Leslie's Home Spot

Our cherry tree is very productive this year, and the birds seem to have missed it. We got a good harvest, and I started my annual jam and jelly making.

 

I am finding that certain pectins work better with certain fruit. I like MCP for dry pectin and Certo for liquid. I tried Ball dry pectin but I didn't have luck with it.

 

This is my little cheat sheet for preserving:

 

Blackberry Jelly     6 pints     MCP

Cherry Jam           3 lbs        MCP

Raspberry Jelly     5 pints     Certo (2 packs)

Salsa Jam            16 oz Jar  Certo (2 packs)

Grape Jelly          3 lbs         Certo

Pepper Jelly         1 lb          MCP

 

Major hint - don't mess with your recipe, don't half or double. Dont mess with the sugar or subsitute a different pectin in a recipe (follow the recipe in the box.)

 

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads, Grandpas, Uncles etc out there!

 

Our preparations for Father's day were a bit of an adventure. I asked my husband for gift ideas, of which he said he had many and gave me none. So I had to think and figure something out for myself.

 

My Dad's shopping is what took us on the adventure. My Dad like the driving cap style hats. It started when I brought him back one from Edinburgh Scotland (from the woolen mills of course). That one wore out and I found one in a really nice shop in Vail Village in Colorado. That one too is wearing out (It has been over 20 years since I went to Scotland and 10-15 since I bought the Vail hat.) Two or three years ago, I remember stopping at an old store near the Saturday Market and seeing these driving caps. I couldn't remember the name or EXACTLY where it was, but I knew sort of where it was. So Carl and I set off to downtown Portland on Friday afternoon (nothing like cutting it close!)

 

I parked in a garage that I thought was close, and we set out walking. There was a new Barnes and Noble that looked like it was in the building I was thinking of, which had me dissapointed. I then realized (after walking a few more blocks) that we were too far south, so I had to walk north. After some more walking and hearing "I'm tired, can we rest?" many times, we found the store. It's name is Portland Outdoor Store. It is a very old store that specializes in western wear and tack, but they also carry menswear. I loved the store! It was very warm and the people were helpful without being pushy. It has a bygone era's elegance. I really enjoyed shopping there.

 

They don't have a website, but google had information:

 

They are located at:

(503) 222-1051‎

 

There is a store in Portland called US Outdoor.  While I am sure it is really cool too, it is more of a outdoor sports store, not this old western store.

 

Ok, so after we found the hat, I asked Carl if he wanted to go to any other stores. First he said Toys R US (of which there are none downtown) and then Ross. So We went shopping at Ross. Carl found a discounted Mater Megablocks set and a few of Cars items that were needed in our house. We looked some more and Carl found a DVD of Pink Panther cartoons. He wanted to get that for Daddy. So we paid for our purchases and headed for the door, only to realize there was a major sudden downpour. This was not the normal soft Oregon rain, this is the hard stuff that really soaks you and hurts when it hits you.

 

We then discovered that Ross didn't have a good selection of umbrellas (they sold out in the first two minutes of the storm) or raingear. We were only three blocks from the car, so Carl and I headed out into the mess. The eaves didn't provide much protection, but they were better that walking uncovered. Carl was really pulling away from me, I looked to discover he was trying walk purposely in the water draining off the eaves. Crazy kid.

 

About halfway back was Nordtrom Rack. We stopped in and I bought an umbrella. Carl wanted me to buy the full size houndstooth umbrella, I wanted the compact brown with polka dots. I got my way on that one. We then set off to the car.

 

Thinking that traffic might be bad on the highway, we took Burnside home. Once out of the city center proper, there area has a lot more trees. A large branch dropped in front the of the car! Thank goodness for good brakes on my car and the cars behind me!

 

We then went to Home Depot. Rich had mentioned that he needed new batteries for his cordless tools. The rechargables weren't holding a charge anymore. I found them quickly and went home. I was so beat I needed a nap. Carl didn't cooperate....

______

 

Baby Sam's dad won father of the year at the Oregon Zoo!

http://www.oregonzoo.org/Newsroom/2009releases/2009June.htm#foy

 

Vote for Sam for cutest zoo baby:

http://www.budgettravel.com/bt-srv/zoobabies2009/vote.html

He is the baby elephant that is swimming. (not the one that is nursing).

 

 

I uploaded a video of Carl from 2005, he is laughing and playing in the snow. What a great laugh!

 

We went winetasting in Yamhill County over Memorial Day this year.

 

The first day we focused on Wineries west of Newberg, down highway 240.

 

We went to Penner Ash, Patricia Green, Beaux Freres, Shea and JK Carriere. While at Penner Ash, someone told us of a party concept - a Shea party, everyone bring a bottle of wine with Shea grapes in it. It is possible as many wineries have bottlings of Shea. We bought some of their Shea futures.

 

We picked up futures at Beaux Freres and ordered futures from Penner Ash, Patricia Green, Beaux Freres and Shea. At JK Carriere we bought some of their wonderful white Pinot Noir - Glass.

 

For the next tasting day we focused on the Red Hills south of Dundee. We had been to a few of the wineries there before and wanted to go to some that we had not

been to. We went to Stoller, Vista Hills, Winter's Hill, White Rose and Durant (Cottonwood was also tasting there). We really liked Stoller and White Rose - they are some of our favorites. Vista Hill had some tasty wines too, plus I love their tasting room. Winter's Hill specialty seems to be more in the sweet wines. The location was charming. Durant is at Red Ridge Farms, whick is a really cool nursery featuring herbs and their own Olive Oil.

 

We have in the past visited Wine Country Farms, Domaine Serene, Domaine Drouhin and Archery Summit. We still have never visited DePonte or Sokol Blosser.  Next time maybe...

Carl played t-ball this spring. It was fun. It took a while to hear what was happening, and I ended up being assistant coach.

 

It was a very fun season - most of the time I was saying "quit playing in the dirt" or "quit watching the ducks."

 

Some of the kids really started to get the skills - there was one little guy who got 4 people "out" at first, two unassisted. It was really hard moving him off the base, but I had to give everyone a turn.