The Joy of Discovering that Something is Easier than You Thought it Would be : Home Canning Tomatoes

I know people have been home preserving food forever, but, until eight months ago, the thought of putting food in a jar, storing it unrefrigerated on a shelf in the pantry, and then opening and eating it weeks later, lead me to fears of stomachaches and possible trips to the emergency room for accidental poisoning.So, when my mister, Nick, said that he wanted to try canning tomatoes in jars, it would be a lie to say I wasn't skeptical that we could do it safely. But I liked the idea and was keen to let him try because we have been trying to avoid commercially canned foods as much as possible (due to the warnings about how ingesting unhealthy levels of the chemical bisphenol-A BPA, found in the plastic linings in metal cans, contributing to heart disease).In past years we've made quite an effort to preserve foods, including boiling and freezing dried beans, making soups from scratch and then freezing them in serving size glass jars, pickling vegetables and storing them in the refrigerator, cooking and freezing some fresh fruits and vegetables, and for others buying commercially frozen ones. Last summer we bought a small separate freezer chest to store all the foods we were freezing. With all this we have managed to pretty well eliminate buying food in metal cans with a few holdouts like ripe olives, some fish (tuna, salmon and sardines) and tomatoes. The olives and fish didn't worry us that much because we don't eat the canned varieties that often, but tomatoes were another story. We tend to use a lot of those in our cooking.It made sense to give home canning them a try, especially since Nick was so interested in learning how to do it. So I suggested he begin by doing a small batch and we'd see how they turned out.Soon after we ended up with 3 tidy looking jars in our cupboard and a man who couldn't wait to open one. Four days later we both stood over a jar ready for the big reveal. The seal was very tight and opened with an audible popping sound. The specimen was put under my nose for a sniff. They smelled quite nice actually. A small taste-test also resulted in a positive result. So he used the tomatoes to make a pasta sauce, and since I'm here to tell you about it, there was no death by poisoning going on in our home that fateful day.Of course people have been safely canning food for ages, including my very own mother, who I used to help make delicious pickles and jams every fall growing up. But I remember the canning week-ends being quite an ordeal, fraught with very careful measuring, melting wax, and huge boiling cauldrons. And there was that year that the entire batch of dozens of jars of pickles didn't turn out and all had to be tossed.As an adult in my own home, I felt that home canning was just too labour-intensive and risky to really get into. But today I can honestly say that it's not that hard to home-can tomatoes and the outcome is very good. Nick has been buying Roma tomatoes (those oblong-ish ones also known as plum tomatoes here) in Kensington market once a month, where he can find them for $.79 to $.99 a pound, and putting up about 6 jars per canning session. The tomatoes are imported and not the best for eating fresh, but perfectly fine for canning. We did look for a bushel of local field tomatoes in the fall, but that would have turned out to be extremely expensive, so we have stuck with the imported tomatoes for canning purposes.As for cost, canning your own is not done to really save money, as they come out costing about as much as buying commercially canned ones, plus you have to put your own time into it, but the flavour is very good. Once you have it down, it only takes about 15 minutes of work, plus 45 minutes of boiling time.So far we have canned and eaten about 40 jars of tomatoes prepared using the following method, and haven't had a single one spoil on the shelf, so it works!

White Out

While I'm not a major fan of winter, walking around in the middle of a snowstorm is something I really like to do. It's pretty neat to bundle up warmly and get out there when it is really flying; the more snow the better.But this year I seem to have missed all the big storms as they were happening as they all seemed to have gone on in the middle of the night. Thankfully there was one big one yet to come, when a surprise storm passed through town yesterday.Snow in Toronto during the month of March is not unusual, and we often even get some in the first couple of weeks of April too. On average about 19 centimeters falls in March, spread out over the 31 days. What made yesterday remarkable was that three quarters of the usual monthly total, 15 centimeters, fell in about 10 hours, taking the streets from nearly completely snow-free to covered in a thick blanket.This was unusual and exciting so I ventured out during the height of the storm when the conditions were blizzard-like. After one block I began to think that my goal to go to Trinity Bellwoods Park might have been a bit of an optimistic stretch. I came very close to turning back but pushed on. I'm glad I did because it was an amazing experience and the best snow-walk I've had in years.

Socks with a Hole Become Fingerless Gloves

c="http://www.loulou.to/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/fingerless-gloves-made-from-socks-diy-2.jpg" alt="fingerless gloves made from socks diy" width="640" height="462" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-22629 blk-brdr">I rescued this pair of cotton socks after Nick found they'd gotten a hole in the heel. They felt so soft and worn-in-just-right, that I couldn't let them go to the trash yet, and planned to sew the hole up and wear them around the house.They were put in the closet and forgotten about.I recently found them again and decided to try turning them into fingerless gloves.On cold days I wanted something to layer over those small stretchy gloves, that are thin enough to use with my camera. They don't do much to keep your hands warm though, so what I needed something thick and warm to layer over them.These could be a great way to salvage a nicer pair of socks, such as some pretty hand-knitted ones. And they work if the hole is on the toe or on the heel.Here is how to make some :Supplies: A pair or socks. Regular Thread. Embroidery thread in a complimentary colour. Scissors and a Sewing Needle.

Witnessing the Beginning of Change

I once went on a few dates with a man who told me a true story about himself that was the stuff of nightmares.One time he was being chased by a group of guys, and every turn he took lead him to a brick wall and yet another turn. He was stuck within a maze of brick and concrete that he could not escape, and eventually ended up getting stuck in a corner. The gang caught up and he was badly beaten. He was lucky not to have been killed and was left with a scar to remind him of the terrifying experience.The reason we were talking about it years later was that there was a bright side to his story, as the event had been a life-changing occurrence for him, which had caused him to make major changes in the way he had been living. The scar was a daily reminder to appreciate being alive, and to work hard to make the most of his abilities. By the time I met him he had a good job and was in a very happy place.These pictures were taken from the outer perimeter surrounding the very maze that my friend had been caught inside. It is an 18 acre part of town called Alexandra Park, (located north of Queen Street West, going up to Dundas Street, between Bathurst and Spadina.) and is a self contained neighbourhood built by the government in the 60s to provide low-cost public housing.The result of designing it as a shut-off area, homing more than a thousand people in close quarters (I can't find the actual population but there are 800 homes in there), with no streets for outside traffic to come and go, resulted in it becoming a dangerous, crime ridden, enclosed place.The model for housing the city's lower-income residents was deemed a failure and there has been talk of changing it for years. No doubt this would be a huge undertaking, with an inevitable displacement of the people who lived there, a fact which became a big issue. But the planners and residents came together and agreed on a solution together.And so in February 2014 began the demolition of the old to make room for the new and (hopefully) improved. From what I’ve read, the ultimate goal is to integrate this area with the surrounding part of the city, providing mixed housing and a better place for many to live.FOLLOW UP:  Here is the outline of the plans for this large part of downtown Toronto, entitled “Alexandra Park Social Development Plan”.

A Lazy Saturday Morning

We had a slow start to the day today and laundry that needed doing was left on the bed 'til later.

But before taking it down we had to first make sure that there were no tissues in the pockets ...