I’m a city girl, and my husband does most of the grocery shopping, so when I went to the St Jacob’s farmers’ market with my BFF, Jo, last weekend, I was amazed to discover a whole new variety of fruits and vegetables that I never knew existed. Among them, the mighty pluot.⁽¹⁾

Pluots are a cross between a plum and an apricot, with a slight emphasis on plum. There are others variations, as I discovered from Wikipedia: the plumcot, apriplum and aprium among them. Though pluots win my heart for their name,⁽²⁾ their flavour is incredible as well.

My original intent was to pick up a few fruits and veggies for making jams, preserves and pickles as it’s become a new hobby, and I came away with more food than I could possibly eat in a reasonable time. I’ve been jamming for four days straight now,⁽³⁾ and made some incredible things.⁽⁴⁾

I think the best thing I’ve made so far comes from Sarah B Hood’s We Sure Can, and it’s for a strawberry jam with balsamic vinegar and cracked black pepper. I had no idea those flavours could be combined, or that they’d be so wonderful together. It may be the most delicious thing that’s ever been in my mouth.

After my first brief exposure to making red pepper jelly last year, I hadn’t canned anything until earlier this summer. Now, in the past there days, I’ve made four different jams, cranberry sauce, and star anise plum preserves. It’s been a bit of a learning curve, but also, somewhat surprisingly, a lot of fun.

I’m always looking for new recipes, if you’ve got one to share, let me know!

Footnotes:

1. Pronounced plu-ot. [↩]
2. So close to Pluto! [↩]
3. Eat your heart out, Bob. [↩]
4. Though one didn’t turn out quite as well as planned. [↩]

I like fancy dinner parties, and I like my wines to be well dressed too, so when I saw wine capes at the store I had to buy them.

Though likely intended as a Hallowe’en decoration, I use them year round. Vampires are always fashionable.⁽¹⁾

A very thoughtful friend brought this back from Edmonton, of all places. Apparently the LCBO doesn’t carry it. To have this corrected, write to them here.

I love the idea, and the wine’s not bad either. Very fruity.

Vampire Vineyards is located in sunny California, and seems to have a vested interest in vampire literature and culture.

We tried the Cabernet Sauvignon, but they also make vampire coffee and Dracola. I kid you not.

I’m (un)dying to try out some of their other wines.

In other news…

I’ve been serving as a juror Continue reading »

Footnotes:

1. Notice the lack of sparkle. Bling – yes, sparkle – no. [↩]

Crowley calls this recipe a “Poem of Spring”, and I decided to have a go at it for our Winter Solstice Feast on Saturday.

This picture on the left was taken afterwards, with cold leftovers, which were still delicious.

The recipe was posted on Coilhouse, where guest blogger S. Elizabeth dug up found and shared it, I’ve included Crowley’s original instructions below the cut.

Unfortunately, Crowley does not give any quantities for the ingredients, so I had to improvise. I’ve listed the ratios I used below, which can be modified to make any quantity.

This was also the first time I’ve ever made curry, and it turned out well. So well, in fact, that I’ll be making it as the vegetarian option for Giftmas dinner, along with Riz Aleister Crowley.

Riz Aleister Crowley
(to be eaten with curry)  Continue reading »