Blueberry Cordial

He made a Blueberry Cordial the other day, using the berries that he picked out in Nelchina on our Weekend Get-Away a few weekends ago. This time, using Patrón Tequila. I am not a fan of tequila. Those of you who say there is no taste to tequila are just wrong. I can definitely tell when it’s in a drink, and I do not like it.

But – he did pick the berries himself, so I figured he deserved to make the cordial his way. It was not an easy task to pick them as there were perhaps one or two berries per bush, so he had to really work at it for a several hours just to get what he got. Which, sadly, was not enough for the type of cordial that I like.

This time, he did not use our fancy juicer; he just stuffed all the berries into a big jar and then poured the tequila on top. He’s letting it set in our pantry for a couple months to really soak in all the blueberry goodness. I’ll give it a try when it’s done, just to see – but honestly, I’m not expecting much. He’ll be happy, and that’s all that matters.

High-Bush Cranberry Season!

Bryan and I headed out to our Secret Berry Picking Spot last night after work. This is our third time going there, and it did not disappoint: we got so many berries!

The weather was perfect: just this side of rain, not too hot – not too cold. I had on my Irish fisherman’s wool sweater & a wool cap and was just fine. The mosquitoes eventually drove me to the bug dope, but that’s just part of being outdoors in Alaska.

The berries were so plentiful we could see them as we were driving down the road to The Spot. Picking them was so easy: you just reach your hand out and grab handfuls each time. As many as 40 berries in each cluster!

And the smell! Oh, I do love the smell of high-bush cranberries in the fall. Some people say they smell like dirty socks, but I disagree. I think they smell wonderful.

We now have SO MANY BERRIES!!! I plan on making more cordial of course – but what else can we do with them? We don’t eat enough bread to warrant making jam or jelly…

Pickin Taters!

As we were unloading the truck, getting all our gear into the rental for the weekend, the owner walked over to talk to us. We assumed he’d come to welcome us – but instead we got the following:

“Yep, just spent the day pickin' taters. Did about 150 plants out front – got 200 or so out back to do still. They’re nice big taters, too. Sum of 'em are about yay so! I’m gonna give you sum!”

So, we now have 6 big potatoes! Each one could feed both of us a couple meals – they really are quite large. We plan on eating one, just so we can taste a fresh, just out of the ground, tater. The rest of them I’m going to dehydrate for my soups.

First, I have to cut them up into small evenly sized pieces.

Then I load up the trays of my dehydrator and get it going overnight.

Once it’s done, I just fill up a couple jars and seal the lids shut.

Our pantry is looking good!

Nelchina Weekend Get-Away

Bryan and I had a wonderful weekend get-away this September, driving about 94 miles north of Palmer to the tiny settlement of Nelchina (population 45). The place we rented was built onto the side of the owner’s garage but was very well done. It was perfectly toasty and comfortable, giving me plenty of space to relax and work on my paper-crafting while watching movies. Bryan took the opportunity to go hunting for bunnies and/or grouse – and if a moose should happen to walk by, he had a tag for that as well. He even found a small patch of blueberries!

The property sits right on a little no-name lake, so since it was such a gorgeous fall day when we arrived, we ambled down to the lake to see what there was to see. Three yearling swans came by to see if perhaps we might have something to feed them. We did not, so they went on their way.

Bryan’s original plan had been to walk the perimeter of the lake looking for moose, but once we got there, he saw that it was too marshy for that. He opted instead to drive to a few other locations he had scouted out earlier. He did not see any game (of any kind) but did end up at a different lake and caught something like 35 trout! He let them all go, except for the 5 biggest ones. Those he cooked up for our dinner that night! They were quite tasty!

The fall colors were just spectacular. I could not stop taking pictures off the back deck – even though the camera did not do justice to the view. Trust me, in person the colors were way more vibrant and vivid.

This was actually our second time staying there: the first time was in November of 2021. You can see the difference a few months make! It’s still stunningly gorgeous, but much colder!

Raspberry Cordial

Who doesn’t love fresh-picked raspberries? I certainly do, and a sip of Raspberry Cordial on a cold winter’s night, curled up in a comfy chair with a good book, brings back memories of summer, full of light and green.

So, with Viktor’s help, I spent the day making a batch!

As mentioned before, I love my juicer – it’s so easy to use, just set it up and check on the water levels occasionally. Before you know it, you have a batch of juice ready to go.

I typically put about 3 cups of vodka and 2 cups of simple syrup in each bottle, then fill the rest of it with juice. Put that in the back of the pantry for three months to cure, and there you have it!

Interestingly, the juice doesn’t want to mix with the vodka/syrup mixture at first = I always have to shake it up to get it mixed together.

Pickled Beets – Because Why Not

We were in the mood, so figured why not keep going? We made Zucchini Relish, we made Apple Butter, why not make Pickled Beets? 

So I headed down to the Wednesday Farmer’s Market and bought all the beets I could find. They were small, and there wasn’t enough of just the dark purple ones, so I ended up with a big multicolored batch.

I cut off the greens and dehydrated them for my soup each week, while Bryan boiled, peeled and chopped the beets.

From then, it was just a matter of assembling the other ingredients and canning the results. Our pantry is looking good.

It's That Time OF Year Again = APPLES!

Today is the day! The day the apples arrive! I love today!

My sister Noel sent them to my house, delivered by the elderly couple who grows them. When I answered the knock on my door, the lady introduced herself and apologized that there weren’t as many as in previous years – and then she proceeded to haul in box after box after box, all full of sweet juicy apples! I do believe that Noel is supposed to come get some for herself – otherwise a lot of these will go to waste.

Unfortunately, Bryan and and I have our Weekend Get-Away in 3 days, so we won’t have time to deal with these. I’m hoping we get the bulk of them before we leave, at the very least. Heck, we don’t even have any jars/lids left… we will have to go to 3 Bears after work today and stock up.

We have to peel & slice a batch or two for my Apple Pie Filling (I eat that on our Sunday Sourdough Pancakes), slice but not peel a batch or two for Apple Sauce, and slice but not peel a batch or two for Apple Juice.

It’s gonna be some late nights at my house for a while.

Pain: Level 8

The human body is an amazing thing. I mean, the amount of pain it can endure without just dying right there on the spot is incredible. And then, the very next day, it’s up and walking about like normal – as if nothing had happened!

To say that I had a bad night is an understatement in the extreme. I was literally on the floor, sobbing and throwing up. Poor Bryan was just hovering with a bowl in one hand and a towel in the other, trying to get me to agree to go to the emergency room.

I came across this “Improved Pain Scale” the other day while scrolling through Facebook. Doctor’s always ask, “What’s your pain levels?” and the new chart makes it fairly easy to determine. According to this, my normal day hovers around a 3 or a 4 – but the other night it hit a solid 8, maybe even a 9 (although, having never been mauled by a bear, I can only imagine).

My entire life I have had people say to me, “Boy, I don’t know how you can do that and still function.” Most of the time, my response is usually that I have no choice. But I have to say, even I can’t believe I lived through that! I mean, yeah – I’m worn out and feel like I’ve been run over by a Mac Truck – but for the most part, I’m completely back to normal again.

Apple Butter

We had 3 gallon-sized zip-loc bags of apple sauce in the freezer from last year’s batch of apples (thank you Noel!) so had to do something with them before this year’s batch of apples arrive. Making apple butter is easy enough, but this means that now we will have to make sourdough bread to eat it on. That’s what I call a good problem!

Anyway, the recipe we used called for ground allspice, but the only allspice I could find in the house was whole – so I had to get the mortar & pestle out to grind some up. Boy does that smell good!

After mixing it all up, you basically just cook it down in a slow cooker until all the moisture is gone.

After that, it’s just a matter of canning it and restocking your pantry.

Zucchini Relish

Went to Pyrah’sU-Pick Farm the other day to get some zucchini to make our relish out of. We love going to that farm, and always end up coming home with way more than we really need. It’s just so fun to be out there, with your hands in the dirt. 

They didn’t have onions or bell peppers, but a quick stop at the grocery store and we were ready to start chopping.

Grate the zucchini. Chop the onions and bell peppers. Then soak them overnight in salt to draw out all the liquids.

Wash and drain them really well to make sure all the salt is gone. Cook it with a few spices and some sugar.

Then can it and stock your pantry!