Out of the mouths of babes

So Miss Cheeks is quite articulate for a two year old, thanks to many hours of conversation with her big sister. Sometimes though, she will get a word completely wrong.

Tonight she wandered into my bedroom and picked up a brassiere that hadn't made it into the laundry basket.

Cradling it in her arms, she earnestly turned to me and asked, "Mommy, can I have this hedgehog?  I want to put it on!"

For the rest of my life, whenever I cannot remember the name to something, I am going to call it a hedgehog.

Pick-a-what?

Since the canner makes it down so infrequently from its high shelf in the laundry room, I decided to do a second round of canning on Monday night. 

We neglected our tomato plants this year, and ended up with only about a half a dozen ripe tomatoes.  We picked all the remaining green ones and decided to make picalilli. I had been intrigued ever since one of my favorite bloggers, Dawn, on "By Sun and Candlelight" posted her family's recipe, and included helpful step by step directions. 

Basically, you chop up green tomatoes, onions, and peppers, salt them, and let them sit overnight.  The next day, you cook the mixture with vinegar, picking spice, and sugar for about 45 minutes.  You process the jars in the canner for 15 minutes. 

Never having made picalilly before, I'm not exactly sure how it is supposed to taste, but my husband and I went from putting tentative spoonfuls on the side of our plate at dinner last night to heaping it on top of our mashed potatoes.  Our result is a relish that is alternatively salty, sweet, and sour.


For our recipe we used:

5 pounds green tomatoes
One orange pepper
2 sweet onions
1/2 cup salt
One pint cider vinegar
1/2 jar McCormick's pickling spice
2 cups sugar

I think we could have maybe used a little less salt and a little more sugar.  Something to try for next year!

apples to applesauce

Apple picking has become an annual tradition in our family. 

Miss Bee was a most enthusiastic apple picker.

Cheeks needed a lift from her dad.

We finished off our bags with these delicious specimens.

Ready for peeling!

Put the peeled, quartered, apples in a pot with enough water to prevent sticking. Cook until soft. Sugar to taste.

Fill pre-heated mason jars and process in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes.  Ball "Blue Book" is the canning bible.

Enjoy!  We put up four quart jars and had a lot leftover for the fridge.

Beach weekend

My sister and I rode in those exact same boats at that exact same age some two decades ago.  I don't think they have changed a single thing at Funland in Rehoboth Beach, including the water that those boats are floating in!

Watching my girls walk through Funland, hand in hand, staring at the whirling noisy wonderfulness of it all brought me back to my own childhood.  I think that's one of the best things about becoming a parent...you get to do it all again.