Chain Reaction

1.  My dryer was finally failing for good.

2.  We decided to buy front-loaders.  My husband wanted to stack them.

3.  That required removing the shelves over the washer and dryer, and the platform that was built underneath by some previous owner of our house.  The platform had to go or I would never reach the top of the dryer once they were stacked.

4.  That required a complete overhaul of the laundry area, including new paneling, moving the electrical socket and a lot of paint.

5.  An unforeseen side effect of moving the electrical socket was that the basement refrigerator is on the same circuit.

6.  It was unforeseen for 2 days before it was seen.

7.  A lot of my stockpiled meat needed to be eaten Right Now.  Thankfully the freezer and fridge were not as full as they could have been.

8.  We eat meat quickly, but not that quickly.  Monday we had spaghetti with turkey meatballs and chicken sausage in the sauce.  Tuesday there was a pork roast.  Wednesday there was a London Broil.

9.  Today, while we wait for the washer and dryer, we will eat Korean broiled eel with noodles - I took the leftover spaghetti from Monday, added soy sauce, sesame oil, 5-spice powder, garlic and white pepper and made "Asian inspired noodles."

10.  Today, I have a lot of paint on my hands and arms.  And in my hair.  Yesterday it was even in my ear.

11.  I also have 5 pints of BBQ pulled pork, thanks to Punk Domestics and another freezer-casualty (pork roast), plus a quick run to the store for pineapple and apple juices, Worcestershire sauce, tomatoes, and an additional pork butt.

12.  Yeah, Mom, I said that word.

Inspiration!

Remember back in August when I picked all the blackberries I could find in my brother's backyard? And how I froze a quart of them, waiting for the opportunity to make barbecue sauce? Well, I just couldn't seem to find the right recipe for what I had in mind. So I waited. And I bought mangoes. And I waited. And, wait... mangoes?

Hmmm.

In the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving is a recipe for Zesty Peach BBQ Sauce. I've made it before. It was divine. I don't know why I didn't think of this before but, mango-blackberry BBQ sauce it is!

After thawing the blackberries just a little, I ran them through the blender and ended up with almost 3 cups of coarse puree. To this I added enough chopped mango to make a total of 6 cups of fruit. The rest of the recipe is the same (page 263). It's merrily bubbling away on the stove, thickening up until it's the right consistency and then I will process it. Last year's batch made only 5 jars, so I suspect I won't get much more than that this time. Preliminary taste tests indicate a success!

Still Working On Those Peaches

Not too many left now. 1/2 a bushel is a LOT.

First thing I made today was the Zesty Peach Barbecue Sauce from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. It smells divine. It tastes divine. It only makes 5 8-ounce jars, not 8. Just so you know.

Then after a bunch of errands and a trip to the dentist, I got to work on 2 more peachy things: Fruit Ketchup, from the same cookbook, and Peach Soup, from Preserving Summer's Bounty. The soup is for dinner tonight, but it had to be chilled, so I had to get it going early. As far as the ketchup goes, I only had enough tomatoes for 1/2 batch. For this, I brought out the food mill:
The ease of setting up the food mill is countered only by the difficulty of taking the $&%*&^#@ thing apart and cleaning it. But it really is easier than running stuff through a sieve. Especially during applesauce season. Note to self: move the coffeepot next time.

I hope to make some peach salsa with the last of the peaches. Maybe tomorrow night. I'm pretty tired.

I ended up with only 1 8-ounce jar of ketchup for all that work. Hardly seems worth it. Tastes pretty good, though for future reference if your kids do not like "spicy" foods, don't put the cayenne pepper in.

Oh, yeah, and I bought more jars. It's a sickness.