In the Wrong Era

There are times when I realize that I am a person born in the wrong era. No time is this more apparent to me than when I receive shipments of supplies. Like the Medieval manor lady, I tend to make large orders of my spices in the fall and my tea in the end of winter. I know that these are not necessarily the traditional months for doing this, but I do make these orders in bulk to last my year. The tea shipment showed up this past week, and it was greeted with much excitement. The tea supplies had run low; the tea box looked barren and unloved. Luckily with these boxes arriving, we could fill it back up to capacity. In fact, I ordered so much variety this year that there were not enough spaces for all the kinds of tea I purchased.

Other indications of the coming spring are also happening. I have made my seed catalog selections and sent in the orders for the balcony garden. They should be arriving this week, and I will be starting the seeds as soon as all the shipments arrive. I did, however receive the replacement parts for the Aerogarden and start that back up.



I have chosen to start the herb seeds, and there is already progress:



The dill has grown large enough for the cap to come off, and the mint has also reached the same stage. I am pretty sure all the others have germinated, and once they are big enough for the lids to be removed, I will start the basil.

Needless to say, I tend to straddle the two eras and pick which things I find most convenient. I do love some of the romanticized images of things, but overall, I do enjoy the comforts of the modern era. Speaking of the modern conveniences, the list program is producing some great results; today, however, not so much. I guess I should get down to the first item on the list: sewing a new bag for my dance items!

Tea and Cookies with Jam

Today is delightfully cloudy and misty. I call them Seattle days because they really remind me of the times I have spent up there. It was the perfect day for some tea with work. I had to take a picture of the tea pot on its stand. I know that it did not come through well in the picture, but the steam rising up from the spout was fun to watch and very beautiful. Today I am still working on the fortune cookie promos. There are so many of them, and seeing as I am doing over 200, it is taking a long time. At most I have only done around 150, so this is a big step forward. I hope it pays off.

I have been thoroughly enjoying reading The Gentle Art of Domesticity and have found it quite inspiring. It has also helped me feel even more grounded in my decision to remain a stay at home wife with a small home business. This weekend I made orange marmalade because I was so inspired with the idea of being a domestic artist.



Dan helped out with some of the stirring in the two day process and serves as a hand model in this picture. I was trying to cook up the jam using the natural pectin of the oranges. On day two, I chickened out a bit. I thought about it and decided that I probably took too much pith off the fruit for natural pectin alone, so I used some Sure Jell to make sure that it was a solid jelly instead of runny. For my first canning project, I think it went really well. All my jars sealed with only having to reprocess two cans. I am pretty sure they did not have the right amount of head room for an easy seal. I also found that the recipes in my 1964 edition of the Ball Blue Book are way bigger than they say they are. The original recipe said this would yield 7 half pints. I ended up with 12.



I hope that we can get through all this in time for next year. I am sure that my Dad will want some when my parents come to visit. Who knows, perhaps it will turn into some hostess gifts as well. I just need to make sure that it is jelled and not liquid before I give any away. The remainder of the jelly that I had left in the pan has really jelled up in the fridge, but the jars still seem pretty liquid. Time will tell. Well, the cookies are calling my name. I need to get them off in the mail tomorrow to meet the deadline. Time for some gluing action!