So I made the Cara Cara Orange Curd. I'm glad I made it and had the experience, but I don't think I need to make it again. So my next attempt will be at Strawberry Lemon Marmalade from the Blue Ball book of Preserving. I have strawberries in the freezer from this summer that I'll use. We are almost out of the grape jam I made this fall from our own grapes. I will definitely be hoping for a good grape crop this next year. I'm planning gardens right now. Seems like a good time to think about that when we have feet of snow on top of the gardens. I'm looking forward to trying a small pumpkin patch and raised beds this summer.


This weekend I made a four layer chocolate cake with raspberry filling and a rich chocolate ganache made with a nice chocolate bar with espresso bean in it. The hardest part was pressing out the raspberry seeds, but it was well worth it. Erik and I played What's Yours Like? this weekend with the neighbors - great game and great company.

If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking.
- Buddhist Saying

I must have been turned around for blogging the past 8 months, but I think I'm back. I had some activities that I was more attentive to than blogging.

It has been brutally cold the past week in Minnesota. I thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine today. Yesterday I bought some Cara Cara oranges. I'm going to make some Cara Cara orange curd. It seems that eating citrus fruit is like a burst of summer in your mouth. We've been having the clementines that dot every grocery store entrance, but I saw the recipe on the kitchn and found Cara Cara oranges in our co-op and had to give it a try. I'm not sure what I'll have it on and of course I better make it instead of just talk about it - sometimes that happens.

I have a few bird feeders around our house, but I have found out that our neighbors have a bird spa (a heated birdbath) and they have had many birds hanging out at their feeders. I think that might go on a wish list of mine. We've had birds and I'm very happy to see them. Lately they seem to be a little more chirpy which is an early sign of spring. One of our bird feeders is too close to a railing and the snow is too high that the squirrels can hop right in and help themselves to the buffet of black sunflower seeds. I may have to move it away from the railing, but not too much I can do about the amount of snow. I guess I could have shoveled away from it but that would have been a lot of work with how much snow we've had this year already.