It is Open Season on Strawberries! Although with the rain we've had lately - okay not as bad as Calgary - but still unseasonably wet and cool - strawberries are liable to drown before they get picked. But I found some to buy from a farmers market in Richmond. When I told her they were for jam I got a discount because they were yesterday's pick - it pays to be honest I guess. This year I didn't want to do a usual box of Pectin type jam so I scoured the internet and came up with my own recipe.
Jam preparation started on Friday afternoon and evening - you wonder what us exciting innkeepers do? Now you know about friday night's anyway. On Saturday after breakfast we started making jams. I have always made all the jams for the house. When I first bought the house in 1991 the former innkeepers used to buy jam in a jar. I never felt that was the type of gift I wanted to extend to a guest so we somehow in that busy summer of 1991 managed to make jam. Again I was in Richmond buying fruit and I had 100 lbs of blueberries that were going home to be frozen. I was driving my sporty Celica - I loved that car but I realized on that shopping trip that it wasn't practical. I became a Mini Van owner within a few weeks. Sporty car gone but homemade jam every summer!
After making the jam we headed over to Barclay Heritage Square - we have our extra parking in their parking lot and I donated the parking to their cause - their annual Strawberry Tea. It was quite fun - live music, a bizaar type set up with tents and local vendors - belts, scarves, hats, garage sale items, used books, paintings. One of the booths was operated by the West End Hookers - the Strawberry Tea is put on by the West End Seniors Network and the West End Hookers apparently reside there! Scandalous until I realized they sold crochetted and knitted items - tea cozies and such! Gosh! There was an old BC Electric trolley bus showing a movie of a train ride called the Interurban that used to go all the way from Vancouver to Chilliwack. And according to my 87 year old Mom it used to pass within a 1/4 mile of where I grew up.....the service stopped before I was born though. But I have heard about it from my Grandparents, Mother and others for years. It was quite a treat to watch. The House museum - Roedde House - was open to the public. I had been there a few months ago for an event but this was the first time I have been upstairs in the house. For its day this was a pretty interesting house with an 8 sided turret reaching 3 floors. Worth a visit if you are staying at the West End Guest House as it is only around the corner and we have their brochure in our Guest Pantry.
It turned out to be a very busy day because in the evening I had purchased tickets for Bard on the Beach. The production of Hamlet is in previews but the theatre was packed. I won't say I know much about Shakespeare plays but I will say I thoroughly enjoyed this production. It was set in modern day Denmark complete with hi tech gadgets. It got a standing-O at the end, so I know I wasn't the only one pleased. Visit them at www.bardonthebeach.com.
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| That's Ron stirring it up double! Right hand is rhubarb strawberry jam while the left hand is stirring regular strawberry. Good thing he has some dance training! |
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| My berries sat overnight in the sugar. And in the morning became confiture! |
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| From Pot to Jar. This jams a star. Okay, don't shoot me...I'm not a poet. |
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| Barclay Heritage House Strawberry Tea |
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| That Ron and Me and our local Member of Legislative Assembly Spencer Chandra Herbert and my Mom - Pat always has a hat! Gosh, I'm good....more rhymes. |
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