Pick Your Own

On Memorial Day My Secret Agent Lover Man and I went berry picking at Stokes Berry Farm. Berry Picking is one of my favorite things. Last year we went raspberry picking at Stokes towards the end of the season and it instant became a hit in my book. Now it is the beginning of strawberry season and they expect the raspberries to be pickable at the end of this month. I picked about 6 and 1/4 lbs of strawberries in the hour that we were there. That is a little over 3 quarts and it only cost me ten dollars! That is a pretty damn good price considering when you buy them at the store they are usually four to five dollars a quart (don't quote me on that I'm guesstimating because I haven't been the the store in the last few days.)
so what did I do with my amazingly cheap and terrifically fresh hand picked strawberries you ask? I made jam! My first ever home made strawberry jam and my first attempt at canning all in one evening. I think it was successful too! so I should be able to keep this jam for up to a year if i don't open it!
Jam maikng and canning was really very easy. I was hoping to snap some pictures for you but my camera is out of commission. So I'll just give you a little step by step outline of what I did. When I was looking for information I thought the article on the pick your own website was most helpful - they can also help you find pick your own fruits and veggies near you!

- I picked my strawberries of course
- I washed and sterilized my jam jar - I did this with hot soap water and then I boiled the jars. This worked out well because you have to keep the jars warm so they don't crack when you pour hot jam into them.I let them stand in the hot water while I made the jam.
- Then I measured out my berries, washed and hulled them. I smashed my berries because I didn't want big strawberry chunks. (that was fun!)
- I mixed one box of pectin (pectin is a naturally occurring thickener found in fruit) with 1/4 cup sugar and mixed that with my berry mash and heated it to a boil. I added the remaining sugar and boiled that hard for one minute. I read that if you bring it back to a boil over medium heat it reduces the foaming the the top.
- once the jam was ready I pulled my jars out of the hot water and and dried them off. I filled each jar to 1/4" form the top and screwed on the lids tight.
- I boiled water in the large pot I used to sanitize the jars.once the water came to a rolling boil I submerged the jars and left them for 5-10 minutes (i started pulling them at five minutes)
- Then they cool. After about 30 minutes you will hear the jars "POP" and that means they canning was successful and they sealed properly.

And Presto! Home made strawberry goodness!

Vegan Dining

On Sunday, My Secret Agent Lover Man and I went downtown to a scope out the city’s food festival. I’d gone before once, when I was a few years younger and a lot less adventurous in my eating, but this time we were on a mission to search for once specific vendor – Loving Café.
I researched the online menu for the entire festival before we went and I was happily surprised to find that a lot of the vendors offered a vegetarian option. We voted to divide, concure and consume as much vegetarian eats as possible in hopes of finding new goodies we could add to the dine out directory. Once we arrived, it was very crowded and rather late in the day and most of the vegetarian options (while they all sounded very tasty) didn’t seem worth the wait that the majority of the vendors had. We did however track down Loving Café, which neither My Secret Agent Lover Man nor I had ever heard of, and we purchased 3 out of out five food items from them.
I heard about Loving Café from a chef at my school who was offering extra credit to those students who tried their vegan and gluten free desserts. I originally thought that they were only a bakery but upon looking into their locations full menu I realized they carry much more. Their whole list of options is vegetarian and I believe all vegan as well. We tried their spring roll, bbq vegan chicken, and chocolate cake. I was impressed by it all and I look forward to visiting their storefront soon. It will definitely find its way into our dining rotation.
I’m so excited to see that a place like this exists. Although I am not Vegan, My Secret Agent Lover Man and I have discussed how hard it would be to eat out in this area if one were to choose a vegan diet. It is thrilling to see that we now have a restaurant that serves a complete menu of vegan dishes.

What is Black White Redand Awesome All Over?

Mission Statement:
This blog was created to aid me in my quest for knowledge in the areas of my life that I am most passionate. Black White Red and Awesome All Over will server as a personal journal and an electronic note pad where I can post my findings.

I know this is a very general mission statement but i want to stay away from being too specific. I would like very much for this blog to grow and change with me as my passions and interests do the same. For now I expect most of the posting to center around general scratch baking as well as vegan baking and the ingredients used to do each. I also have a love for literature and film that will probably make an appearance in these posts.

Disclaimer:
All of the information that is posted in Black White Red and Awesome All Over will be either my opinion or my interpretation of information I have read and researched. While I will do my very best to be 100% accurate there is no guarantee that all information shared here will always be factual. If something is inaccurately reported please feel free to correct me as I am probably misunderstanding the information myself.

Thank you for reading Black White Red and Awesome All Over,

The Artisan Assassin