So I bit the bullet yesterday, I took the kids strawberry picking. I have been wanting to go for a few summers now, but we have been away during the season or life just got in the way. This year I was determined to go. I was worried about how well Nolan would do. I had visions of him running through the patch squashing all in his path, I was sure we would be asked to leave. Thankfully it was not that way at all. The boys were extremely helpful and had a lot of fun. We ended up with two pails full of strawberries - yummy! The best part was the boys were not fighting and were working together. I really got to enjoy them as they explored the strawberry patch searching for ripe fruit.
When we returned home, Ethan continued to be a big help. We washed the strawberries together then made strawberry jam with one pail. I did not fair so well during the jam making process. Or I should say my house did not fair so well...
Whoever decided it was a good idea to make flat top stoves and sell them to families were wrong! Okay so really it is our own fault for buying one...
I am not sure if anyone else out there who has or has had kids in the house finds this, but I am finding I am a rather distracted cook. I will be in the middle of making something and a kid will want or need something right at that moment and it pulls me away from what I am doing, I then forget where I am at and things burn or end up ruined or spill over. Which brings me back to my stove and making jam. I tried to set myself up for success, Sage was just fed and settled in the swing, Nolan was doing a craft that needs no Mommy support on the back deck, and Ethan was "helping". I thought I could make jam from start to finish in the time that I had, I even bought the liquid pectin to speed the process up...
My first mistake was making a double recipe in a pot that was too small - I forgot that the mixture froths when it boils. My second mistake was using a cast iron ceramic lined pot to cook the mixture in... I put the mixture in, set it on the stove and set the temperature so it would boil. Now my husband often teases me that I set everything to max and that things will eventually boil if set on a lower setting - however, I need things to boil this millennium, does he not understand that the kids have a finite attention span and waiting for it to boil on a low setting is too long! Sure enough as things normally go, all heck breaks loose and chaos erupts. I am trying to diffuse a fight, tantrum and settle a fussy baby and sure enough the mixture decides to boil... boil over... Turn the stove to Off, which makes no difference as I used the cast iron pot which retains its heat REALLY well! Grab the pot, drag it to the sink, sloshing sticky jam mixture everywhere. Meanwhile the mixture left on the stove is continuing to burn filling our house full of smoke.
You can now picture a 3 year old having a tantrum, a baby crying, jam spread everywhere and our fire alarm going off. By the way it was not one fire alarm, our entire alarm system was ringing. Add to that a 5 year old asking why the alarm was going - if it was a fire? etc... Then of course the phone then started ringing - the alarm company making sure it was just me making jam and not a real fire... Awesome!
I think I have finally cleaned up the mess I made from yesterday. The top of the stove looked awful with the burnt on sugar/strawberry mixture. I spent a good hour or two scrapping off charred goop, trying not to scratch the top of the stove. All I can say is never again will I buy a flat top stove - what a pain!!! Or maybe I should listen to my husbands advice and set everything to low heat to eventually boil...
This is my life! I look back and all I can do is laugh. The jam turned out fantastic - had some for breakfast this morning. Every time I eat some of the jam we made, I will think of the experiences we had in making it and it will always bring a smile to my face.
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