Brrrr....

I can't stay, y'all. I gotta go run. I'm just staring outside at my roll-away awning flapping in the wind and I'm DREADING going. It's COLD (like 4 degrees C), and it's DARK and it's so freaking windy... Sheesh. But I know if I don't go, I'm going to regret it this Sunday while I'm doing my 11. Thing is, I wanted to do half hour on my bike after my run, but DUDE...

We'll see.

Quick updates....

Um, Rooty Caboody... Not so much. First off, the thing that looked so squashy from the outside, looked more like a freaking pumpkin from the inside (tastes like it too... which is OKAY... Just more substance for my pies/muffins... Just wish I'd have known). So, I figured, well, I'll just stir fry all of my little cubed roots. So, I got out my new wok and I stir fried. I even threw in a little broccoli and onions and leeks. I made a pot of organic basmati on the side.

I will report to you this day... Roots by themselves, just aren't that good. I even added lardons, but the overpowering rootiness was just, well, too rooty.

So, yesterday, I turned the leftovers into a gratin (hey, when all else fails, right?). I added bread crumbs, milk, light cream and butter. It wasn't BAD (how could it be with those ingredients?) but it was still, well, rooty. Sam and I discussed it and we decided that had I added potatoes to dull down some of the turnipy/radishy element, it would have been a super scruptious dish. Ooooh, or cauliflower and zucchini.. Those would have made it even yummier. And both are in season, so we'll see what tomorrow's market brings.

As for pears... I cooked 'em down into a stew, lifted the chunks out and strained the juice. THEN, I put the chunks through the food mill. THEN, I put the pulpy results through a sort of cheesecloth. And in the end, I had a big 8-cup pot of solid and another 8-cup pot of juice. So, instead of just adding sugar and boiling the hell out of it, I made three small jars of JELLY and am turning the pot of solids into JAM! I DID end up reducing the apple-y runoff from last week and I did end up adding it to the pears. I'm really glad I did because though the pears were really REALLY hard when Sam bought 'em on Saturday, they were perfectly ripe yesterday. Well, I don't know if you know, but ripe pears don't have much pectin in 'em. You're supposed to make pear preserves from 75% ripe and 25% unripe to keep the acid content high. Soooooo, really glad I had the apple juice stuff. (plus, of course, I added some lemon juice... I WISH I still had those organic lemons... but I used 'em on the apple butter).

ANYWHOO, the jelly seems to have jelled and the jars sealed. Not to mention I have a small glass bowl of it in the fridge to try out on the kids today... we'll see. I'm worried I might have boiled it too long and that it may not spread... It may end up like pear... CANDY or something. That ain't bad... I can use it in pies and stuff and it's still PRESERVED and that was the point. But I'll try not to make the same mistake today with the jam.

Okay... I've put off running as long as I can. *sigh* I had better git.