Many Things In One Post!

I have been terrible about updating my blog this month so I thought I would put lots of random things into this one post. The first pics are of my birthday/our anniversary. The next pics are of my adventures in making organic strawberry jam! So let us get everyone caught up!

This is Texas de Brazil, where many cows, sheep, pigs and chickens come to die. It is also where many arteries are clogged, full of saturated fat. Okay, that was a bit morbid but it is true. Men walk around with big skewers of meat and cut off as much as you would like! It's wonderful! The meat was cooked so well. Plus there is a giant salad bar with aged cheeses, olive oil, bread, sushi, salmon, vegetables, and of course salad. We loved it! This is one of Clint and I's favorite things to do. Eat at a great restaurant with even better food. We will splurge when it comes to eating! Happy 3 years to us!

This is the cake Clint got me for my birthday. It was the big 25 (a quarter of a century!) so I asked for a cake from a bakery (with lots of chocolate).

Clint sent me flowers at work. It was a total surprise! This was for our anniversary. I am so blessed to have Clint. He can be romantic! I got to tell everyone who came through the doors whose flowers they were and why he sent them. It made my day to have a reminder like that of my husband.
Now to totally switch gears... I made some strawberry jam this weekend. It was my first time but don't get too excited about my cooking abilities. This is the easiest recipe in the world. It's just 1/2 package of no cook, freezer safe pectin, 3/4 cup sugar and 2 lbs of strawberries (or any berries will do). You cut up all the strawberries into small chunks, then add the sugar and pectin.

pectin + sugar + strawberries = yummy jam in less than 20 minutes!

I ended up with 5 jars of jam. I used organic strawberries, bought at $2.5o a lb. So I spent a little over a dollar for 1 jar of organic strawberry jam. I was very proud of myself about this. Clint and I tried it and it is sooo good. Now we have jam for the next...probably 5 to 6 months.

It was funny canning all of those strawberries because it made me think of my ancestors that probably spent a lot of time canning their crops for the winter months (or month in Texas' case). In early spring I was all excited about summer. I couldn't wait to try my hand at gardening and really feel connected to my food. Now that I have done that and summer has gone on, each day as hot as the next, I feel more tired. It makes me think of all the hard work my ancestors must have put in. Planting crops, raising them, toiling under the sun to harvest it all, then preserving them, preparing them. After the hot months are over, I'm sure some of them started all over and planted things for the next spring or even that fall. I think it is wonderful that God has made us a time for play and growth and a time for rest and thought. It makes me very nostalgic sometimes, thinking how we moderns are so disconnected from the earth. We take for granted all the little things, like strawberries. I hope I am never too disconnected from the simple things in life. I hope I make time to enjoy a gentle breeze, the feel of damp grass or the subtle twinkle in a star.