Friday, August 16, 2019

Old Mama At Home

I have been an old-lady-domestic-crone today.
So to speak.
I took a walk and it about killed me but didn't and I hung laundry on the line and tried once again to clean my shower doors. Remember that project? I tried everything and nothing did the least bit of good at getting the water stains off. I finally bought this horrible chemical spray that's supposed to take the paint off a dump truck but I never used it because I thought that it would kill me to breathe the fumes and/or touch it but yesterday I finally got it out and tried using it and
A. I could barely smell it, and
B. It didn't burn my skin, and
C. It didn't do a thing

I used it twice yesterday and this morning I gave it another go and even scrubbed but no, the water stains are still there and will be until Jesus returns.
And that was my last hope!

Oh well.

The other day Lily discovered that she had a couple of sand pear trees on her property. Florida sand pears are an Asian variety that are somewhat more rounded than the pears we're used to and their skins are sort of ugly looking and they are hard like the hardest apples.


They're called "sand" pears because they have a grit to them and you can peel them and eat them sliced, raw, but I love them for cooking. They are substantial! So Lily brought me a bag full yesterday and today I got out the canning kettle and perused recipes for preserved sand pears and then I peeled and sliced them while the water was heating to sterilize my canning jars. I sort of winged it, adding sugar and a little water and lemon juice and a small bit of grated ginger and cinnamon to the mess and boiled those suckers down until there was a nice syrup and the pears were tender.
The big half pot of this concoction cooked down into four almost-full pints and I kettle-canned them and although that's a pitiful amount I think they'll be delicious.


The pears make beautiful pies. I can also imagine baked pears with blue cheese. 
It truly is a luxurious indulgence to spend hours making preserves like this. No one in the world NEEDS pear preserves and once you add in the cost of sugar you could probably buy them cheaper at the grocery store. But those four little jars give me a sense of accomplishment that no store-bought preserves ever will and I like to think of the early Florida women who, in the heat of the summer, canned the fruit that grew around here so that in winter their families would have a bit of sweetness to put on their daily biscuits or corn bread. 

So it's been a typical August day for me in North Florida. Hot, humid as fuck, laundry off the line, clean sheets on the bed, water-stained glass shower doors, hair still wet from a morning walk at 7:00 p.m., more pretty brown and green eggs in the wooden bowl on the counter, wild grapes fallen onto the sidewalk from the vines in the trees above, a little bit of fruit and history preserved in Ball jars. 


That's an abandoned palm tree beside an abandoned house three doors down from me if you count the church next door. Which I do because it has a door. 

Fun fact: I finally counted and there are NINE churches in the six mile drive to the west of me. To put this into perspective- there probably aren't thirty houses on that route. 

Happy Friday, y'all. 

Love...Ms. Moon

24 comments:

  1. Those pears sliced on a mandolin on a pizza with walnuts and pesto and goat cheese. I just ate eleven tomatoes how can I think of food rn? Because you inspire me is how.
    XO

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    1. Might work! But the pear preserves might be even better on that pizza. Can you imagine?

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    2. Yes! I put fig preserves on pizza all the time with baked garlic. Yum.

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  2. For years my daughter had a restaurant that served locally grown food. Ahead of her time. She also had a pear tree in her back yard, and she had those pears everywhere on the menu.

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    1. That's really cool, Joanne. If I had a local restaurant here I'd definitely incorporate those pears into many dishes. People just let them drop and rot. The squirrels can't eat all of them.

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  3. You are lucky...first to have fresh pears and then to know how to preserve them. I'm betting they'll be delicious whichever way they are served.

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    1. Preserves are basically fruit and sugar. And a lot of cooking. Not very hard but they do take time. I love to make them.

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  4. Happy Friday indeed! I haven't done any kind of preserves in years. The pears sound delicious.

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    1. I'm thinking about how good they'd taste with cream cheese on delicious crackers.

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  5. I love pear preserves. My grandmother used to make them and the were much firmer or maybe crisp is a better description. I wonder if they were sand pears. Love Gail

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    1. They may well have been. These things are pretty dang crisp!

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  6. Hi, I'm new to your blog but I've seen you around on other blogs for quite a while. Those pear preserves sound so good. I love pear preserves but you don't see them very often. Your glass shower door - have you tried Mr.Clean Magic Erasers? They work kind of like ultra fine sandpaper but they do not scratch or have strong chemical smells. I've had good luck with them on shower doors.
    I'm so glad I found your blog. I love your writing and you remind me so much of the south - I grew up in Arkansas but live in Missouri now.

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    1. Hello and I'm glad you're here, Bonnie!
      I have tried Magic Erasers. They did nothing.
      I don't know if I've ever been to either Arkansas or Missouri. Come visit the blog any time. I talk about the south a lot!

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  7. I don't understand how houses become abandoned. Like, SOMEONE must own that property. Why don't they sell it or rent it or DO something with it? It's a mystery to me.

    "Baked bears" -- LOL -- that's an interesting typo. :)

    I've never heard of "sand pears" but I wonder if that's what my dad used to have in his yard. He had a pear tree that came with his property and we never ate them because they were too hard and tart. Why didn't we think to make a pie?!

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    1. Oh my god! I was so embarrassed when I saw that typo! I immediately went and edited it. But you know- baked bears? Like maybe bears that got into the edibles?
      I think my next door neighbors own that house. I heard (and this may not be true) that they bought it to prevent the "wrong sort" from moving in. I do not feel the need to say more than that. It would take a hell of a lot of work to restore it.
      Sounds like your dad did indeed have a sand pear tree. Think of all of the deliciousness that no one experienced!

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  8. i love celebrating the mundane with you here. hope the boys had a good first week back.

    xxalainaxx

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    1. They did, Mrs. M! I saw them today and they were both quite cheerful.

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    1. Pretty much except I wouldn't expect heaven to be this damn hot.

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  10. I should probably learn how to can. I prefer to put up food by freezing because it doesn't cook whatever to death in the water bath but come the apocalypse we may not have electricity to run freezers unless we had the foresight to install solar panels. but then my stove is electric so I wouldn't be able to can either. I guess I ought to learn how to grow food better first.

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    1. Heh-heh.
      I just LIKE to make pickles and preserves. That's all there is to it. The jars of food make me feel fabulously wealthy.

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  11. There is a similar (fromm the way you describe it) pear growing here which ie traditionally used on a recipe called pears, beans and bacon (Birnen Bohnen und Speck). Just that. Green beans, the waxy kind that you can break with your fingers.
    Have you tried a flame thrower with that shower?

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    1. Sounds like a good recipe! I mainly say that because it has bacon in it.
      Every time I go to attack those water stains I think of you taking your shower doors off and soaking them in a kids' pool with vinegar in it. Am I remembering this correctly? I swear- I've considered doing that but we all know I never will.

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  12. If you ever find something to take off the water spots go down to Auto Zone and buy some of those windshield wipes from Armour All. After the shower, wipe dry and then use the wipes to keep water from penetrating. I wish I know what would take off the water spots but I am sure that you have tried everything that I would suggest.

    I just love pear preserves. My mom would make the most wonderful cobblers with them and she would preserve them. In the winter I would put a large spoon of pear preserves on top of my kids oatmeal.

    So sorry I am so far behind. I am playing catch up today. I just love your new layout. I love everything about the Moon and Sun and Stars... xx

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