Happy New Year!

So far, 2013 is shaping up to be a great year.

Okay, I know that we are merely one day in, but today Mark and I got to spend the day together doing things we love to do.

That may not sound like much, but since the opening of the Tails and Trotters shop I don't get to see a lot of him, and when I do, he is either distracted by a large work-related to do list, exhausted or both.

So, a whole day together = awesome.

So, what did we do?

I created two hachiya persimmon jams. One with just the persimmons (about 2.5 cups), juice of 1 lemon, a third of a cup of sugar, and 1 teaspoon each of calcium water and Pamona's quick pectin.

The other had these ingredients and about 1 teaspoon of ground up allspice and about an inch of mashed fresh ginger (I tied the ginger into cheese cloth so I could remove it when I felt the ginger level had reached the right level.

This was the first time I used the Pamona's pectin, and I am pretty excited about it since you can make lower sugar jams with it that really allow the fruit flavor to shine through.

It was also my first experience making persimmon anything, and I have to say YUM!

I also used about a  cup of some apple sauce I made the other day to make an applesauce cake (Joy of Cooking) which is very good. We plan to move it into our regular dessert rotation, so I will freeze 1 cup portions for easy accessibility.

For his part, Mark whipped up steaks with a fabulous wine reduction sauce, green beans with a lemon Dijon sauce and tater tots (yes, tots). Delish!

Yep, so far 2013 is shaping up just fine!

Next on the canning docket? Why, I have some pink grapefruits and I plan to marmalade those bitches up next weekend!

Happy New Year!