i canned, i saw, i conquered

friends & neighbors, i took a step today from which i will never be able to return. as i write this, i've officially entered the ranks of...marriage material! ok--in truth, there's still a long way to go on the psychological/social front, but if you want to talk domesticity, please believe i've conquered it. why, you might ask? well, at this very moment, bubbling away on my stove, is a CANNER!

yep. tonight i made and canned salsa, in preparation for winter/the lack of mexican food in the near vicinity. sure, there's decent-enough salsa at the grocery store down the street, but where's the fun in that? besides, upon finding out that i had an inkling of a desire to learn how to can, female relatives on both sides of the family deluged me with enough paraphernalia to start a small munitions factory. so, it seemed that if i didn't report back with some sort of positive canning news, a lot of face was going to be lost. thus, i canned!

six hours later, some scalded fingers, and a ruined manicure later, i can definitively say that canning won't be an everyday (or every season, or every year) addition to my kitchen repertoire. it was however, a lot of fun, and really did make me appreciate the amount of work that goes into keeping food by, whether on the commercial or household level.

i started out with a few pounds of cherry tomatoes from the plants that keep cheerfully invading my parents' yard. note to (future) self: make things easier, and don't use cherry tomatoes. they took FOREVER to peel! the larger ones i used were a lot easier.

 jalaps, of course! and TONS of chili powder, garlic, cilantro & lime juice.

 part one, done.

 my grandmother's canning jars! words can't express how happy it made me to use something that used to belong to her.

 jars all ready to be packed!

the whole shebang! minus the most important part, the giant canner that i could probably sleep in if it came down to that.

as of right now, it looks like i've got three, maybe four, jars of salsa to get me through the winter. won't know for sure until tomorrow, but i'll say this: even if it's only 75% successful, that's still a better average than anyone in MLB. so there.

carma, part ii

my car's been in the shop most of this week for some fairly serious (read: pricey) repairs. some thoughts on this:

--why do i always seem to wear white dresses whenever my car needs to go to the shop? the men at the corner station must think i'm the biggest princess.

--on a related note, it's REALLY uncomfortable/difficult trying to keep a white dress clean in a garage. try it sometime.

--the shop's owner is named buck brock--a really great quarterback name! which, i think, is all in the alliteration--colt mccoy, tim tebow, etc. (the notable exception being my perhaps #1 all-time quarterback name, johnny unitas--mostly because he sounds like a superhero.)

--walking is super-inconvenient. i'm all about slowing down and enjoying the moment, but when you get a little too caught up in TCB-ing, as i often do, walking somewhere is insanely patience-trying. it's pretty much impossible to multitask while walking--reading's out, and forget about writing anything. it's even hard to text at full walking speed, unless you want to end up like dexter strickland.

--then again, there's no real reason to rush anywhere in marlinton, and it was GORGEOUS out today. so really, what's there to complain about?

--when i went to pick my car up, nobody could find my key. it turns out they moved my car, left the key in the ignition, and left the car unlocked.  considered having a freak out for about 1.37 seconds, then realized: IT'S POCAHONTAS COUNTY. nobody's going to steal the car.

--but really, it's pretty incredible. only place i know of where a car should, but won't, get stolen!