A Day for Red

As I did my photo editing this morning, I realized that most everything yesterday was of the red persuasion...ruby, cherry, crimson, vermilion. "Vermilion" was a word we learned on our trip when we saw the Vermilion River in Louisiana. It was muddy water, which gave it a red appearance. While we'd heard the word "vermilion" before, we'd never given much thought to what it meant, and so we stood there on the banks of the river and asked our friend Google.

So, there you go. Stick with me for more fascinating bits of useless information.

As for the red things of yesterday, let's start with the cherries. Here's my cherry pitting station. I've used this cherry pitter before, but I continue to be amazed and astounded at its pitting capability. If you've ever stood pitting cherries for hours on end, you'll be amazed too.

Here's how it works: You grab a handful of cherries and load them in the hopper on top. They roll into a little chute one at a time. (Some of the larger ones need a little encouragement with fingers.)

Then, you push down on that plunger...

And voila! Pits fall into the bin underneath...

Pitless cherries roll into the bowl.

Cool. I did two pounds of cherries in about one minute...no stained fingers, and no cherry juice splattering the walls of my kitchen and my clothing. You can find this little gem right here, if you want one for your very own. After all, it would be pitiful to persist in passive pitting when a procedure to pit posthaste can be practiced. (Awesome alliteration.)

As long as we're talking about cool tools, I want to tell you about this recent acquisition as well. So here's the thing...I use fresh lemon juice and lime juice in my cooking. It just tastes better, and so I'm willing to go to the effort to squeeze some fruit to get it. If I'm doing a lot of juice, I have an electric juicer I can use. But sometimes you just want a little bit...a teaspoon or a tablespoon. I have some of those squeezer things, but I don't always want to squeeze the whole piece of fruit either. Sometimes I just want a little bit. And I used to have a reamer for that, but my reamer seems to have gone elsewhere to live. I've looked and looked for it, and I can't find it after weeks of searching.

Having given up on the search, I go looking for a reamer on Amazon (because we are single-handedly keeping Amazon in business), and I find this: It's a little mini juicer, but I especially like that the juice squeezes into a little receptacle that also measures. Whoa. Well, I needed me that. And it's been a great little tool. Yesterday, I needed the zest and juice of one lime. And there you go...juice of one lime (in this case, about a tablespoon and a half).

And if you think that's a good idea for your kitchen, you can find them right here. I liked this so much that I bought one for the fifth wheel and the truck camper. I loves me a good kitchen tool. And I expect now that the reamer will reappear and say something like, "What? I've been sitting right here!" (Yes, inanimate objects speak to me all the time. If they don't speak to you, it's probably because you  need to be nicer to them.)

So anyway...what was I doing? Oh yes, I was making this Small Batch Sweet Cherry Lime Jam. And, wow, is this stuff delicious. My jam isn't going to win any blue ribbons at the fair for appearance, but the taste is wonderful.

While it was cooking, I tasted it. It was just cherries and sugar, and it was pleasantly sweet. When it was finished cooking, I added the lime juice and lime zest, and wow! What a difference in flavor! It made those sweet cherries perfectly tart, and this is some yummy stuff. I might have to make more.

When it comes to jams and jellies, I'm kind of a novice. Just yesterday it occurred to me that I haven't made a lot of jams and jellies because the seeds are off limits in my kitchen. That means I don't bother with strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, and the like. Things like peach and apricot don't really appeal to me. You must remember that I think the red M&M's are the most flavorful ones in the bag. You might as well throw the brown ones away, in my humble opinion. So anyway...this year (and last year to a certain extent), I've been trying jams and jellies made from less conventional items. Cherries aren't unconventional, but these are the first cherries we've gotten from our own trees in years. So, anyway...all of that to say that I needed to cook this jam a little longer. It's a little syrupy, but it's going to be fine for my toast, and it'll also make some excellent ice cream topping. This morning I was thinking it could even be used as pancake syrup.

While I was making jam, Mike was out exchanging the cabinet pulls in our truck camper. The lighting was weird when I took these pictures, and so I apologize for their poor quality. I'm making a point here, so bear with me. Many RV's (and most truck campers) have these cabinets above the bed. I hate these because in a careless and forgetful moment, one risks banging one's head pretty seriously. And take a look at those pulls.

They're the same all over the truck camper, and so I used these ones in the kitchen to show you their sharp ends. I've worried that someone is going to bang their head on these and end up with a trip to the emergency room for stitches.

So yesterday, Mike switched out the three over the bed for something a little less pointy...these more scalp-friendly rounded ones will do nicely.

And if I hadn't told you, you might not even notice these are different from the other ones in the camper. My head will thank me the next time I forget those cabinets are lying in wait to split my skull open.

So...let's see...what else red did I do yesterday? Oh yes, I made some Roasted Beet Hummus. Matthew brought home some commercial roasted beet hummus last month, and as a beet lover, I thought it was delicious. We often have beets in our CSA share...think of them as carrots dressed in red...and so I figured I could make this myself. And...ta-da!

The recipe I used is right here, but I thought it desperately needed more salt. I added about half a teaspoon, but it still seemed to need more. My tahini happened to be of the unsalted variety, and that might have made a difference. If you want to try this, I suggested tasting it and adding more salt if you like.

By then, I was ready to spend some time with the reds in my scrap bins. First, I made the red blocks for July's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Then, I added the blacks and whites to finish them off.

And that made another color for the Rainbow Jubilee quilt. Here's how it's looking now.

Before I can do August's blocks, I'm going to have to cut some more black and white strips. 

When those were finished, I went back upstairs to find this guy sitting on the whiskey barrel where the poppies are planted.

He looks positively despondent at not being able to get into the planter and dig around in the poppies, doesn't he?

Where's a cat when you need one? Oh...right here...sleeping. This is how we spend our mornings.

Smitty is partial to his morning sunbath.

Wake me up when the doors open and I can go outside.

Smitty goes outside for about five minutes, and then comes back inside to finish up his sunbath inside the house where it's warmer.

Today I'm going to spend some more time sewing. My goal is to make another block for the Chicken Buffet quilt. That was on the agenda months ago, but I never got started on it. Today I'll have some time. There are a few housekeeping chores to take care of, but aside from that Sunday is going to be an NBS kind of day (Nothing But Sewing).