun to try something new. Last week I was browsing one of my cookbooks (Blue Chair Cooks, a companion book to Blue Chair Jam) and found an interesting recipe for making English muffins. That same day we received our new Fine Cooking magazine and it featured a recipe for English muffins. I took this quinky-dink as a “sign” and “Make English Muffins” went on our weekly list (actually, Verne’s list) of projects.  The process was similar to making our favorite no-knead pizza dough. The basic bread ingredients were mixed and then left to rest on the counter for 12-16 hours. The next morning, Verne rolled the dough, cut the muffins with a 3-1/2" cooking cutter, and baked as follows: placed on a griddle over low-medium heat to brown for 3-4 minutes per side and then into the oven to finish for about 8-10 minutes. The muffins were removed and fork-separated (rather than trying to slice them with a knife, the tines of the fork are inserted around the circumference of the muffin leaving the center in tact). When ready to eat, they are further separated and toasted, buttered, and of course topped with a generous slathering of my homemade jam. For a first try, they were excellent and are without a doubt the perfect delivery system for my jam!

Speaking of my jam, it’s been a while since I’ve said much about it. Don’t get the idea my obsession with jam making has waned. During the off season (now), I spend my time reading jam books (15+ and growing), making the occasional batch of jam using fresh-frozen fruit, teaching MFP classes (three so far this year), and planning my jam making for the new year. I’m just like a gardener who spends the winter months browsing seed catalogs, planning the garden, and anxiously anticipating the first sign of spring…I browse recipe books, magazines and the Internet for inspiration, plan my ("our", I don't jam without my trusty assistant) summer jamming, while I anxiously anticipate the first sign of April strawberries.

Yes, I did indicate above that I’ve made a few batches of jam from frozen fruit over the past few months.  In January, a fellow MFPer asked if I had a recipe for peach marmalade. I thought the question absurd, as everyone knows marmalades are pure citrus, and I was quick to tell her. Wrong! (I’ll get to that in a moment.) Shortly after that, I was again browsing my cook books and came across a recipe for Peach Marmalade. Imagine my surprise (and embarrassment). I contacted my friend regarding the recipe and she asked if I’d make it with her. She furnished the peaches and citrus and I provided the sugar and a couple of afternoons. The recipe called for a pound of lemons and three pounds of peaches. Gail’s home-grown peaches were frozen from last summer. They were a beautiful orange-red color and tree-ripened sweet. Our jamming session went well and she went home with eight half-pints of jam (I kept three jars and a three-pound bag of her frozen peaches). The following week I made a second batch of Peach Marmalade and it turned out equally delicious. In fact, it’s so good I think it might be a jam worthy of entering in the 2015 Amador County Fair (I’m getting a lot of pressure from the family to participate in the Fair).

Okay, back to my faux pas…here’s what I’ve learned about marmalade. The term is thought to have come from the Portuguese word “marmelo” or “marmelada” and was first used centuries ago to describe one of the earliest preserves, a sweet paste made from quince fruit and honey. In many languages, variations of the word marmalade refer to fruit preserves in general and of varying types, not strictly citrus. The English, however, adopted the word “jam” as a generic term for different preserves and narrowed the definition of marmalade to be jam made from predominantly citrus fruits and their peels. Interesting...whatever we call it, marmalade by any other name would be just as sweet!

  

The Mid-Point

We're home from our third whirlwind trip to SoCal and Jana is officially half way through her chemotherapy. The cancer news this past few weeks has been good as Jana’s oncologist excitedly noted a significant reduction in the size of the tumor. Her physical examination will be followed by an ultrasound sometime before the next chemo treatment on March 12^th. This trip began much like the last one arriving Wednesday afternoon and spending a wonderful evening with the family talking, laughing, and of course, eating (our favorite form of entertainment).

Jana planned a casual dinner for us at Wurstkuche, a hotdog place (according to Jana) in Venice Beach. Wurstkuche, a purveyor of exotic grilled sausages (according to the menu), is certainly not your typical “hotdog” place (think Der Wienerschnitzel)…there is nothing ordinary about it. They serve over twenty different kinds of sausages, including a few classics (Bratwurst, Hot Italian, Vegetarian Mexican Chipotle…these don’t sound very classic to me), several gourmet (Mango Jalapeno, Filipino Maharlika, Austin Blues), and about eight exotics (Rattlesnake & Rabbit with Jalapeno Peppers, Pheasant with herbs de Provence). I’ve only named a few. The other choices are equally unique. Besides sausages, they serve Belgian Fries and Belgian and German beers. That’s it! If you want a burger, you’ve come to the wrong place. We all played it safe and stuck with a classic dog topped with caramelized onions and sauerkraut (Jana chose sweet and spicy peppers for her vegetarian dog). We loved the place and will definitely be returning. I’m hoping to muster up courage to try one of the exotics…maybe Duck & Bacon with Jalapeno Peppers or Buffalo, Beef & Pork with Chipotle Peppers. I think I’ll avoid the rattlesnake. I’ve included a few pictures from our evening.

While Verne and Lauren are looking pretty sweet in the picture, I assure you they were being very, very naughty. Each table included about five quart-size containers of different mustards with bands around the top to differentiate them. You guessed it…they decided to switch the bands.

Raelin made the two-hour drive from her home in Fontana to spend Thursday with Jana (and the rest of us). We drove together to the Santa Monica Oncology Center and were pleased to find that Jana was scheduled for the room with an ocean view. We chose a spacious end cubicle and all piled in (as we had the past two treatments) and were promptly met by a cranky nurse who refused to begin Jana’s treatment until we left. All but one, that is. She pointed out to us that there was one guest chair and the rest of us would have to stay in the waiting room. To make a long story short...we protested, but to no avail and we finally retreated to a private little nook on the first floor. The treatment was more difficult for Jana than the previous ones and she slept through much of it, so it all worked out for the best as she was able to rest and we got to catch up with Raelin. This picture was taken before we were thrown out!

On the way home from the treatment, we stopped by RiteAid to pick up a couple of meds for Jana. The girls began sharing memories of living in Campbell, Verne as Mr. Mom, and Thrifty ice cream cones after school. Before long we were all sitting in the sun and enjoying a Thrifty cone while we waited for the prescriptions to be filled. The happy stories (to hear the girls talk, some of their best childhood memories are from the three years Verne spent as Mr. Mom…what does that say about me?) and ice cream were just what Jana needed. 

Three down, three to go!

Second Chemo Trip

We made our second trip to SoCal last week to accompany Jana to her chemo treatment. Scott flew down from Seattle to join us and spend the weekend. It’s been Jana’s choice that we spend Wednesday through Friday with her and then leave before the going gets tough. She’s at her peak (that term is relative, as even on her best days she is far from feeling normal) those three days and then the waves of sickness return sometime on Saturday. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do to help her through that following week and she prefers to be alone.

Our time together with the three kids (Lauren also flew down from Portland to be with Jana) was incredible…so good to see Scott and I loved seeing  “the Mexico Fishing Team” together. Here’s a picture from their most recent trip last fall and shows the marlin they teamed up to catch. Normally, it would have been released, but, sadly, the three-hour fight did it in. The meat was shared with the boat captain and Scott had the rest smoked.

Jana was tired Thursday afternoon, but managed to muster strength to plant several new herbs and succulents she got on the way home from her treatment. She has a green thumb and loves to “work in her garden.” She reminds me of me when I lived in SoCal and spent hours propagating and tending my plants and was active in the local garden club. Living in the foothills with deer, turkey, and other plant-predators, I have given up all hopes of growing anything beyond rosemary and lavender or the occasional hanging basket of flowering plants. 

Thursday evening, we went to our favorite restaurant, Musha, and were seated in their private room where we removed our shoes upon entering and sat on the floor. What fun! As usual, the food was amazing and we ordered no less than a dozen courses finishing with their green tea ice cream. Scott entertained us with his travel stories, a favorite (of ours) being his story of a day and night spent in Japan wearing only a bathrobe, actually a kimono, beginning with a sauna and an elaborate dinner and ending being escorted by his Japanese client from one karaoke bar to another until the wee hours of the morning. Scott’s a seasoned world traveler and his stories of these foreign adventures kept us laughing, but it was his understanding and acceptance of other peoples’ customs, traditions, and general ways of life that made me proud. Verne and I have never left the states and while we are open-minded to ways and beliefs that differ from our own, Scott is experiencing it first hand. While he’s a great storyteller and has a wonderful sense of humor, he is always respectful and appreciative of these people and their cultures that are so different from our own.  

The following morning we all gathered at Bar 9 across from Jana’s cottage and enjoyed one of their delicious breakfasts…actually, there are only two to choose from: bacon and avocado drizzled with a vinaigrette on multigrain toast (Yum!) or a breakfast sandwich of bacon, chard, and a over-easy egg (double Yum!). Friday afternoon Scott attended a coin show in Long Beach and Lauren met up with her girlfriends and former roommates from Berkeley. It just happened that one of her friends was spending a two-day layover on her trip from Australia (where she lives) to New York to visit her father. The other two girls live in L.A. It had been ten years since the four of them first met at the dorms in Berkeley, became fast friends and later lived in a multi-room house on MLK until they all graduated.

This was an especially short trip as we had a commitment on Saturday mid-day and had to drive back to Volcano on Friday afternoon. But, three short weeks and we’ll be making the trip again and Jana will be at the mid-point of her chemotherapy! Lauren has set up a blog on a non-profit website called www.caringbridge.org, which includes all of her email “Jana updates” she’s sent over the past few months. If you are interested, let Lauren know at laurrae@gmail.com and she’ll either add you to the email list or send you an invite or go directly to www.caringbridge.org for Jana Moser. Love to all and thank you for your continued support of Jana and the family.

A Life-Changer

Typically, every January 1^st I review my prior year’s list of goals and mark off those I’ve accomplished and add to the list my new goals for the new year. I’ve been doing this for at least 30+ years. I never expect to complete everything, but figure I accomplish far more by having the list than not. This year was different. There was no list, just the dread of 2015.

Most of you already know that our daughter, Jana, was diagnosed with breast cancer in late November. It took me a week before I could say those words without crying. If it wasn’t believable then, it is now. We’ve been with Jana on her initial visits to both the City of Hope and UCLA and a follow-up visit to UCLA where she is receiving her treatment. A couple of weeks ago we spent the day with her as she received her first chemotherapy treatment and we’ll be returning to LA next week to accompany her to her second chemo treatment. We talk to her several times a day (as we always have) and, although not wanting to worry us, she shares some of what she’s experiencing: migraine headaches (a rare side effect experienced mostly by young women with cancer), blurred vision (also associated with younger patients), nausea, and most recently, hair loss.

Through this devastating experience to date, Jana’s strength and her wonderful sense of humor (she considers a handicapped sticker for her car one of the benefits of having cancer) have shone. Her concerns have been more for her immediate family (Lauren, Verne, and me) than herself. That same tenacious spirit she showed at law school and more recently with her career are present once more…she will be a cancer survivor! I’ve included the following pictures, because they seem to say it all: this past weekend when her hair began to fall out, she and her friends, Nicole and Jashwal, tried out a few new hairdo’s. The experience was not without tears; according to Jana, there was just a “little” crying.

I continue to be hopeful that at some point in the future we’ll look back on this experience and find something good and positive that has come from it. For now, we’re just trying to cope with this life-changing event with lots of love, laughter, and good times together (according to Jana, another benefit of having cancer is seeing her parents more often).

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

From Lauren Moser's blog, Thoughts of a Bookworm at Home...I love all of my daughter's blogs, but I found this one in particular to be very special and appropriate for today.

Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, more commonly known as MLK Day. I must admit that I fall into the category of most Americans who often think of a holiday as merely a fun day off work. The actual meaning of the day is lost somewhere in the excitement of a three-day weekend  or an unexpected break in the middle of a work week. The big holidays are easy to remember and celebrate because we, as a people, have created some sort of spectacle that goes along with them. Fireworks on the 4th of July (Independence Day), carols and trees at Christmas, shopping turkey at Thanksgiving. I hear the reminders to thank our veterans on Veteran's Day and to think of laborers on Labor's Day...actually, I have no idea what we're really celebrating on Labor's Day (although wikipedia tells me I'm right), which just goes to show my point...but I rarely stop to truly consider what the holiday means and I usually just pass by those reminders with a nod and a thought of "oh yeah, I should do that." Some holidays are universally acknowledged, but not universally understood or truly celebrated. Their meaning is lost because we don't attach some sort of visual or event to that day. It's just an extra day off work and that seems to be enough. But should it be? Shouldn't we take the time to remember why we celebrate these days? What was so important and meaningful to our country that our nation decided to declare this day a national holiday, a day everyone would be free to celebrate? Well, Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a day to celebrate an amazing man in American history. A man who fought for equality and rights for all. I think that is something worth remembering. Monday is more than just the third day in a long weekend. Monday is a day to remember a man who helped lead a movement that brought truth to the words stated in our Declaration of Independence, that all men are created equal.

A holiday is coming up, it's time to celebrate.
Some time off work, put up your feet, but there's more, just wait.
Think about what this day really means to us,
Freedom, civil liberties, and a world a tad more just.
We must reflect on our lives today and how we can improve,
To get closer to The Dream, it just may behoove
Us all to work on the way we treat the people around,
Regardless of race, religion or creed, or where they can be found.
So let us celebrate Dr. King in the proper way,
And reduce our prejudice a little more each day. 

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day, everyone. 

Christmas in Volcano

We drove home from our family get together in SoCal to continue our holiday celebration in Volcano. There’s nothing like being at home for Christmas (or anytime for that matter). Familiar decorations (my favorite glass nativity scene, our oversized knit stockings hung by the chimney with care, and our pole-pine tree covered with ornaments), the familiar sound of quiet (our enjoyment of this aspect of home was heightened by our having just returned from Los Angeles), the familiar smell of a fire in our wood stove, the familiar tastes of our own home-cooked food, and sleeping in our own bed. There was a time early in our lives together when we were constantly in transit and moving from house to house every few years (Buena Park, Santa Ana, Anaheim Hills, Campbell, Sutter Creek and finally to Volcano, first to our one-room cabin and then, finally, our house). We have lived in Volcano for twenty years now and no place has ever felt more like home than living in this beautiful cedar house nestled amongst the pines and cedars in the foothills of the Sierras. My appreciation of our lifestyle is always rekindled after a vacation or road trip, in particular, one to SoCal. This is not meant to be negative, so I’ll just say that I appreciate SoCal’s charm, but the traffic drives me crazy!!!

Back to our family time at home these past few days...

With both girls busy lawyering (Jana in LA and Lauren in Portland), they rarely get to NorCal and when they do our time together is intensified by the short nature of their visits. So much to do and so little time! Christmas day was very typical with a lot of eating, drinking, gift-opening, story-telling, and movie-watching. Santa was good to us and Verne (I) awoke to find an Excalibur dehydrator under the tree. Let the dehydrating begin! The girls each had a few surprise gifts beneath the tree, but in recent years our focus has been on small gifts that fit in our oversized knit stockings that I mentioned above. I made the first stocking several years ago for Verne. We were on a trip to Seattle to visit Scott and wandering the streets near his work when I first saw the stocking in a window of a yarn store. I bought the $50 kit in order to get the pattern and went on to make several. It turned out the kit was not overpriced at $50 as I’ve spent that on each, but the real cost is filling one of these over-sized (20-24 inches in length) stockings each year. Our Christmas shopping is now year-round as we’re always on the lookout for stocking-stuffers.

There was a fifth stocking hung this year and it was one that Lauren made for Vera, our live-in of sorts. I never know quite what to call Vera or how to describe our relationship. We sort of adopted her back when she and Jana were friends in junior high and she currently lives with us full time. I bring this up not because she now hangs her Christmas stocking next to ours, but to share the unique gift she made for Lauren. I scoffed at her idea when she first described it (I’ve got to stop doing this…remember when she taught us to peel a mushroom? I first thought that idea was silly, but now I don’t eat a mushroom without first peeling it and I’m a YouTube sensation – check out my video when you have a chance.) She came to me and said that she wanted to make Lauren a fairy door for Christmas. Does that not sound ridiculous? Not the “fairy” part, as Lauren believes in fairies, but the “door” part of it. It didn’t take long and she had me convinced it was a genius idea. All she needed to make the project were a few parts (a doll house door, hinges, handle, and door knocker), which she ordered online, some paint, and help from the “unwilling fairy carpenter” (her reference to Verne). Verne set aside plans for his projects and helped Vera with hers. It was a big success…all I want for Christmas next year is my own fairy door! Thanks, Vera, for always being so patient with us when we mock your ideas.

Now, on to Verne’s projects...apparently Verne has missed our Christmas gift exchange (read all about it in the previous blog post), because a few days before Christmas he decided to make each of the girls a gift. Just like old times: wait until the last minute when the barn (workshop) is a frigid 40 degrees and there’s no time to recover should he make a mistake. Well, he did it (almost). One of the scroll-sawed baby dragons was finished, wrapped, and under the tree Christmas Eve. The other was not quite that far along (I’m really not sure if he’d started it) and he ended up spending several hours Christmas Day finishing it. Actually, in fairness to Verne, he did get coerced into helping Vera with her project. It’s always surprising how much time these “simple” projects take. 

We spent most of Friday in Sacramento watching the final Hobbit film at the Imax theatre in 3D (we loved the movie and had a blast taking pictures while we waited for it to start)...

...shopping, and having a second Spaghetti Factory holiday dinner. Jana had missed the SoCal dinner the previous weekend and her Christmas holiday was not going to be complete without it. We willingly made the sacrifice and had a second Spaghetti Factory dinner in less than a week. We have thoroughly celebrated the season with Good Eats and Good Times and lots of love.

A Holiday Tradition

It has been a long tradition in our family that we all (his, mine, and ours) get together during the Christmas holiday. For ten consecutive years it was a weekend event full of fun and laughter, culminating in a gift exchange…not an ordinary gift exchange, though. Each gift had to be handmade by the giver for a specific family member whose name was drawn the prior year. The crafters in the family loved the holiday gift exchange; it was just another opportunity to get creative. But, not all members of our family are keen on crafting and for them the annual gift exchange was a yearlong source of anxiety and dread. Often (always) they would wait until the last minute to make their gift taking time out to call me with their complaints (because it was my idea - and in a fit of honesty, I will admit that Verne and the girls could often be counted among that number). By the big event, however, everyone agreed that it was all worthwhile. Even Scott, the biggest of the procrastinators, said that our Christmas exchange party was worth the 364 days of agonizing over the "damn gift."

Gifts ranged from simple to extraordinary…one of my all-time-favorites was Lauren’s gift to Scott: she spent the summer learning to use a scroll saw, practicing by making Christmas ornaments. Once she’d mastered the use of the saw, she cut a map of the United States with the states individually cut out, placed it on a wood background, used a drill press to cut shallow holes the size of a quarter along the borders as well as on or near each state (depending on the state’s size), bought a set of the new state quarters and placed them in the respective holes, and then framed the entire piece. It was unbelievably beautiful. Mega kudos, Lauren, for the most extraordinary gift of the decade. Actually, that particular project just came to mind, but there were so many wonderful, creative projects: quilts and other fiber arts, paintings, woodworking and metal, scrapbooking, mosaics, and more. I think ultimately everyone enjoyed the opportunity to set aside the daily routine and craft. Sometimes we need a little push to leave our comfort zone and do something new.

Life brings change and our families are now spread across the country with Scott in Seattle, Jeff in Connecticut, Lauren in Portland, and the other three daughters in Southern California. Three of the kids have their own children making it difficult to travel and be away from their homes for the holidays. Our annual gift exchange came to an end a few years ago and now it’s just our memories and stories that keep it alive. However, we do still attempt to get together in December, typically in SoCal since half of the kids reside there. This year Jeff and his family were in town and Lauren flew down from Portland, so the group was almost complete.

This past Sunday evening we enjoyed our 2014 holiday dinner with the family at the Spaghetti Factory in Fullerton. We have been going to the Spaghetti Factory for thirty years now. It all started when I planned the first holiday party for McKenzie & Company. It was 1984 and I had a new business and a new baby, so I needed an affordable venue and one that was kid-friendly. Spaghetti Factory fit the bill and we’ve been going there ever since. The food and setting is familiar (they attempted to change the menu once in the last three decades and it was met with an uprising) and service is excellent. Over the years it has become the place of choice for most of our large-party celebrations (birthdays and the like). And, as a bonus, Portland (where we visit Lauren at least quarterly) is home of the first of the chain with the restaurant located south of downtown on the Willamette River and is by far the most beautiful of all we’ve seen, including the charming Spaghetti Factory in Victoria. Yes, they are even found in Canada, but beware: the food is shockingly different!

I won’t go into too much detail about our three-hour family event this past weekend, but to say it was perfect! It’s always so heartwarming to see our children as parents. Even as responsible adults, though, I can still see the child in each of them as they get silly and laugh together uncontrollably. Example: Jeff and his family and Lauren taking a selfie (one of about fifty)…

Here are a few more random pictures taken that night that will help memorialize the most recent of a Moser family tradition…