July 13, 2011

  • Pickles Accomplished!


    TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

    There's nothing like getting up bright and early, preferably at the crack of dawn, and getting ready for a busy day while waiting for the coffee to brew.  Wish I had done that but it really wasn't necessary.  What I did do was sleep until around 9:30am, albeit restlessly and with intermittent periods of wakefulness.  I then got up, drank a cup of coffee while putting the quart and pint sized mason jars in the dishwasher to be cleaned and *sanitized*.  That just means it really heats the hell out of the dishes, etc. that are in the dishwasher because there's nothing in there that could sanitize anything EXCEPT for heat. 

    I measured out the necessary ingredients for the sweet *pickles* (aka zucchini slices) liquid and then packed the jars as soon as the dishwasher was done.  I had already taken care of the lids and rings in a separate pot of simmering water so I wiped the rims of all the jars once the liquid was added and then put them in the rack for the hot water bath.  Well, I put 8 jars in.  That's all it can hold at one time.  It all came together so nicely, you would have been proud.  When the first batch was done and I lifted the rack out of the water, I carried it over to the table and put it down on the bath towels I had already arranged in double thicknesses.  I used my little tool to lift each jar out of the carrier and almost laughed when the jars started doing the *pop* that told they were sealed.  I always count to make sure there is one pop for each jar.  Otherwise, I have to look for the one that hasn't sealed and put it back in for another 10 minutes.  If that one still won't seal, it goes to the side for refrigeration when it cools down enough and use within the coming week.

    While the last of the sweet zucchini jars were in the water bath, I made up the liquid for kosher dills.  I decided that the abundance of cucumbers we had were going to become spears.  We go through a lot of those around here because both the Princess and Chewlee are pickle fanatics.  They both even drink the juice!    I admit it...so do I.  I actually get cravings for that occasionally.

    I cut up the cucumbers into spears and the last couple went into special containers that I had earmarked for Chewlee's eating.  I made some of the spears a bit slimmer than I would have because she IS such a pickle pig.  I figured she can count but she doesn't really know how large the spears should be.  LOL!!!  She will think she is getting more this way.  I am sooooo bad but I do worry about her eating habits at times.

    After doing all this canning today, I decided enough was enough.  I cleaned up and told the Beast that tomorrow I am dealing with the tomatoes.  I decided some of them will just become regular canned tomatoes.  Others are headed for my homemade spaghetti sauce.  Bratfink kept throwing out suggestions on what I could do with them and her last idea was homemade ketchup.  We don't use much of that here at the Brat Farm so that would be a total waste of good tomatoes since most canned goods are only good for a year at the most.  That's why it's so important to make sure you put a date on the jars or the lids so you can keep track of all that.

    Of course, some things made with sugar will last much longer than a year.  Jellies and jams, for example.  I'm using the cartons that the jars came in to store the different things I've canned.  I have marked on the front of the cartons what is in them so it can be easily seen once it's put up on the shelves in the garage.  We can more easily find what we want that way without having to look at each jar/carton. 

    The taste test takes place tomorrow.  I'm leaving the spears until Chewlee is dropped off because she made me promise to wait for her to get here.  I told her *I* would wait but I didn't know about Papa.  She looked very thoughtful and then said, *I know!!  Papa can have ONE if he wants but YOU have to wait until I get here and I get one FIRST!*  I just smiled and told her I could handle that and she was happy.

    It seems the Princess has had to start removing the cord for Chewlee's TV every night due to her waking up and then turning on her TV and generally getting into trouble while the Princess slept.  Right now she can't watch any TV at all due to what she pulled the other night.  It involved black mascara, her headboard, a refrigerator door not closed for god knows how long AND her TV turned on.  Oh, and she ate a whole box of those *gushers* fruit treats that are really more like juice than candy.  Yes, our Chewlee is no angel, that's for sure.  She's a kid who wants desperatly to be a *big kid* and go to the *big kids school*.    She can't wait to ride the school bus, too.

    I finally had to resort to strips of gauze cut into special sizes to cover the areas of my toes that had the blood blisters on them because I couldn't find bandaids that were large/small enough that would stay over the areas.  The one on my pinky goes from the top of the foot to the end of the toe but the toe is small in circumference.  If I got one that wrapped around the toe, it would actually slide off due to the ointment the doctor prescribed.  The other problem toe is the big one, believe it or not.  Should be a snap, right?  Except the pads on the bandages are too damn small.

    So I put the ointment on the gauze, slap it on the boo-boo's and then I take more gauze, folded in half and I *tie* it around the toes involved.  No, I can't use tape to hold it in place.  I run into the same problem I did with regular bandages and it will slide right off the toes after a short time.  But, tying them on works like a champ.  It looks a bit strange but, hey, I'm not trying to impress anyone.  I just want to heal.

    Right now, both feet are a bit swollen from all the walking and standing I've done .  They also are throbbing so I am going to get this posted and hope the Princess gets here soon so I can sit back in my recliner with both the feet propped up on a couple pillows.  I am wiped out and I will have another busy day tomorrow.  **Sigh**

    Love you all.  Stay cool and dry.  Drive carefully, ya'll hear?