Winter Wonderland: Strawberry Preserves

On Sunday we awoke to find Winter Storm Neptune upon us.

This was not Thatkid's first experience with snow, but it was his first experience like this.  For that matter, it was Thatboy's first experience like this too!  Between the temperatures being below 10 degrees, and the fresh snow piled on the ground, we just don't get weather like this in California.  Even at our ski resorts.

So of course, we had to go play in the snow.

Thatkid alternated between crying about how cold he was and having the best time of his life.  I tried to explain the snow was a little too soft for making a snowman, even our snowballs wouldn't stick, so we resorted to throwing handfuls of snow at each other.

But you can't play in the snow forever, so we took our little bundled up boy out to breakfast.

Growing up on the East Coast I have fond memories of Friendly's.  Not that it is any sort of quality food, but I warmly recall family celebrations over their ice cream sundaes.  And hot chocolate.  And the pancakes with a chocolate chip and whip cream smile.  When I saw there were a Friendly's a couple blocks from our hotel, I texted Thatboy that we needed to take Thatkid.  After I hyped him up on chocolate chip pancakes, we found that in the past 20something years they had a new addition to their menu - M&M pancakes.  (Served with bacon...of course)

By the time we finished up with breakfast, Nana was just getting up, so we packed up and headed back to her house.  Thatkid kept the family entertained with his antics.  Especially his new-found best four legged friend.

Overall it was a very successful trip, because even when it's cold outside, family always makes the insides warm and bright.

We did a lot of good eating while we were in New Jersey - fabulous pizza, amazing Chinese food, and of course, Dunkin' Donuts.  But now that we're back in California and I can take advantage of what we have - other than warm weather.  We've got strawberries in February, and of course, my favorite cheese in the world - burrata.

I like to combine the two, and the best way to do so is with strawberry preserves.  Strawberries cooked down makes them easy to eat atop cheese.  And the burrata is only enhanced by the complementary sweetness of the berries.

Strawberry Preserves

3 cups sugar

1 cup strawberries

1. Cook the sugar and 1 cup water together until the mixture reaches 238 on a candy thermometer.  
2. Wash and hull the strawberries and add to the syrup.  Cover and remove from heat.  Let stand 10 minutes.
3. Remove the berries and set aside.  Cook the syrup to 238 again.
4. Add the berries and let stand over low heat for 15 minutes.
5. Remove the berries and reheat again to 238. 
6. Add the berries and cook until the syrup is thick.  Let stand 24 hours before putting into sterilized jars and refrigerating.