It's a SNOW DAY!! As a teacher, I think of being able to enjoy this illustrious Canadian celebration as the ultimate commission. So, as I cozy up at my desk in front of the window white-out for a day of lock-down, I naturally drift toward thoughts of sock slippers and faux fur blankets, spicy Rooibos and baked goods, neglected books, old movies (by that I mean from the 90's) and of course; frequent naps and constant eating. Absolute, blissful hibernation. Thankfully, for the First time, I stocked my shelves with home-made canned goods earlier this season. Yes friends, my domestic evolution continues. Sometime back in November, I took my First stab at canning pickled beets, garlic-pepper beans, mustard pickles and carrot soup. One would think such a methodical project to be quiet, perhaps even soothing. It seems however, that I'm able to make mayhem of anything.
The day started by dragging my Mom around to a half dozen farms and grocers in and around Brantford. I should have realized at that point how overzealous I was being to can 4 different things on first attempt. I get excited though. Once back at the homestead, the peeling and chopping began. Holy Hanna!! I'm convinced I developed carpal tunnel, dermatitis and some kind of sous-chef aversion syndrome from those dreadful 5 hours. Once my purple stained fingers had gained feeling again, I started sterilizing the jars. Opps, scolding hot water doesn't feel that awesome on tender extremities. Keep calm and can on! Then came the cooking and mixing (relatively easy) followed by the processing set up. Turns out each batch required a different processing time (the time needed for filled/sealed jars to sit in a boil bath to kill-off bacteria), so I could only put a few jars in at a time (at 10, 20 and 30 minutes each turn). Bottom line, a lot of time watching water boil.Idle time is not my friend. As I watched and waited, I started Googling. "bacteria from canning", "botulism", "food related illness" etc. Curse the Internet. As my paranoia increased so did the boil time. By the last few batches, I was letting the jars sit for almost an hour. The sun set, every pot in my Mom's kitchen remained dirty, my eye lids quivered and my soul whimpered as I strained to accept that I might not be confident enough to eat my own canned goodies....after all that.
A few weeks of research eventually eased my worry and I finally unveiled my hard work. YUM! They were wonderful, I am healthy and so are all of the people who received jars as holiday gifts. (That's right, I'm not goin' down alone!!)
So here I am, snowed-in and thankful for it as I enjoy a bowl of beef stew with a side of pickled beans thinking to myself, "it's just about time for a nap".
