Laboring

Over the long weekend I was feeling very domestic. On Saturday I did a bit of cleaning in the morning and then went to my parents house to do laundry. While I was at my parents we went over to a neighbors house and picked a bucket full of plums and then I made two batches of zucchini bread. After I was done with the bread I went to a movie and Color Me Mine with my friend Rachel for her birthday. The movie wasn't up to much. It was called "Eat, Pray, Love" and I didn't really like it. Color Me Mine was fun; it is a place that you paint a ceramic something and then they fire it for you. I painted some salt and pepper shakers and I'm very curious to see how they look once they are fired. I hope they look as good as I expect them to. On Monday I made jam using the plums that I picked on Saturday. I learned a few things about making jam, because this was the first time I have ever attempted this on my own.

1) I learned that cutting plums is a pain. I had to cut the fruit off from around the pits and this was the longest part of the jamming process.

2) I also learned that it is easier to cut plums that are not as ripe. If they are really ripe they just mush in your hands and get juice all over the counter and the floor. Luckily I didn't have to peel the plums or that probably would have taken even longer.

3) Another thing was to measure and prepare everything I could before I started cooking stuff. Once you add the pectin you need to keep stirring the jam, so I was really glad I had measured out the rest of the sugar into a bowl and had my jars and lids set out and ready.

I can't decide if I would want to do plum jam again. If I get more free fruit I probably will, but I might enlist the help of someone to do some of the cutting because that part was just tedious.

I have been waiting to publish this post until I uploaded some pictures, but who knows when that will be. I will just publish it now and maybe add pictures later.