Recent post by M.Toast (it rhymes) where she effectively came out as a jam addict made me take a look at my fridge.
Guilty, but there is a difference. With my shopping habits you can say I’ve been preparing for a financial crisis all my life. While M.Toast is paying big bucks at high-end stores and at the City Market, I get my fix at the Big Lots. Today’s trip netted some French concoctions (it’s French, so it must be delicious).
I am sure these run probably close to $5-6 at some fancy stores; Big Lots -$2.50. Inventory always changes. Couple of months ago, I picked up a couple of jars of the “Fantastico Fig Jam”.
I am still mad at myself for not picking up a whole case. Who knew fig jam would be so popular in Olathe.
If you are wondering about the item in a plastic tub in my fridge with Russian/Hebrew writing on it, it’s a hard-to-find fresh black currant ground up with sugar. It’s not exactly a jam, it’s preserved by exorbitant amounts of sugar so it doesn’t have to be cooked. We used to preserve raspberries this way. Fresh all winter. Locally found only in the Russian stores and is not very cheap but totally worth it. Make sure you are not buying similar-looking but heat-treated version of the same.
Even when the times are hard you can sweeten up your life a little with some money to spare for your other vices like prostitutes and drugs. You just have to know where to look.
People used to be easily amused. A ride on a painted horse in a circle could’ve been a high point of some Midwestern kid’s year. The sights, the sounds, the smells of carnival rides became the cherished memories people carried through their lives. Even I remember when a carousel ride wasn’t lame, but, of course, I am much older than my physical age.
…well, I usually eat 3 or 4. I don’t eat them for health benefits or because they are cheap or for whatever other reason – I just like the apples. I like them fresh, cooked, in a pie, in a cake, baked, in apple sauce, with caramel or honey, sliced, peeled, unpeeled and I like most of the varieties. Every year we try to make a trip to a local apple orchard to pick some fresh fruit. I was a locavore before it became trendy and people started doing it to feel good about themselves.
We are surrounded by many apple orchards. There is Vaughn’s in Weston, we were going there for years, Schreiman’s in Waverly, it’s not u-pick but is very nice and in a beautiful historic area; and for the last couple of years we are picking apples at Pome on the Range orchard in Williamsburg, KS. Besides apples and pumpkins they also sell fruit wines some Kansas-grown produce, jams, honey and other things that are good for you.
Today they had their annual fall festival but it looks like they still have plenty of apples to pick for the next weekend or three. If you are in Kansas, especially South Johnson County, you are just 25-30 miles away. Not only you will keep the doctor away, you will be able to brag about eating local and catch envious looks of your not-so-hip friends. While you are at it, mention that you only drink Shatto milk to completely crush them with you locavorness.
For the next year I am keeping an eye on the Wagon Wheel Orchard which was picked out early this year due to being very young. They seem to have a great variety – something I am always looking for.
If I was ever to create an air freshener or an aromatic candle or, dare I say, a fragrance, it would have a smell of smoked fish. It’s the smell that combines the sea air, fresh caught fish, a smoldering fire on the beach, sounds of seagulls in the sky, a small boat on the horizon lit up by the setting sun. It’s the smell that makes you want to take a deep breath and fill your lungs with fragrant smoky air. It’s also the smell that would keep everyone you know away from your place, which is good if you don’t like to share.
Millions of Americans live their entire lives without ever trying smoked fish, and that’s a shame since this could be easily avoided by making a trip to the nearest Russian or Eastern European store. While the Russian store may not have the variety of a typical smoked fish vendor in Odessa, Ukraine you see on the photo below, it has enough to give you an idea what you are missing.
I always wanted to visit Canada and this year seemed as good as any for another trip in North America. We did a lot of train riding, starting in New York City to Montreal, then Toronto, finishing in Niagara Falls. I am getting pretty good at planning these things and everything worked out nicely and it was as close to a perfect trip as I could’ve hoped for.
As always I had both the camera and the phone with me, but found myself using the latter the most, phone is always close, the quality is decent, it makes easy panoramas, and the photos can be easily uploaded from the nearest WIFI spot. I realized that I bring the camera out of habit and can see myself traveling without one in the near future.
We found Montreal to be amazing, delicious, friendly and easy to get around. And covered in great graffiti. I am a big fan of murals and other folk art and Montreal didn’t disappoint.
