more tomatoes please - no ooze thank you

more tomatoes please, originally uploaded by poketypatch.

It was a dew drop bonanza day - dew drops are very popular on flickr these days. So, I rushed in to get my camera for a dew drop photo op. I took about 6 pictures and then my battery died, so much for the dew, and I headed in to look at what I had gotten.

The pictures were okay. I was struck by some that I had taken of a tomato plant getting ready to blossom. The dew really stuck to the hair on each blossom, and looked sort of cool. Once I was finished processing something clicked in my brain... Yesterday, I watched the old classic "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". That is the one where giant, pea pods produce oozy zombies that take over the bodies of the people in the town. I realized that I must have unconsciously found this interesting as a result of that movie! I just hope thatmy tomato plants produce tomatoes; and, that nothing extra terrestrial will be growing out of those little buds - eek!

Fourth of July Jam!

Fourth of July Jam!, originally uploaded by poketypatch.

Last weekend, I decided to visit a nearby farm that had fresh berries to pick. I came home with three baskets full of black raspberries, red raspberries and blueberries.

All week we have been enjoying the fruit. It is yummy on cereal, yogurt, or just to sample as snack food straight out of the fridge. I made a batch of muffins.

I used the remainder of my handpicked raspberries to whip up some Old Fashioned Raspberry Jam this morning. I thought it would be great hostess gifts for the parties we will be attending today! It was a cinch to make, here is the recipe:

Old Fashioned Raspberry Jam

4 cups (1 liter) granulated sugar
4 cups (1 liter) raspberries

1. Place sugar in an ovenproof shallow pan and warm in a 250°F (120°C) oven for 15 minutes. (Warm sugar dissolves better.)

2. Place berries in a large stainless steel or enamel saucepan. Bring to a full boil over high heat, mashing berries with a potato masher as they heat. Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

3. Add warm sugar, return to a boil, and boil until mixture will form a gel (see tips, below), about 5 minutes.

4. Ladle into sterilized jars and process as directed for Shorter Time Processing Procedure .

Tip: To make a small boiling-water canner, tie several screw bands together with string or use a small round cake rack in the bottom of a large covered Dutch oven. Be sure the pan is high enough for 2 inches (5 cm) of water to cover the jars when they are sitting on the rack.

I found this on EPICURIOUS.COM here: