Hey there, internet! Long time no see! That’s a lie, actually, I’m online pretty much constantly, but I haven’t been blogging, obviously. I applied to, and was accepted into, and began taking classes in, the Gastronomy MLA program at Boston University, so life has been a little hectic. Yes, I relocated to Boston, and I now spend my days studying everything related to food. It’s been amazing and wild and fun and hectic and occasionally frustrating, but mostly wonderful. The first semester is almost over and I’ve already learned so much. It’s been an amazing experience.
I’ve also been canning! And fermenting! Especially fermenting, actually. I’m now brewing kombucha and water kefir continuously. I’ve made pickles, krauts, the aforementioned fermented beverages, kimchi, and even soy yogurt. I’m quite possibly obsessed with fermentation. In fact, I hardly did any canning this summer! I made vanilla rhubarb jam, (not so dilly) beans, apple sauce, cranberry sauce, roasted onion and sage jam, two batches of beans, and that’s about it. Oops. It was a little much, moving during canning season. This summer should be much more productive in that department. I’m making it a goal to attempt to preserve a more significant portion of our food supply this coming year. We have a wonderful farmer’s market in my neighborhood, so I’ll make sure I get there every week (or something close to it) to stock up on things and do large batches. And I really need to make sure I can some tomatoes this summer. Fortunately, Michael’s bosses are super cool Italian guys who grow and can their own tomatoes, so I’ve ended up with six quarts of those (two were just gifted to us, and four were bartered for cranberry sauce–it’s a pretty great life).
Anywho, now that I’m having food adventures regularly, I want to get back to writing about them. I have two weeks of classes left for this semester, which means that I still have term papers to write, so I may be a bit quiet over the next couple of weeks, but then I’ll be on break and probably baking/canning/fermenting up a storm for Christmas gifts, so I should have a fair amount to say then. I swear I’ll be back, though. I’m alive. I’m just buried under a stack of (virtual) textbooks.
Kelly the Canner 