Cherry-plum jam

It will be no surprise to me if, at this point, you accuse me of having gone overboard in the cherry-buying department. But I did so happily and am almost through my load. I had about 25 pounds between all the sweet and sour cherries, and today have made 3 pints of sour-cherry jam, a double batch of boozy sour cherries and now, this sweet cherry-plum jam courtesy of, wait for it, the Food in Jars cookbook that I seem to be having a real Julie and Julia moment with. All that remains are a quart of sweet cherries and probably a similar amount of their sour pals. I'm thinking about making a pie with them...  

Good job SCOTUS, Mitt- you better watch your rebuttal of your own program, Boozy Cherries!

Thank god some folks had the well-being of Americans at heart. Three cheers to those justices who voted to uphold the ACA. Yes, you'll pay a free-rider tax (as you should) if you don't purchase health insurance, but otherwise, we'll have to pay for your free-loading which is part of the soaring cost problem now. Boo to the haters out there, boo to the screamers who are wailing crazily about further efforts at repeal and the damnation that will come down in November. Boo! What do we think Mittens is going to say when he gives his drone-like address around noon? He'd better watch it being that his program in Massachusetts is largely what the ACA is. Hmm...

In the meantime, y'all, I made a batch of sour cherry jam from the Food in Jars cookbook (divine), the crust for a grapefruit tart that I'm making for a wedding shower I'm catering on Saturday, and now, a vat of boozy sour cherries is steeping away on the stove: sour cherries, Luxardo and lemon peel. Great cocktail garnishes, yes?! Mamma mia!

Whoa! Percy! Cocktail!

What a day! It started in some a lovely fashion- the boys slept until 6:20, two girlfriends came over for tea and nibbles, I got a massage(!), the boys were in good moods, and so forth. Smooth sailing and then.... Dah, dah... I get a call from a name I don't recognize. I decide to answer it and THANK GOD I did because it was a great Samaritan who had picked up my escapee pug (the gate opened by itself and he happened to be outside- what!?) as he ran aimlessly and crazily through a very busy traffic circle during rush hour. She was sure she and her children were going to watch him get pancaked, but in the meantime, she had the wherewithal to pull her car over and woo Percy with chicken they'd just bought for their take-out dinner tonight. Then they called us and the rest is history. OMG! In any case, a good day overall. The massage? Bliss! Time with girlfriends? Fab. These ladies and I met three years ago in Pilates. We have seen one another pretty much every week since which, if you think about it, is a lot more than you probably see most people. We had a great time, and I was able to pawn some pie and jams off on them. Thank you J and G! And during their visit, I finished up the apricot-sour cherry jam. I think it will be more of a sauce as it didn't set in a dramatic way, but the flavor is amazing.

This evening, awash in sour cherries and mint, I just got going with both. First I made a terrific mint simple syrup. Then I poached some sour cherries in that syrup and then froze them for the boys; they devoured them. Finally, I made a new cocktail which I've just drunk 2 of. Super! Mint syrup, lemon, vodka, St. Germain and dressed with two frozen minty cherries and a little mint. Ooh-la-la.

Who else finds the Koch brothers a little scary? They've pledged to spend/raise $400 mill in the hopes that Romney is elected. Yo!