More Canning, and Other Stuff

Mostly overcast and quite humid day. Feels unsettled, like something coming. High of 80°f but sticky and uncomfortable. 

It was another day in the kitchen for me. I made the elderberry jelly, and it came out beautifully. 

I was lacking a half cup of juice for the second batch, so I added a half cup of white wine. I must say, that batch tasted even better than the first one! You can see the difference in color in tge photo, as the jelly with wine is lighter in color. I ended up with 14 half-pint jars.

Yum! Had to taste test, you know.

Next was a little more corn, which I decided to freeze on the cob, vacuum-sealing it so it should taste almost fresh when we use it.

Last, the tomatoes.  I had a motley mix of pink, black and red tomatoes that needed to be used before they went bad. I had seen a recipe for tomato dill soup, so I decided to give it a try.  I think it tastes delicious,  and could be served hot or cold. 

I had enough to make 7 quarts, plus a pint I put in the fridge for tomorrow's supper.

Besides kitchen duty, I finally got the old radio moved in place. 

I had a stack of suitcases full of DVDs in this corner, so I made space in the large old cupboard to the right for all of those. The suitcases will go to a booth, one more small step in downsizing. The old radio is a temporary resident---it doesn't work and we can't fix it, so I am thinking to gut it, put a new back on it, add lights and shelving and make it a bar cabinet, leaving the old radio dial and knobs in place. Still undecided about the door---remove it, remove just the speaker cloth and replace with plexiglass,  or leave as is? Currently there is a non-working record player in there that slides out when you pull on the door. I think it just looks so cool, so it can sit a while, until we have time to work on it.

We also continued working on this set:

I am not happy with the table top, but it is what it is. It's still slightly messed up from where the former owner left it out in the rain. We tried hard to fix it, but it's not much better. So it will go as is. All that's left to do is wax the top and add feet to one of the chairs.  As soon as we have time, we will get this to a booth.

I had a pretty nice day, all round, but poor Larry spent most of his working on his mower, again. I guess it is heading back to the shop as he has worked on it for many hours over the past week with no luck. So aggravating for him. And of course the grass is quickly getting out of hand. 

Tomorrow he has a doc appointment in Parkersburg,  then Wednesday another one in Huntington,  so there won't be much else happening here at home. I am very glad I worked through all the garden stuff, because Thursday we will be picking tomatoes from our friend's greenhouses, and that means the rest of the week will be spent processing them. No rest for the wicked!

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