wasn't sure about waking up early enough, but it was still barely drizzling and quite cool, so picked plums before breakfast. Then it started to rain in earnest while I was online chatting with sister. Very glad to have finished the Pelican and got it in the post yesterday, as I don't ride my bike in the rain, because spectacles don't have wipers.
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~ time to preserve ~
My friend Wanda gave me plum starts twenty years ago. Before it really began raining this morning, I picked almost 2½ pounds of nicely ripe plums from that small tree, which are now washed, cut up, and put in the freezer. Future breakfasts will be very tasty!~ time to preserve ~
In addition, as for what to do with the too-early-picked alley plums, they have become 8 small jars of "spicy asian plum sauce"* a good homegrown answer to hoisin sauce. Three weeks ago, after the alley pirates plucked all the not-ripe-but-purple plums they could reach, my good neighbors wanted to pick the tall ones using their ladder, and I offered them the use of my fruit picking tool as well. They sweetly left me a bowl full of what looked ripe on the outside but was very much still green and tart inside. Plums do not ripen off the tree, they soften, but their flavor doesn't really get any sweeter or more complex. After three weeks, some were getting too soft to use at all, so since there were just about 2 pounds, it was a perfect fit for plum sauce, and my pantry condiments can start getting refilled.
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Yesterday was the 3D printer event at Albina Library. It was so much fun to try and wrap my brain around something different, and I want to learn more so as to be able to create my own objects for the tinyworld. But since that complex skillset isn't mine (yet), just used some of the free files from Printables, and made two little mission style plant stands, and a tiny Dala horse. The brown plastic, makes the Dala horse look as if it was made of milk chocolate, a peculiarly large not-Easter-bunny. (in 1:12 scale at 1" tall it is about 12"). I'm wondering if I can scale it down even further and print it in color.
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The Pelican medallion in a simple setting with beaded wire edging.
actual size 1½" diameter
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September SMART goals (x=extra)
| # | THINGS MADE | THINGS FIXED | THINGS GONE |
| 1 | 8 small jars plum sauce | plums in freezer | - |
| 2 | printed 3D plant stands | - | - |
| 3 | printed tiny Dala horse | - | - |
| 4 | - | - | - |
| 5 | - | - | - |
| 6 | x | x | x |
| 7 | x | x | x |
| 8 | x | x | x |
| 9 | x | x | x |
today's gratitudes -
- homegrown tree fruit
- free tech programs at the library
- Joan Huntley, Britta Hall, and the year of Tigress's CanJam, whereby I was introduced to home canning and encouraged to make it be one of the skills I practice every year
Time of Isolation - Day 2238
* One of my kitchen tenets is to put effort into making high-flavor condiments that can then be used to add savor to simple meals throughout the year; plum sauce takes the place of things like ketchup, and hoisin sauce, and if homemade, has no weird ingredients that require a chemistry degree to decipher, just things like tamari and garlic and vinegar and cayenne, and plums...
Spicy Asian-style Plum Sauce:
| 2lbs. fresh plums - pitted and quartered 2½C sugar ½C vinegar 3T soy sauce 1T ground ginger 2 minced garlic cloves 1/8tsp cayenne | Combine all, and bring to a boil, then simmer til the fruit is very tender. Puree, then cook till very thick It will take some time to cook down... Keep watch so it does not catch and burn When suitably thickened, jar and process ≈4 8oz jars - ¼" headspace - process 10 minutes |
recipe can be multiplied
