This a blog about trying new things. Reaching beyond my comfort zone, exploring and making the most of life. My goal is to try 52 new things. One per week for a year.
Once a year for the last 15 years I get together with the ladies on my mom's side of my family for a weekend of sharing, laughing, shopping and eating. My mom, Retha, has 4 sisters. It started out as a mother-daughter weekend and has evolved into daughters in law, sisters in law and grand daughters too. We usually have around 15 ladies that go, on average. November seems to be the best time to go due to lower, off-season pricing. About 2 weeks ago we went to Kenwood, located about 20 minutes north of Sonoma. We stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast. Some of the girls have been reading my blog already but others, like my mom who doesn't even own a computer, hadn't even heard about it. So, I was telling them about my year long journey of trying "new things". I told them that I still needed some ideas so suggestions were very much welcome. I read them my list and got a few new ideas. My second cousin Katie recommended walking across the Golden Gate Bridge. Good one, it's going on the list. Another idea was from my cousin Joyce. She suggested I tried canning fruit or jelly. I put it on the list too.
Not long after the girls trip I got a message from my cousin Joyce's daughter, Grace. She said that they were planning to make some pomegranate jelly and if I wanted to make some that I could come over. Joyce and her family live in Crowslanding, a super small town. The population is just over 1000. Which has actually doubled in size from when I lived in the nearby town, Newman, where I grew up 20 plus years ago. That morning I told Annie we were going on an adventure. I call our road trips "adventures", it just sounds so fun! Before we leave Stockton, we go to Walmart and get our mason jars and a 5 lb bag of sugar. Then we drive to Newman and pick up my mom and head to Joyce's house in Crowslanding which is about a 10 minute drive from my mom's.
Once we arrive at Joyce's house we are greeted by a bunch of dogs. Besides the six dogs they have chickens, three parakeets, a goat and a rabbit named Mr. Noodle. Joyce says that most of the animals are Grace's. Once we go inside Joyce tells us how she prepared the juice from the pomegranates. She has a tree in her yard of pink pomegranates. The skin reminds me of a fuji apple. She says she prefers the pink over the red because of the color. She says the red ones are dark blood red, where as the pink ones remind her of a pretty pink jewel. Making the juice is the hardest part really. She says you can make jelly from store bought juice but, since she has the fruit in her yard she doesn't want to waste it. Joyce pulled out a recipe sheet that she had saved from a pectin box. It had a list of all different kinds of flavors. The juice has been in the fridge for a couple of days and it has a layer of foam on the top and some slurry sediment at the bottom. I measured out 3 1/2 cups of juice while trying to prevent any foam or sediment from pouring out. Yea, I spilled some. I poured the juice into a pot and added one packet of pectin and stirred until it made a rolling boil. In the meantime, Joyce placed the jars and lids into a steaming pot to sanitize them and we talked about the differences between jams, jellies and marmalade. Joyce explained that jellies are made with juice, jams with fruit and juice and marmalade are made from the peel such as an orange. Then I added 5 cups of sugar and stirred some more until it became a rolling boil. Once it was boiling we let it boil for 2 minutes then turned off the heat. Then it's ready to be poured into the jars. I let Joyce pour it out since she had more practice then I did. We put the lids on tightly and then the heat seals the lids. Sometimes you will even hear a loud "pop" when they seal. We made six 8 oz. jars. Then we proceeded to do it again so that I had a dozen jars to take home. She also gave me and my mom a jar of her Autumn Spice jelly made from pumpkin pie filing and a homemade glaze made from pineapples and peaches which is perfect for hams. My mom suggested that she teach me how to make home made bread for the home made jelly. Perfect! Another new item for the list. I will be going to her house during the kids' Christmas break to make bread.
We went outside to see the pomegranate trees. We walked around and enjoyed the sunshine and crisp cool air while Annie played with the dogs, climbed up into the tractor and met all the other animals too. It was a lovely day. I really enjoyed spending the afternoon making jelly, enjoying the country and spending time with my extended family. My extended family, by the way, is huge. My cousin Joyce is one of 27 of my first cousins on my mom's side. Add in their spouses, their kids plus their spouses and their grandkids I lost track of all the branches from our tree quite a few years ago. Most of them live in Stanislaus and Merced County an hour or more away from me. Plus I work on the weekends so, I don't spend a lot of time with my cousins. I remember once, a few years before she passed away, my grandma bought every single grand child a Christmas gift. My grandma always amazed me. And I know she was smiling down on us making jelly together. Days like these are far and few between and very, very special.
Please make sure to check out the pics below, thank you!
Once a year for the last 15 years I get together with the ladies on my mom's side of my family for a weekend of sharing, laughing, shopping and eating. My mom, Retha, has 4 sisters. It started out as a mother-daughter weekend and has evolved into daughters in law, sisters in law and grand daughters too. We usually have around 15 ladies that go, on average. November seems to be the best time to go due to lower, off-season pricing. About 2 weeks ago we went to Kenwood, located about 20 minutes north of Sonoma. We stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast. Some of the girls have been reading my blog already but others, like my mom who doesn't even own a computer, hadn't even heard about it. So, I was telling them about my year long journey of trying "new things". I told them that I still needed some ideas so suggestions were very much welcome. I read them my list and got a few new ideas. My second cousin Katie recommended walking across the Golden Gate Bridge. Good one, it's going on the list. Another idea was from my cousin Joyce. She suggested I tried canning fruit or jelly. I put it on the list too.
Not long after the girls trip I got a message from my cousin Joyce's daughter, Grace. She said that they were planning to make some pomegranate jelly and if I wanted to make some that I could come over. Joyce and her family live in Crowslanding, a super small town. The population is just over 1000. Which has actually doubled in size from when I lived in the nearby town, Newman, where I grew up 20 plus years ago. That morning I told Annie we were going on an adventure. I call our road trips "adventures", it just sounds so fun! Before we leave Stockton, we go to Walmart and get our mason jars and a 5 lb bag of sugar. Then we drive to Newman and pick up my mom and head to Joyce's house in Crowslanding which is about a 10 minute drive from my mom's.
Once we arrive at Joyce's house we are greeted by a bunch of dogs. Besides the six dogs they have chickens, three parakeets, a goat and a rabbit named Mr. Noodle. Joyce says that most of the animals are Grace's. Once we go inside Joyce tells us how she prepared the juice from the pomegranates. She has a tree in her yard of pink pomegranates. The skin reminds me of a fuji apple. She says she prefers the pink over the red because of the color. She says the red ones are dark blood red, where as the pink ones remind her of a pretty pink jewel. Making the juice is the hardest part really. She says you can make jelly from store bought juice but, since she has the fruit in her yard she doesn't want to waste it. Joyce pulled out a recipe sheet that she had saved from a pectin box. It had a list of all different kinds of flavors. The juice has been in the fridge for a couple of days and it has a layer of foam on the top and some slurry sediment at the bottom. I measured out 3 1/2 cups of juice while trying to prevent any foam or sediment from pouring out. Yea, I spilled some. I poured the juice into a pot and added one packet of pectin and stirred until it made a rolling boil. In the meantime, Joyce placed the jars and lids into a steaming pot to sanitize them and we talked about the differences between jams, jellies and marmalade. Joyce explained that jellies are made with juice, jams with fruit and juice and marmalade are made from the peel such as an orange. Then I added 5 cups of sugar and stirred some more until it became a rolling boil. Once it was boiling we let it boil for 2 minutes then turned off the heat. Then it's ready to be poured into the jars. I let Joyce pour it out since she had more practice then I did. We put the lids on tightly and then the heat seals the lids. Sometimes you will even hear a loud "pop" when they seal. We made six 8 oz. jars. Then we proceeded to do it again so that I had a dozen jars to take home. She also gave me and my mom a jar of her Autumn Spice jelly made from pumpkin pie filing and a homemade glaze made from pineapples and peaches which is perfect for hams. My mom suggested that she teach me how to make home made bread for the home made jelly. Perfect! Another new item for the list. I will be going to her house during the kids' Christmas break to make bread.
We went outside to see the pomegranate trees. We walked around and enjoyed the sunshine and crisp cool air while Annie played with the dogs, climbed up into the tractor and met all the other animals too. It was a lovely day. I really enjoyed spending the afternoon making jelly, enjoying the country and spending time with my extended family. My extended family, by the way, is huge. My cousin Joyce is one of 27 of my first cousins on my mom's side. Add in their spouses, their kids plus their spouses and their grandkids I lost track of all the branches from our tree quite a few years ago. Most of them live in Stanislaus and Merced County an hour or more away from me. Plus I work on the weekends so, I don't spend a lot of time with my cousins. I remember once, a few years before she passed away, my grandma bought every single grand child a Christmas gift. My grandma always amazed me. And I know she was smiling down on us making jelly together. Days like these are far and few between and very, very special.
Please make sure to check out the pics below, thank you!
Comments
@Raeme-Thanks my friend! Glad you enjoyed it :-)