As it turns out, sometimes DIY projects fall short of fun. Like when I made spaghetti sauce from scratch on Monday night - which entailed peeling and coring a dozen tomatoes, chopping most of a bulb of garlic, roasting two peppers, and then putting it all together and letting it cook down. Let's just say it took HOURS, and in a tiny hot kitchen to boot.
By the time we finally ate (at nearly 8pm), my enthusiasm for the whole thing had reduced much like the ingredients of the meal - from bright and plentiful to a nondescript puddle. I was so ready to sit down and eat that I didn't even take a picture of my end result. In short, while it was pretty delicious, you won't find me doing that again anytime soon. Especially on a weeknight.
It's a luxury to cook from scratch and to can for pleasure - both are more time-consuming and frequently less cost-effective (considering that we don't have a garden and are buying all of our ingredients). It is a lot of fun and rewarding, but you certainly have to pick your DIY battles. Sometimes it can feel pretty absurd - like when we worked all day to process pounds and pounds of tomatoes last year... and we ended up with 5 pints of crushed tomatoes. Now when I look at the cans of crushed tomatoes at Cub Foods for less than a dollar apiece I just have to laugh!
LOL, I hear you. You have to have a fairly large garden and devote a ton of time to putting away huge amounts of food. It is a lot of work (though so rewarding). I wondered the same thing this weekend when I ended up with 8 quarts of applesauce after most of a day's work. I wondered . . . 8 quarts?? It didn't seem like much. I listened to BJ Harrison's narration of Coriolanus on The Classic Tales Podcast and had chills going up and down my spine at certain points, it was that good.
ReplyDeleteIn related remarks, I just figured out a way to make the most delicious roasted tomato sauce this weekend that involved nothing more than slicing cherry tomatoes in half, then roasting them in the oven with tallow, garlic, and salt at 350 for 4 hours and stirring every once in awhile. WOW. It was amazing. I got the idea through Put 'Em Up!, my all-time favorite food preservation book. It is the greatest because she covers so many methods of preservation and gives many ideas for each fruit/vegetable in A-Z order.
Anyway, I love hearing you process through various things. There's about a 10 year difference between our ages and experience and is so invigorating to see you work things through.
add to the end of that second sentence: "....to make it cost-effective."
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment! It made my day. I'm glad that you enjoy the blog, as I am an avid reader of yours and always delight in hearing about your adventures with the boys :) Also - thanks for the tomato sauce tip! I'll have to check out Put 'Em Up! before the end of this canning season. Perhaps next year we could make a visit to see you and help with the gardens or the canning season!
ReplyDeleteMore than a week later . . .
ReplyDeleteI would love another visit! Seriously. That would be so great. Sept. is a great month if you're interested in preservation in the form of canning. August is fermenting and drying. Or if you're interested in butchering, later in the fall. Whenever it might be, it would be so great to reconnect and meet "SB". I would love that.