"Martha Stewart Day"

Insisting she enjoys doing things "the hard way," Louise and I got together for a first attempt at canning. Initially, I scared myself by reading too much online about bacteria, botulism and whatnot. But, what the heck ... women have been doing this for generations, right?


My kitchen isn't exactly spacious ...


And all the peeling, chopping and stirring was pretty time-consuming.


But the results were gorgeous. Two jars each of persimmon preserves and ginger-pear marmalade.

We finished the dilly beans in the dark, so no shots of those. I'll report back to let you know how everything tasted.