Hastings of Harrington Lane: July 2011

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Fruity Goodness…

Around here we eat fruit like we’re never going to see another piece of it’s sweet goodness again. I can’t keep it on the table long enough. This week alone I’ve had to go to Wal-Mart 3 times to get peaches and nectarines…and each time I walk out with at least 20 thinking it will be enough, only to be back in a few days. Remember that 5 gallon bucket of cherries? Yeah, aside from a few friends, we pretty much ate the entire thing ourselves…and no, we don’t get the runs…;) Our yummy habits may become a problem if we don’t start getting our own trees in every variety known to man. And if they could magically become year round producing trees, that would be nice too.

Anyways, today I have 2 delicious things to share with you.

1. Bountiful Baskets. My friend, Tara, introduced them to me when we moved here…and how did I not know about these before? For just 15 buckaroos you get a big basket of fruit and a separate big basket of veggies from a co-op of farmers. The first time I got one I was surprised to find that the cauliflower was from Big-E produce in good ol’ Lompoc, California! Way to make me feel at home my first week here, Big-E. Now I just need to figure out how I can get 2 orders of fruities and one order of veggies…sorry my green friends, we just don’t go through you as fast.

2. Apricot Jam. is. so. good. The week before I moved out here, J’s mom taught me how to make their version of Apricot Jam. I’ve only made plum jam from my parent’s tree at home plus strawberry jam and boy was the prep for Apricot jam easier! Here’s a photo recap:

First, get lots of fruities. These were from our Aunt Angelyn’s tree.

Then, pit them (apricots make this SO easy) and mash them to smithereens.

Heat them up and add sugar.

Next, the fun sticky part…pour hot jam into clean jars, and put a hot lid on each.

Then, notice how much jam gets dripped on your preggo belly while waiting for the jars to “pop” seal.

Lastly, behold your finished work and have a piece of toast!

Next year I want to make some lower sugar versions of jam…not with artificial sugar, just less. Anyone have any good recipes for that sort of thing they want to share? Thanks!!!

xoxo, MJ

Monday, July 25, 2011

Our House!!!

Last week we finally were able to close on our little old house. Our house was built in 1948 and is on what I call “Temple Square” in Vernal, because we live one block away from the temple and can see it from most of our North facing windows…THAT is probably one of my favorite things ever. We got it for a steal of a deal and want to renovate it, as renovating an old house and actually living in a house we own are two things we can now cross off our bucket lists! The first things on our to-do list are finding out it’s little quirks from being old and sitting for so long foreclosed (plumbing, critters, what is this hole for?), cleaning up the yard and most definitely putting together the nursery for our babycakes. Here’s a little taste of some of my favorite things now…there’s lots of work to do so I’ll post more pictures as we slowly make progress and work on our projects.

I love the huge windows all throughout the upstairs. They let in so much light and it keeps the whole place cheerful…I’m just going to have to come up with a lot of window treatments to keep out heat and cold…but I’m more than happy to have fun with that. :)

The living room is this huge L shape, so I’m making the lower part of the L into a formal dining room area.

I love that I can see the temple through those windows by the sink. Makes washing dishes not so bad. We do plan on redoing the kitchen someday…the countertops are super short (barely come up to my hips….makes me question how tiny people were back then or if really short people lived there).

I love that someone added on this cute little sunroom-like kitchen nook off of the kitchen.

One of the rooms upstairs was converted to a big laundry room…but we’re keeping it that way and it will double as a sweet mom’s office and craft room! Hooray!