Life has been fairly hectic lately...but when isn't it?
Work is crazy, the house is a wreck and 5 am is a time I see on a fairly regular basis for training for a half marathon. This week I even ran my first 5-k in 10 years and did not do bad at all. 9 seconds stood between my goal of 11 minute miles and the reality of my performance. So next time I will simply run 9 seconds faster. Or I may simply set another goal and blow my 9 seconds out of the water.
This week there was an awesome sale at Publix and turkeys were only .59 per lb. Frugal me went for the lowest priced one in the freezer and it was a mere $10.08. It did not dawn on me that 10.08 translated into a big a** turkey. We went to mom's for Thanksgiving thus Mr. Turkey's goose was cooked on Friday. A 19 lb Turkey is FREAKIN' BIG- for two people. After an awesome dinner we pulled it all off of the bone and made 2 crock pots of stock that cooked overnight last night.
Turkey is great and a treat we savor only a few times a year. However, waking up this morning to the smell of turkey stock was completely nauseating. Windows were thrown open and the doors as well, to encourage a breeze to get the smell out of the house We did get 6 quarts of meaty rich stock. Four of which are resting in the freezer and two that are simmering in soup as I type. And...the house smells like turkey yet again.....sigh... this may be a record.
Simmering fruit and sugar replaced the smell of turkey for a few hours today as 15 lbs. of papaya became jam. (The 15 lbs was the peeled and cleaned weight). Pomona's pectin can make anything into jam if you try hard enough. There is an issue of adding acid to the papaya as it's natural pH is too high to be safely canned in a water bath. Lime juice and ascorbic acid worked well to get the jam in a lovely safe spot and not affect the beautiful taste of the sweet orange hued canned sunshine. We now have 20 glowing pints cooling and at least 60 more pounds of fruit on the tree. Seriously, I could start a business. Only it would be regulated by the same division I work for and that gets waaaay too hairy. That gets filed under someday.
Hope everyone is enjoying Turkey as much as we are...
Jo
You GO, girl!!
ReplyDeleteIf you have a spot outside that's sheltered from the rain, you can run those crockpots out there. I agree about the smell. It helps to throw an onion and some carrots in.
Sounds like you're doing very well with the marathon training.
Thank you Ilene!
ReplyDeleteThat turkey stock was drained and cooling so fast it was crazy. There was no room in the crock pots for the anything but bones, scraps and water. I wish there had been - you are right in it helping. Next time the crock pots are going outside. Good idea Ilene.
Just drinking my coffee then heading out to run As long as I listen to my body the running goes well. When I try to push too hard it slows me down even more.
Looks like you are staying fairly busy as well. I popped over to your blog last night :) Happy Sunday!!!