Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Day 53 - Seeing Blue!


Thought you might like to see the inside of the cherry almond bread.  We ate this lovely bread for breakfast with some of the leftover cherry preserves from last night.  Wow!  Ribbon winning or not this is a keeper recipe!  My husband thinks I'll never make it again (which to his credit there are recipes I toy with for the Iowa State Fair and then they may not be seen again).  But I do think this recipe is one to add to my quick bread stash of recipes.  I did toast the almonds before putting them in the batter which helps but the fresh sour cherries really give the bread a wonderful taste!  Adding the preserves on top - well, that was just the cherry on top (ha!).

Was up early this morning to make strawberry syrup and finish off the strawberry juice I made the other night.  It looks good and should be wonderful on pancakes and waffles with a few heated frozen berries.  I also put up the rest of the cherries.  I just made a light syrup to put them in and processed them as is.  This way if I need some for a recipe I can just drain them and use them or I can still make a cherry pie filling from them if the other runs out.

I did pick up some jars at the auction today.  Although mostly quart and pint jars.  I need to trade out some of my jars though since some have small chips in the rim.  I check every jar each time I bring it up - if it has any chip or imperfection it gets taken from the collection.  If it is an older one (I like the square bottom kind) I save it to use as a flower vase.  I box up the rest for some craft projects I keep meaning to try.  Bottom line though don't use jars with chips or cracks for processing- messes with the seal!  Grant went with me to the auction so that Alan and Clark could work on the lawn mower and the lawn.  Grant was a very good little boy.  He watched with interest and had plenty of people to see and things to listen to.  He enjoyed flirting with the ladies (I am a little scared this will keep with him later in life) - he is such a charmer.  We did pretty well at the auction - a food dehydrator (have wanted to try drying down some delicate herbs this way), some jars and some cutting boards.  Grant fell asleep in the stroller.  A lady asked if she could take his picture (I believe she was documenting the event - family or friend of the estate owner) to label it - bored at auction.  Have to mention it is great to live in Iowa - as I was packing up a nice couple in their 20's asked if they could help me load up.  I realize there are nice people everywhere but I think Iowa has more than it's fair share.  Thank you so much to this couple - I could have done the chore myself but with Grant along it sure made my life easier!

At nap time Alan started up our old Oliver tractor and raised me up in the bucket to harvest more cherries.  Picked about another 12 pounds!

And finally - from the title of the blog (and if you read yesterday's blog) I bet you thought I was going to talk blueberries!  Nope!  We went to our 5-year old nephew's birthday party in the evening.  It was a great space themed party that had a space shuttle cake and lots of "planet" cupcakes.  Just a note: there was a warning about the blue cupcakes!  

Really - what kid can resist a blue cupcake?

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