I've been spending way too much time being a mom, gardener, hack blog writer, and activist. What has suffered greatly is my artwork. I used to draw all the time, charcoals, pastels, colored pencils, and pens were my best friends. But life has taken me in other directions and now my old drawing hands are very very rusty. I'm not very forgiving of my attempts, and I become frustrated that I cannot sketch like I used to. I do know that it takes a lot of practice, and practice means taking the time. I'm going to put a small sketchbook into my purse, and try and devote a few minutes a day to just exercising my eye hand coordination; with no criticism, and no judgments. We are our worst critics and the voices in our head are very hard to answer to. So, wish me luck as this seems about as hard as dieting for me!
I do take time to make jewelery. I've always loved beadwork, but my eyes are not so hot and I can't do Ojibway style beadwork anymore. I am doing some nice contemporary necklaces and earrings that I'll post in the future. I just ordered beads from Fire Mountain Gems for the first time...oh man, that can prove to be addicting.
I have only a few weeks before we pull out the heat mats, lights and potting supplies for seed starting. We plan to start peppers early February. Last year we started them on St. Patrick's Day and found that to be a bit late. Some of peppers froze before they could fully mature. I'm sure our cool summer didn't help, but starting them earlier won't hurt.
We found that making pepper jelly with all Habanero peppers is really the fantastic! We've gone through most of the jars we made last year. We are looking for Ghost peppers for making jelly this year. I like to mix it half and half with a fruit jelly like crab apple or plum and serve it with crackers and cream cheese. People swoon, and love the heat. Here's the recipe for the jelly:
Napalm Jam
# 1 1/2 cups vinegar
# 6 cups sugar
# 1 1/4 cups chiles
# 1 package pectin
Puree the chilies with a food processor or a blender. If using a blender, the vinegar may be needed to keep the blender from stalling and aide in the puree process. Either way, take care when opening the cover of the blender or food processor; the fumes are deadly. Place puree in a non-reactive sauce pan and add the powdered pectin. Add the vinegar if it has not already been used in the puree process. Stir to dissolve the pectin. Place over high heat until the mixture comes to a HARD boil (a boil that cannot be stirred down). Stir continuously as the mixture is being heated. Add all of the sugar and bring back to a full rolling boil while stirring constantly. Boil hard for 1 minute. Remove from heat and skim off the foam with a metal spoon. Place in hot sterilized jars and seal. Makes about 6 0.5 pint jars.
Note 1 The original recipe called for jalapenos. I have since made this jam with New Mexico chilies (after they have turned red) and a habanero type chili that I was growing. Each type of chili produces a different colored jam as well as a different heat response. The jalapenos will give a slow turn on and slow turn off of medium heat; the New Mexico chilies will get the back of the throat and the habeneros will produce a "step response" of sensation. I would be interested in other peoples experiences with other types of chilies.
Note 2 Originally, the chilies were "volume measured". All of the vinegar was placed into the blender and enough chilies were added such that the liquid reached the 2.75 cup line on the blender. I use a food processor and do not use vinegar in the puree process. To measure, I cut the chilies into the size of half a habanero and fill up a 2 cup liquid measuring container. Measurements are not too critical and the bite will vary from batch to batch as the chilies vary in heat content. I try to keep the amount of fruit at this level. If the bite is too much for people, bell peppers can be used to bring up the amount of fruit used.
Note 3 I use regular Sure-Jell pectin. Other brands should work just as well in this recipe. There has been no experience in using the low sugar recipe pectins with this recipe.
Note 4 Experiments with adding other fruits to this recipe have been tried. 1-2 ripe peaches, pureed and mixed with the chili mixture tastes good. The problem is trying to coordinate the fruit harvest with the chili harvest. I would be interested in other peoples experiments with other fruits.
From: John A. Gunterman
Posted By: The Chile-Heads Recipe Collection
This recipe was found on one of my favorite sites:
http://www.pepperfool.com/index.html
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