This time of the year sidewalks, bike paths and parking lots are littered with squashed mulberries. They get on shoes and on cars. In reality, they only taste “okay”, which makes them almost pure nuisance.
Last year I collected a couple pounds of them and added a lot of lemon juice to make a palatable (actually, great) jam. They naturally lack the acid to balance out the bland sweetness. This year I wanted to make a jam with rhubarb for sourness, but I guess our rhubarb isn’t mature enough to use. I found a different solution… I had read that keeping a few unripe berries in the mix would add some sourness to help balance the flavor. I tasted the white and pink berries and found that they were actually the ones that tasted good. I ended up picking a lot of the younger ones and the overall flavor was a lot closer to balanced.
I also found that laying down some plastic sheeting under a tree and shaking the branches yielded some quick results, and kept me from getting too stained in the process. The pink berries were ripe enough to fall when shaken, so it worked out well.
To 3 lbs. of berries I only added 2 1/2 cups sugar (instead of the 7 cups recommended) and 1/2 cup lemon juice. From 3 1/4 lbs. of berries I was able to make six 8 oz. containers.
I know a few people who have a unique way of perceiving and organizing their sensory inputs. This short film is a pretty great visualization of this. Thanks to Karen, (a synesthete herself) for the link.
I was fascinated by this story on NPR about a young man who was deported from the US to Mexico. He was raised in Warrenville, IL, quite nearby. He is well spoken and, his story had me somewhat perplexed. His family is in the US legally now, but he’s in Mexico trying to figure out how to work things out. Listen and tell me what you think. It’s only the first half of the audio file.
DEADLINE post-it stop motion
“This is my senior project at Savannah College of Art and Design. Where my idea comes from is that every time when I am busy, I feel that I am not fighting with my works, I am fighting with those post-it notes and deadline. I manipulating the post-it notes to do pixel-like stop motion and there are some interactions between real actor and post-its. Here is the making of.” - bunliu
Lately, I can’t get enough of greens, especially spicey, herbal arugula. I like to slide a couple easy over eggs on top of a bed of arugula and then cut it up a bit so the runny yolk doubles as a rich dressing. Savory breakfast. Try it, if you like these things.
Gardens are growing, thriving... pool set-up is in process. We are getting the perfect mix of rain and sun to make the world beautiful. Some are complaining that it's not hot enough, but, doubtless, it will come.
