Apricot-Blackberry jam

Following this recipe, I made two batches of apricot-blackberry jam yesterday.


The first batch tasted great, but didn't firm up enough. It's not so runny that I would call it syrup, but it is a runny jam. I think I rushed the recipe a little, letting it just boil, instead of hard boil. I couldn't help it, though; I was excited.


I didn't have enough blackberries for the second batch, so I ended up using 2 cups blackberries and 2 cups raspberries (from our u-pick experience).


I bought the apricots from the Lake City Farmers Market. Which means that while I harvested only half of the fruit in this jam, it all came from either local farmers, or in the case of the blackberries, a public park in Seattle.


I was patient with the second batch, and it turned out runny as well. Not sure what I did wrong, but at least it's tasty.

Spring is Here!

The first day of Spring in Seattle was beautiful. I think the mercury reached 68 degrees or so. I spent the Equinox with my husband and some good friends. We started the day off at the University District Farmer's Market. Most of the offerings were still winter-fare, with many root vegetables and squash. That was to be expected. I left the market with a loaf of sourdough bread and a small strawberry plant.

Then we went to Bad Woman Yarn to buy yarn for a sweater project I've been dying to start. My friend and I checked out every ball, skein and shank of yarn in the store before I finally decided on the perfect yarn. More about that later.

The evening was filled with food, friends and games. Our friends brought over Settlers of Catan, a game we had heard much about but hadn't had the chance to play yet. We played two games before my friends had to head home, and then we played another before we went to bed. I had a blast.

I had such a good time that day, in fact, that I completely forgot to take any pictures. And so I leave you with a picture from yesterday of one of my cats enjoying the Spring sunshine in my little nook.