Garden Picnic: Rhubarb Conserve

I've been spending the weekends working.  Which I don't relish, but it's a necessary evil.  Thatboy has been more than understanding in filling the role of both parents and keeping Thatkid entertained.  On Sunday however, I decided to take a break from the grind and grab a meal with my boys - all of them.

With the beautiful weather, I thought we could go on a picnic, and eating outside means Thatdog can come with us.  As far as venue, Thatkid had spent the week studying gardens, so I thought taking a trip to a place with a bunch of gardens would be a fun way to end his studies.  We headed to Balboa Park where the rose garden is conveniently right beside the cactus garden.

We found a nice shady bench and settled down to eat our lunches. 

Thatkid requested a special lunch - cinnamon toast with cream cheese, peanut butter, and jelly sandwich.  Yeah, he wanted something super stacked.  As for the jelly, it should come as no surprise that we went with something homemade.  Spring has sprung, so in addition to flowers, it is rhubarb season!  And rhubarb conserve is the perfect spring jam.

Rhubarb Conserve

2 lbs rhubarb

2 1/2 lbs sugar

1/2 lb raisins

grated rind and juice of 1 orange

grated rind and juice of 1/2 lemon

1. Cut the rhubarb into 1-inch pieces.  Place all ingredients in a pot.  Cover and let stand for 30 minutes.
2. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 45 minutes.  
3. Pour into hot sterilized jars and seal.

After lunch, we went and explored the roses in the rose garden.  It was the perfect time, because the buds, they were a bloomin'

Thatkid wanted to smell every different variety of rose.

A young man came up and asked me to take his photo in front of the flowers.  "Why did he want his picture?" Thatkid asked me.  I told him it was because the flowers were pretty and he wanted to remember them.  And so then Thatkid asked me to take his picture in front of the flowers too.

The boys also spent quite a bit of time just running around being boys.  Which Thatdog could join in on.

After we dragged Thatkid from the rose garden, we headed to the cactus garden.  Pro tip - want to keep your 3 year old out of the cacti?  Put him up somewhere high.

While not as classically beautiful as the roses, cacti have their own special kind of unique beauty.

I may not be able to see my boys much lately, but we do make the most of the time we have!

Boys, Boats, and Planes: Grape Conserve

We are so lucky to have friends.  For a lot of reasons.  One of the reasons is because friends sometimes come with perks like extra passes to the Midway Museum.  A couple of weeks ago we met the L&Os at the giant ship for a day of fun for the boys.

The USS Midway was an aircraft carrier from 1945 until 1992.  Now it serves as a museum, docked in the San Diego harbor.

Being on the ship is a fascinating experience.  We got to see the living quarters of the naval officers and crewmen, the radio room, and the training rooms.  But for the boys, the highlight was the airplanes.

The boys love airplanes.  I realized that this is the second "airplane museum" they've explored together.  And it's fun to watch the two of them together.  After the Midway, Thatkid professed that Little LO was his best friend.  They go together like peanut butter and jelly.

Do you have a favorite jelly for your peanut butter and jelly?  I tend to like red jams - strawberry and raspberry.  Thatboy prefers grape.  I have some issues with grape jelly because to me, it doesn't really taste like grape.  Just sweet.  Since I've become so adept at jam making, I decided to try making grape jam myself.  I like this so much better than the commercial stuff.  It still tastes more "sweet" than "grape" to me, but I love the addition of walnuts!

Grape Conserve (From the Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

2 1/2 lbs Concord grapes

1/4 orange in thin slivers

sugar

1/4 cup walnut pieces

1.  Wash the grapes, remove the stems, and separate the pulp from the skins (reserving the skins).
2. Heat the pulp gently to free the seeds, stirring to prevent sticking.
3. Put through a sieve and discard the seeds.
4. Add the orange to the grape pulp and skins and measure.
5.  Add an equal amount of sugar to the grape mixture and cook slowly in a large, flat skillet until the conserve is thick.
6. Add the walnuts, spoon into hot sterilized jars and seal.

Rainy Days and Sundays: Kumquat Preserves

When I first moved to California I rolled my eyes at the whole "it never rains in Southern California" phrase.  It rained.  It rained all the time.  For the first 2 winters I was here, it rained all the time.  And everything flooded.  And it seemed like it would never stop.  But the thing about California rain is that it comes in waves.  After that it was dry for years, until well after I was married.  And then dry again for a number of years.  This is one of our wet winters.  It's been raining since September or October.  Major rainstorms.  

This intro is to let you know it rained this weekend.  A lot of rain.  Which ruined my plans of grilling burgers outside.  Or heading to Sea World for a nice family day.  Instead we spent the days inside, trying to keep a toddler occupied.  We did lots of arts and crafts.  Thatboy got a bunch of household odd jobs done.  I decided to take the opportunity to can some fruits, and Thatkid and I sat and peeled apples.  Except once I got my apples all peeled and cooked, I realized my kettle didn't hold quart sized jars.  Nice.  Good thing Thatkid and I like apples!  We were more than happy to eat the fruits of our labor.  

Instead I turned back to something that didn't need a water bath, and was easy for a 3 year old to help with.  No peeling, no cutting, just dumping and cooking.  This jam phase of mine is very family friendly. And perfect for rainy days.

Kumquat Preserves

1/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup fresh kumquats

1. Combine the sugar with 1/2 cup water in a pot and boil for 5 minutes. 
2. Add the kumquats and cook gently until tender, about 45 minutes.  Pour into a hot, sterilized pint jar and seal.

Dinosaur Train: Ginger Marmalade

Having a toddler means being introduced to all sorts of new television.  A lot of it is terrible.  With repetitive, annoying songs, complete lack of plots, or characters with no redeeming qualities.  One show which Thatkid loves which we have completely encouraged in Dinosaur Train.  It's Jim Henson (so harkens to my childhood of Sesame Street, Muppets, and Fraggles).  The plotline revolves around 3 pteranadon kids and their tyrannosaurus rex brother.  Each episode has them boarding the "Dinosaur Train" - a train which can travel between the Cretaceous, Jurassic, and Triassic period - to meet a different species of dinosaur.  It has introduced us to so many types of dinosaurs we've never even heard of and also covers concepts of nature like earthquakes, droughts, snow, and rain.  And covers topics like not waiting to pee, being afraid of strangers, or jealousy.

When I saw the "Live" version of the show was coming to town, Thatboy and I thought it would be a good first theater experience for Thatkid.  So we got tickets and on Saturday headed to see the show.

I had prepped him that it was going to be a little different than the show, the characters were going to be more like puppets than cartoon characters, but we'd be sitting far enough away where they wouldn't see him (he still flips out when costumed characters look at him or try to interact).

He was pretty excited about the entire thing and kept asking when the dinosaurs were going to come out.  He was a little annoyed by the whole intro where PEOPLE came out to warm up the audience and assign them roles as Therapods, Sauropods, or Hadrosaurs. 

But eventually, the dinosaurs DID come out! 

Just like the television show, the Live show featured a trip on the Dinosaur Train in order for Buddy, the adopted T-Rex to ask a question about what it was like to grow into a giant carnivore. 

And who was Buddy looking for to ask this questions?  Why King Cryolophasaurus obviously.  Thatkid's favorite character.  He was so excited to find out he was going to be in the show.

Luckily the kids found King, who was having his own problems with being shy.  And the kids helped him overcome his fears.

Just in time for a rock concert!  Which had Thatkid out of his seat, dancing and singing along.

Overall I think it was a great introduction to theater for him.  He was able to sit in his seat and enjoy the entire thing without being distracted.  He loved the experience.  And it was nice for me to be able to see him having such a good time.

 

One of the things covered in the show is what the dinosaurs eat.  There are Carnivores, like Buddy and King, Herbivores (there's even a song about hungry, hungry herbivores - "if it's green it's gooood"), and Omnivores.  Because of this, Thatkid knows he's an omnivore.  He eats everything.  And breakfast is a great time to showcase this when we eat meat, grains, and fruit! 

Marmalade seems especially fitting for a dino-themed day, because it uses all the parts of the orange. There's something very primitive about eating orange peels, don't you agree?  

Ginger Marmalade

3 oranges

1 lemon

sugar

1 Tbsp chopped preserved ginger

 

1. Peel the oranges and cut the peel into very thin slices.  Cut the orange pulp.
2. Slice the lemons very tbin and combine all the fruits in a large pot.
3. Add 3 cups of water.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes, then let stand overnight in a cool place.
4. Bring to a boil again and cool rapidly until the peel is tender.  Measure the fruit and liquid.
5. For each cup of undrained fruit, measure 3/4 cup sugar and add to the fruit, along with the ginger.
6. Heat until sugar is dissolved and then cook for about 20 minutes or until thick.  Pour into sterilized jars and seal.

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.

Botany and Butterflies: Apple Jam

Back when Thatboy and I were young and carefree we spent a lot of time at Balboa Park.  Even though it's the perfect atmosphere for families, we really haven't taken advantage of it with Thatkid.  When we visited the Botanical Building in San Francisco, I realized we should really head over to our local version.  Especially since Thatkid loved looking at all the plants and flowers.

Last weekend, we packed another picnic lunch and headed over to our Botanical Building. 

The setting is one of the most picturesque in the park, with a reflecting pool leading to the building.  Filled with ducks, fish, and while we were there, an egret.

After taking in the wildlife we headed in to the view the foliage.

As I said, it's been years since we've visited, so I don't know if it's permanent or just a temporary exhibit, but right now there is an amazing display of orchids.  More varieties and more orchids than I have ever seen outside of an orchard farm in Hawaii.

 Thatkid delighted in pointing each one out - "Look at THIS flower! Look at THIS flower!  I like this pink flower."  He led us on a tour through the building.   We spent some time at the "stop and smell" exhibit, filled with fragrant herbs and plants.  A sign invited us to rub the leaves between our fingers and smell.  So we did.

When we had our fill of plants, we headed outside.  There are trees on other side of the building with notes about not disturbing the caterpillars and butterflies.  I noticed this on our way in, but we didn't stop to examine.  On the way out, we did.  And I am so glad we did.

We were able to see the entire cycle of the monarch butterfly on the trees.  There were the caterpillars:

All sorts of chrysalis (chrysali?) ranging from the bright green new cocoons to ones who looked like they were just about to burst open with new life.

 And of course, the butterflies themselves.  Some which appeared to have just emerged from their chrysalis (chrysali?) and others flitting through the leaves.

I've been breaking out of my own cocoon lately.  Since I discovered how easy it was to make jam, I've been a jam making fool.  I don't know that I'll ever buy it again.  I was under the impression it was a time consuming, difficult process, that made a ton of product.  I was wrong on all counts.  Really, it's as easy as applesauce.  And when you use apples, the ingredients are exactly the same - apples and sugar.  Like what you put in pie.  And you've probably heard the phrase easy as pie, right?

Apple Jam (From the Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

2 cups of peeled, cored, and chopped apple

3/4 cup sugar

1. Cook the apple until tender, adding enough water to prevent burning.
2. Add sugar to the fruit, stirring until it dissolves.  Boil rapidly until thick.  Pour into hot sterilized jars and seal.