Check out the awesome market flowers...I couldn't resist being the annoying person taking a picture!!
On Saturday morning, Nicole and I headed to the Public Market for some quesitos and coffee before a morning of berry picking at Whittier Farms. After a quick lesson in raspberry picking (I can't believe I made it this long WITHOUT picking these yummy berries!) we picked away while working on some nice sunburns. Shortly, we had 8 quarts of berries and headed off for some emergency sugar, just in case we ran out.
We went to work cleaning and smashing berries, boiling berries and measuring sugar all morning long, when we realized we picked enough for not two batches of jam, but four. Good thing for the emergency sugar.
After a brief shopping break we headed back for some more jam making. Nothing is more satisfying than listening for the little 'pop' when the jars finally seal. By the end of the night, 30 jars of raspberry and tripleberry jam were made and we were exhausted.
Here's a CHEERS to Nicole's new kitchen, complete with enormous white cabinets and a big gas stove...there will be many baking and canning experiences here!
(A couple of months ago, I was garage sale-ing and found these vintage canning lids (a la the ones that are not gingham). Even though there were only three that had not been previously used, I couldn't resist buying them. I think they add a taste of 'kitch' to jars!)
In fact, the berry-picking/jam-making was such a blast (was it the process/experience or the company???) I took Caroline and Camryn this morning out to Schutt's Cider Mill to pick black raspberries for lunch. There are no pictures because we got especially berry-covered and needed to take a dip in the pool before heading inside.
The jam is sooo good, I've already finished about a jar and had raspberry jam at every meal... hopefully I'll still have some left for Christmas presents as planned or else I will be picking again come the fall harvest!!!
