Ocean View

Something I didn't think I had. I have a "garden view" room in Hawaii. Ok. I can live with that. Then, while killing a lot of my down time today, I realized that I do have an ocean view from here... If you look really hard through the windows, you'll see it. I think there is even a boat. I had to precariously balance on a rollie office chair to get this shot, so cherish it.

And now, a list of things I forgot.

- my iPod. How on earth will I ignore people on the flights home? Thankfully, the flights here, I was seated next to delightful people, who know the value of interesting, yet little conversation on a plane. Only had a half glass of white wine spilled on me by my neighbour. That was more funny than not. The little Swiss-Canadian lady got so excited to see her friend that her arms, and wine glass, went flying up, and all over me. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I was wet.

- sunscreen. It didn't cross my mind until my friends picked me up, and commented on how they had gone to the beach that day, and got burned that day. Errol even asked if I was going to come back with a tan. At this rate, I'll be glowing red by next week.

- enough books. I'm 1/3rd through my last book, and 7+ days away from leaving.

- my sarong. It's even a Hawaiian one.

Really. Where was my head?

Aloha

This is it. I leave for Honolulu tomorrow, for 10 days. Mostly for work, but I will get to visit a girlfriend and her husband who live there. I've been promising for years to go, and have finally committed. I'm not excited to leave home, but am excited to hang out with them in the warm Hawaiian sun.
Sadly, Errol cannot come with me. Mother nature didn't cooperate, and harvest isn't done. Hardly even started to be truthful. And then ambiguous Passport Canada sent his application back. Really people, you should be consistent. Ask for either all original proofs of existence and identity, or all copies. None of this confusing half and half deal. Really. At least they returned it quickly, and we didn't have to wait 2 months to get it back.
Bright side. Now I have more excuses to go back. I plan to spend the whole trip figuring out things that we can do next time. And we'll go in the winter, not when Saskatchewan's having a beautiful fall. Can you believe it was nearly 30C in Saskatoon yesterday?

I think I Did it...

As you could see from the previous post, my inexperience in canning may have lead to the complete waste of something like 11 lbs of apples.

First, my apple butter was a little runny. I'm a great recipe ad-libber, and seem to have miscalculated how many apples I had, and how much sugar I should have added. Plus, the recipe I used was for peach butter, so I improvised. After the recommended hour cook time, I removed it from the heat (which you are apparently not supposed to do in canning) and it thickened up a little. Phew.

Then, because I have never canned before, and was bent on trying all by myself first, I didn't have any of the right tools to finish the job. Thankfully, my mother-in-law came over to help with another project, and made many suggestions and told me how she does things which was way simpler than my cookbook said. And then she brought over Errol's grandma's canning stuff, which I get to keep for the next time. Silly stubborn Ang.... should've just asked in the first place.

All said and done, I think I did alright. 5 of the 6 jars sealed. It is still a little runny (more apple sauce than apple butter consistency), but it tastes great, and my house smells all warm and fall-y.

Feeling a bit domestic

It's fall. My next trip isn't for a week, so I'm hanging out on a Saturday in my kitchen. Being domestic.

Even before Errol and I were engaged, I thought it might be fun to learn how to can. Everyone here does it, so I figured I'd have lots of people to learn from. Since moving here, we (really it's me) have been the recipients of all sorts of berries and apples. And then I have to do something with them. Way too many to eat before they go bad so your options are freeze, can, or throw away. I'm too sensible to let them go to waste and I've been too busy (read scared) to start canning yet. So I've frozen what I could and left the rest as long as possible. Today is the only day I have left to dedicate hours to the 2 remaining bags of apples (thank you Motorcycle Mama!) before I leave for 10 days. Today is canning day. I mustered all the courage I could and tackled apple butter. 3 hours of peeling and coring, 20 mins of pre-cooking, 10 mins of blending, and 1 hour of real cooking, and things seem to be going well. It's boiling and spurting hot apply puree on me, but it smells heavenly. This was a good idea.
Wait. It is supposed to thicken after that hour of cooking. I have 15 mins to go, and my butter doesn't look thickened. What do I do? What do I do?