One of my dearest friends lives far away, not east coast far, but in the armpit of California far. Keene, CA far. At least from Napa. So the Mr. and I felt like we all needed to visit this past weekend, so we scooted the half a dozen hours down to see our new-ranch-owning friends.
Going to their home, is like taking a mini vacation filled with land, horses, throngs of dogs, and lots of home chores. Home chores that both the Mr. and I love to partake in, making us what I think of as the perfect house guests to a place like theirs.
As Kate's husband Nick started a burn pit of old wood (amongst other things), Kate took the Mr, and I to the craziest fruit farm we have ever been to. It reminded me of a circus, that was overtaken by fruit trees and pony rides. I thought about taking some pictures, but decided not to scare anyone. Despite the craziness, they did have some exotic (and cheap) citrus that Kate and I picked up determined to make something of it all. Kumquats, however took priority, as mysteriously, we both had the idea to make marmalade.
Kate and I have a lot in common, we like to can, cook, garden, etc. and it is one of the many things we love to do together that we do not get to do often enough. So in our best of intentions, we planned to do all of those things on our visit, and as you already can tell, marmalade was on the plate.
I brought my mecca of jamming cookbooks, which we both ogled over prior to starting our venture. So while the boys played outside, and somewhere in between making lunch, pickling green beans, feeding the horses and drinking cocktails, we made some of the most tedious beautiful marmalade.
Kumquat Marmalade.
from Blue Chair Jam Cookbook.
We had a day, not three, which the book suggests to be the correct amount of time to make the marmalade properly, so we condensed the waiting time in between steps, which did not seem to be an issue in concocting the final product. So if you are doing this at your leisure, please, feel free to take your time, but if not, feel free to alter it to your time frame allotted.
After careful consideration, and reviewing the entire recipe again, I did not feel I would do justice to the recipe by posting it. I want you to just buy the book. Really, do it.
I say this with love. xoxo.
After careful consideration, and reviewing the entire recipe again, I did not feel I would do justice to the recipe by posting it. I want you to just buy the book. Really, do it.
I say this with love. xoxo.
