And I Hope You Like Jammin' Too

Strawberry season came with a vengeance this year, and vengeance was sweet. And red. And juicy. We picked at our favorite strawberry farm three times, and every single time I forgot my camera (it takes talent), but picture in your mind the long green rows speckled with the bent backs of grandparents and sticky-faced children, the early morning quiet filled with peacock yells and friendly murmuring voices, the aroma of stinkbugs (mmm), bunnies and baby goats and piglets and chickens galore, and fresh strawberry ice cream, sweet and white and dripping. And since I can't photograph peacock yells or stinkbug smells you would have had to imagine those anyway.

Although eating strawberries by the handful is always acceptable, it's fun to get creative too. Here are the winners of strawberry season 2011.

Photo via Martha Stewart

Option One: Strawberry cake.

Of course I had to dig out my Martha Stewart magazines (surprise!). The recipe is from the June 2005 issue, but you an find it online here, along with many other fabulous strawberry recipes. The great part about this recipe is that the ingredients are usually all in the kitchen at any given time and you can whip it up and have it ready to pop in the oven in about 15 minutes. It looks very humble and unassuming and smells and tastes heavenly. I think its platonic form probably lives in a farmhouse kitchen.

Photo via Pioneer Woman

Option Two: Strawberry Jam

This is the first year I have ever made jam, and it was so much fun I made it three times (also because three times is the charm, three's company, and I like to be pretentiously trinitarian.. just kidding). I always assumed making jam (the height of domestic achievement, right up there with quilting) would be very complicated and time-consuming, but it only took one or two hours. So easy a cavewoman could do it! I used the recipe that comes in the box of Ball brand No-sugar/Low-sugar pectin, which consistently made 5 half-pint (8 oz) jars per batch. I found the Pioneer Woman's directions for making strawberry jam to be really helpful, even though I didn't use her recipe - the pictures helped me figure out the process. You can find her step-by-step instructions here and here.

Fresh Start

I think I owe this blog an apology.

For the past few months I have forgotten you. I have neglected your posts at their appointed times. I have gone after other blogs to serve them. However, with spring comes fresh starts, flowers, chocolate, and promises I don't intend to keep. Thankfully, you are forgiving, and also inanimate, so I will consider us friends again.

Oh, and my few, my happy few, my band of brothers sisters, assuming that you occasionally read this (or used to, in the distant past), and continue to do so even now that you know I talk to my blog (that's normal, right?), I will try to amend my wayward blogging ways. My mind is bursting with ideas (or maybe pollen allergies, sometimes it's hard to tell) so hopefully there will be some posts and projects of interest to come... if I can keep myself to the grindstone while the weather is so gorgeous and I am easily distracted. The mind is willing but the flesh is weak.

Stay tuned for the dramatic conclusion... will Erin remember to post or is this The End?