5th Blog!!! In which I have not blogged in a long time due to an obsession with canning

Hello there my bloggity friends!!

So yes, right off the bat let me apologize for my minor hiatus... I have found a new obsession to occupy my time with. I have been home canning all the fruits and veggies that I can get my little paws on!!! (Since I have had to explain this several times to people, I will explain it here as well... "canning" refers to the process of preserving fruits and vegetables in the home environment. "Canning" is a little misleading because you are actually technically "jarring" fruit or veggies and/or pickling them, then using either a water bath "canner" which is a large pot with a rack inside or a pressure canner which is kind of like a pressure cooker to remove the air from the jars making them shelf stable for usually 1-2 years. Think of your grandma's pantry. Lots of jars of peaches and probably homemade applesauce or pickles.)  So yeah! I'm the mutha flippin' domestic goddess up in this hizzie! Let me tell you how this happened...

At the beginning of the month I thought to myself "I wanna can some peaches this year." So I went to the store, bought some sugar and a case of mason jars and borrowed a large stock pot from my friend Kristian (who, by this favor single handedly facilitated this new additiction, and who I thank PROFUSELY for that!). Unfortunately (well, fortunately in the long run) the peaches at the grocery store were a little expensive and hard as rocks since they weren't in season yet. It only took that split second for me to decide that I would buy as much produce for canning as I could from the local farmer's market. (I like the SLC Downtown Farmer's market... some people don't dig the crowd and hubub, I tend to like it. There is a tuesday afternoon market that's not nearly as busy as its Saturday morning counterpart if you want to support the Downtown market but don't like the crowds.) HOWEVER... as it was Wednesday, I am extremely impatient, and they WERE on sale, I bought three bags of black cherries (6 pounds total) and took them home to can.

Of course, I'm not sure why I chose cherries, other than I like them and they were on sale. First, what do you do with them after they are preserved? Second, I have never eaten home canned cherries (and still have not actually) so I had no clue what they would taste like. But mostly, what the hell am I gonna do about all those pits?! I was stressing about having to go out and buy a cherry pitter when I found this awesome youtube video about how to bend a fork into a DIY cherry pitter!! Of course, I did have to do 6 POUNDS OF CHERRIES BY HAND!!! Rar!!! It was sticky and took a couple of hours but eventually I did it. I sanitized my jars (that was before I knew that with high acid food like fruit and acidic veggies you don't actually have to sanitize if you process longer than 15 minutes, as long as the jars are clean) made my sugar syrup (I did then, and continue to use an extra light syrup. I don't like a lot of sugar anyway, plus the fruit I have been getting is all local, in season, and beautifully sweet on its own) and then I did what I deem as my first canning mistake. Well I wouldn't really call it a mistake... I hot packed the cherries, meaning I put the fresh fruit in the boiling syrup for 5 minutes before adding it to the jars and processing them in the hot water. Its a method that some people use but it does degrade the color and fresh fruit flavor of the food. I'm sure they will still be good. But everything else I have raw packed, meaning just put the raw fruit in the jars, added the syrup, and then processed.

AND BOY HAVE I BEEN CANNING!!!

Apricots, dill pickles, refrigerator pickles, apple butter, peaches, pears, pickled beets, pear sauce (like applesauce but with pears. SO GOOD!), and not only canning fruit, but I've been jamming my little heart out too! I haven't crossed the threshold into real jellies and shelf stable jams yet but I have been making oodles of freezer jam; apricot, raspberry, peach, and even a peach raspberry sugar free jam!

I still have a few projects I want to do this year before the summer is over... mainly pickled green beans and maybe zucchini pickles (did you know you can make pickles out of more than just cucumbers?!), I'd love to do something with blueberries, and I keep watching the Ranier cherries at the store to see if they go on sale... they are SO tasty! I can imagine them in little jars on my counter like little jewels in light golden syrup! But I am anxious for fall for all the apples! I intend to make countless jars of apple butter, applesauce, apple pies, and for pumpkins... I hope I can find a recipe for homemade pumpkin pie filling and can it up for next year!

Other than all the canning I've been up to, I've also joined a DnD game (Dungeons and Dragons for the... wait... like anybody who reads this won't know what that is...) with some of my favorite peoples in the world (Yes, Indy, I'm talking about you, your man, muffin, and Sarah! P.S. Indy has a blog called "Adventures in Roller Skating", which you all should read.) I am having such a blast!! Last night we fought a white dragon and I literally almost died! I was down to -9 HP! I only had ONE POINT left!!! Thank goodness our airship has goblins on it who brew healing potions. I would have been sad if my brand new character died! Between gaming, canning, roller derby, and.... WAIT!!!! ROLLER DERBY!!!

Okay, the Red Rockettes are having our FIRST EVER real bout on September 8th at the Warehouse (1410 S 700 W in Salt Lake City) at 8pm!! Like us on Facebook! I am SOOOO excited but at the same time, so freakin scared! I have managed to avoid skating with the "big girls" for a long time. We have had picnic scrimmages that are open invite to any derby girl, but I don't do them because I don't feel like I'm a good enough to skater to skate with them. But on the 8th we are facing Happy Valley Derby Dames, the Utah County team, in a REAL LIVE bout! I hope I do good and don't get killeded!! I am going to be practicing a lot more lately as I have recently been inspired to put more effort into staying fit and improving my skill level, and I'm sure that after this bout I'm going to continue to be inspired if ya know what I mean... ;)

Last of all, here is some stuff I've been into that you might wanna be into. I am OBSESSED with Dr. Who... and the newest episode was last night and it was SO GOOD!! You can watch the latest incarnation of Dr. Who on Netflix streaming. New episodes are Saturdays on BBC America. I also recommend Torchwood, which is a spinoff and also very good. The new season of that is on Starz. Also if you happen to be into the whole canning thing or want to get started, I recommend the following blogs, Food In Jars, The Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking, and Punk Domestics. Last of all, I am trying to start a podcast with geeky girls talking about geeky stuff. Games, tv, movies, comic books, stuff like that. If anyone is interested comment here or on my facebook and I'll get in touch with you. (Speakin a podcasts, check out my hubby's won't you? The Punk N Pie Fraudcast. Its hilarious and stuff.)

So I figure... life is a little like canning... you take stuff when its at its best, and then you save it up and on a cold day, you pop open a jar and enjoy. I can't wait to still have summer peaches in the freezing January cold. :)

Third Blog: In which Captain America is awesome, I make stuff, and I hate all my friends

Good morning.

So the first big story of the day is that I went to the advance screening of Captain America last night. Its always a good thing when a Big Movie Mouth-off prescreening happens on a night when Adam and I are both off, and then its even better when its a movie that I know "my people" will be at. ("My people" referring to the geek crowd; Geek Show and Dr. Volts friends mostly.) Walking into the theater I saw Jeff Vice (MSN, Big Movie Mouth-off, Mediocre Show) in his usual spot, center of the press section, and Radio From Hell's Kerry Jackson one row behind him. I said hi and then walked up two rows to our seats in the section on the left and well whaddya know? There's Dave from Dr. Volts along with my friends Jay and Casey (and someone I didn't know) sitting right behind us. Adam hadn't ever met Casey or Jay so it was nice to make the introduction. Across the theater one row back and on the far right of the center was my friend Rob and his wife. I knew they would be there because Rob had won VIP passes from Big Movie Mouth-off. And as I was walking over to say hi, Richie T (also of Radio from Hell) stopped me and said hello as well. (I mention where some of my friends are from so you can have a reference point, but I clarify that I consider all of the aforementioned people my friends or at least my familiar acquaintances.) All in all it was a veritable smorgasbord of geekiness and there was a real feeling of camaraderie in the theater. We all knew what we were there for... we were an ocean of outsiders united for a common purpose.

Also I made a shirt. See?

That's not the best picture of my face area... but you get the idea. I cut out fabric and just glued it to a black tank top with Tacky Glue. I have to tell you, the hardest part was definitely allowing for the stretch factor. Those ribbed tank tops kinda shrink together when you're not wearing them, and I have to *ahem* allow for a lot of stretch. So I basically had to glue it on while I was wearing it, then take it off, stretch the shirt around some books and then let the glue dry. I will probably add some stitching at some point just to make it a little sturdier, but last night I didn't have time. So yes, anyway, the movie...

I have to start by saying I really knew nothing about Captain America going into this. I have the Avengers animated movies on Blu-Ray that Adam got me two years ago for Christmas, but other than he was a super soldier from the '40's, I knew zip. The awesome thing is, that really didn't hinder my ability to enjoy the film. There was a great origin story; they didn't belabor the point but they didn't assume anything either. I was drawn in right from the start (although I couldn't help thinking about Lucas Lee from Scott Pilgrim who was also portrayed by Chris Evans. I just wanted Cap to say "That's actually hilarious..." But that could just be me.) The character origin I felt fit smoothly in with the rest of the story. I never got the feeling of "okay here is the part where they need to tell us where he came from." It was a great story, well written and full of action and humor. The only distraction was the 3D. Although this was probably the best 3D I have personally seen in a movie (the only other movies I've seen in 3D are Pirates of the Caribbean 4, Harry Potter 7.2, and Green Lantern) I just don't really care for the whole 3D thing much, especially in the beginning of the movie where Chris Evans' face is CG imposed on a skinny body, it was much more noticeable with the glasses on than off.

But yeah, there were lots of laugh out loud moments, lots of great action scenes, and a well written script with great acting. It reminded me a lot of the first Iron Man movie in that I found myself surprised and impressed and enamored with a story and a character that was pretty much previously unknown to me. Also it has the same great balance of humor and action and it kept all of us on the edge of our seats with big smiles on our faces for the whole movie. I have no complaints about the movie, other than there was no Avengers teaser at the end of the movie which I'm pretty sure was supposed to be there. Here's a link to it... its a leak online so watch it while you can. Also, Warning: contains shakycam and woots. I have to say though... at first I didn't really care that much about the Avengers movie coming out, but I loved Iron Man and loved Cap and now I'm getting excited. (Still haven't seen Thor. I know I know.)

Me getting to see Cap last night is the only thing I have on my friends who are at ComiCon right now. I have to say, I try to be a good friend and just be happy for them that they get to go, but I have to admit that I am feeling stabby hate envy toward them. Especially those who tweet, post, and facebook update all the fun they're having (Jimmy, Bryan, Jeremiah...lol!) Mostly my jealousy stems from things like hearing stories from last year of drunk dancing with Joss Whedon to Summer Nights and hanging out with Nathan Fillion. Hanging out?! With Captain Mal?!?! I swear if I ever meet him all I'll be able to manage is a sincere Browncoat's salute and the word "Captain...". I mean, what do you say when you meet your heroes? I can't even imagine... And here they are probably about to meet him AGAIN! So yeah... I haz a jealous. But hey, I got to see Cap and they haven't yet. And at this point I need to start focusing on my own Con experience: Anime Banzai coming up in October. I need to see if I can save up enough money for my cosplay outfits and wigs and accessories etc. But my friend Travis is coming up from Cheyenne and I have a feeling we are gonna have a blast! More on that later.

On a side note, no roller derby for me tonight, which sucks because I know we will be learning from a pro tonight. I haz a foot boo boo and plans tonight to see Crazy, Stupid, Love with the hubby. Like I said, our date nights are rare and I take full advantage of every one I can get. But I do know that we are doing drills again next week so I'm looking forward to that. P.S. If you want to do roller derby with me, you can contact the Red Rockettes via facebook or redrockettes@rocketmail.com.

Well I don't suppose I have anything really thought provoking to close with today. Go see Captain America when it comes out and if you haven't seen Firefly yet its on Netflix streaming and everyone should give it a watch. And if you're at ComiCon this week I hate you. Not really. But kinda.