My mum came over on Thursday afternoon so I could pickle beans. I know my mother-in-law has some jars of pickles for us, and I'm pretty sure beans are among them, but I figure we are likely to be using different recipes so I could still give this one a try. It's from Food In Jars*** and I've been waiting since I got the book last year to make it. The recipe makes just four jars (and one of those is going to Mum as a thank-you). Canning recipes are often so big; it's a relief to be able to try something new without wondering what you're going to do with the other seven jars if you don't like the first one.

Some random notes:

1. I had more beans ripe than it turned out I needed. Even though I used more that the recipe called for for my four jars.

2. It started raining while I was outside picking beans and began to pour while I washed them off in the kitchen.

3. Abby gets very jealous of anyone paying more attention to Maisie than to her.

4. This was the prettiest bulb of garlic. My photographs completely fails to capture the beautiful purl tints on those cloves.

5. Pickling fluid looks boring in a photograph.

6. Pickling spices and veggies look much prettier.

7. No matter what I make there is always one jar that does not seal when everything comes out of the canner. It goes directly into the fridge and becomes the first jar we eat.

8. We have to wait two weeks before we can eat these pickles. I know they will be better then but they look so good right now.

9. There are more beans coming on my plants.

Last night we planned a little date with the Persieds. We weren't sure we'd be able to make it - there was a lot of cloud cover at 10 PM - but by about two o'clock this morning the sky was mostly clear and we hopped in the car along with a couple of blankets, a thermos of hot chocolate, two mugs and my camera. We drove out of town to one of the day-use parks and lay on a picnic table and stared at the sky. We saw a few bright flashes, and some long streaks, and a few stars that just seemed to be slowly moving across the sky before fading out. My camera didn't catch any of them but it did capture some the swirls and dancing of the lights that also joined us.

Or, what I did this weekend.

While we were in Vancouver I got a new canning book called Food in Jars by Marisa McClellan. It's full of lovely sounding recipes that don't make huge amounts of food; something I especially appreciate if I'm making something new and don't know for sure I'll like it. This weekend I tried my first recipe: Small Batch Mixed Stone Fruit Jam. It's one of those smart recipes that is meant to help you use up the fruit you bought to eat but won't finish before it goes bad, and it really is a small batch. The recipe only calls for three 250 ml (half pint) jars and I only got two when I was finished.

I just used peaches and I bought them just for making the jam. The recipe has you chop everything up (I also removed the skins) and mix it with the sugar and leave it in the fridge for up to two days. Breaking up the making time made it so much easier to do. I did all the peeling and chopping on Saturday morning and then didn't think about it again until Sunday when I was ready to do the cooking and canning. My kitchen smelled wonderful the whole time the jam was cooking. Peaches must be one of my favourite smells. I used a thermometer for the first time making this jam and it was really helpful when it came to reaching jell stage without over cooking my jam. One of my jars didn't seal after being processed but that's okay because I'd have opened one of them right away anyway; it just means it gets stored in the fridge instead of the cupboard.

I tried some of the jam this evening (I had nothing to eat it on at breakfast time). It's amazing. I thought at first it was going to be very sweet and syrupy tasting but it's perfect. It starts off sweet and peachy and finishes with a wonderful hint of bitter (I suspect from the lemon zest) that balances out the sweetness perfectly and gives it an almost marmalade like tang. Part of me thinks I should have used the little 125 ml jars so I could share it around but really I want to keep it all to myself. I can always make another batch.