I'll post this year (or else)

As far as journals go, mine sucks. I had such great dreams for this blog, such illusions of grandeur, that I became paralyzed with fear. If I didn't have the greatest stories, and the greatest pictures to go with it, I might as well not post. If I couldn't reach far and wide with my witty prose, then I might as well never come back to post a thing to this blog. If I couldn't be happy and upbeat and chipper, then I might as well shut up.

And so, I did shut up.

My mother passed away, after a long and sad battle with bladder cancer, on September 15, 2008. Any happiness that she may have experienced in her last year came from going outside to our garden to pick up fresh veggies, or to watch the grandchildren do it. I now realize that I had planted that big garden for her, and I am so glad that I did. As far as children go, I don't think I was the best one that my mother could have, but at least I can grow things in the garden...and she liked that about me.

I haven't been too happy or too chipper this past year, but things are getting better. I don't think that my writing has improved, or that I have gotten any better at posting pictures, but I feel that I need to write things down as imperfect as they might be, so here I am. I am posting, even if it's only a short post to write about something I saw or something I cooked.

Which brings me to my first post of the year: Making marmalade.

We went to visit Craig's family in Florida and brought home a couple big bags of citrus. Oranges, Meyer lemons, and Ponderosa lemons (the biggest lemons I have ever seen) as fresh and fragrant as only fresh fruit could be. I made marmalade with some of the oranges and the Meyer lemons, and then made even more marmalade using a very large Ponderosa lemon. I have never seen lemon marmalade before, but I figured that I would give it a try. It is very tart, and different from orange marmalade, but so good on crackers with Brie cheese! I am so glad that I made it. I used the recipe that comes with the Sure-Jell powdered pectin, but since that recipe is for oranges, I changed it up a bit.

Here is my recipe:

1 large Ponderosa lemon (I used a ripe one, most of the peel had turned yellow)
3 cups of sugar
1/2 envelope of powdered Sure-Jell pectin
1/16 tsp of baking soda
1/2 cup of water
1/4 tbsp butter

Using a vegetable peeler, peel just the zest off the lemon (without any of the white part) and them cut the peels into small strips. Put the peel in a sauce pan with the water and the baking soda and simmer for 20 minutes.
In the meantime, peel the lemon and remove all the white parts and seeds. With a large lemon, you will get about 2 cups of lemon pieces.
When the peels are cooked, add the lemon and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring once or twice so it doesn't scorch.
After the 10 minutes are over, add the pectin, mix well and bring the mixture to a rolling boil. Boil for exactly one minute.
Add the butter (to reduce foaming) and the sugar, mix very well and boil for another minute.

Pour the finished marmalade into small canning jars and process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes.

This makes a marmalade that has a wonderful yellow color, lovely consistency, and spreads very well.