TEOTWAWKI

TEOTWAWKI .  The End Of The World As We Know It.  Kinda ominous isn't it?  I have read about this for years.  That term is usually aimed at so called Dooms Sayers, Prophets, and so called Religious Nut Bags.  I look at that term as we should always be prepared.  You may ask your self be prepared for what?  I say be prepared for anything that you think may happen.  I do not feel it is considered crazy to have a large pantry that can sustain you for month's or even up to a year.  I think of that as strong planning.  I have looked into creating a pantry that could sustain my family in tough times.  Looked and doing are two completely different things, and it appears that I have been caught with my pants down. 

Last week my employer dropped a bombshell that it will be consolidating resources, and reallocating real estate.  In other words, down sizing operations.  Please see below link.

 Verizon Wireless

My current position is being relocated to Salt Lake City Utah.  BUT, I have options.  In my center alone, it will affect nearly 325 people.  Other centers will be closed completely.  I have the ability to Relocate, move to the department that will be taking over in my building doing a completely different job, apply for jobs elsewhere within the company, or take a severance.  There is alot of doom and gloom going around, ( which is to be expected ), but honestly the fact that we have choices makes it a bit easier. 

Company's make these business decisions every day.  I can see that.  I am neither hurt, nor angry.  It is a simple fact of business.  I am not the first person to have this happen to them, and nor will I be the last.  What alot of people fail to realize, is as consumers, we do this all of the time.  We choose to go with lower cost's or better value.  I have jumped around in Car Insurance, Cable TV, Home Phone providers, shopping at Big Box stores instead of going with higher cost Mom and Pop stores, its the same thing. 

So you are probably now wondering where TEOTWAWKI  comes into play.  I have a bad habit of putting things off.  Preparing my family for what could be a long road ahead, eh well I can take care of that next month, well how about next month, and so on and so forth.  Well, I guess it is time to pay the piper, suck it up, and admit that I zigged, when I should have zagged.  I now truly understand the saying " Hindsight is always 20-20 ".

TEOTWAWKI  has very many meanings.  Zombie Apocalypse, Mayan Calendar, Y2K ( HAH ), financial collapse, the list goes on and on.  In my view, TEOTWAWKI  is just that.  The End Of The World As We Know It.  Depending on the choice that my family makes, it is just that.  Being home to cook dinner every night, having a very good schedule of holidays and weekends off.  It is not as drastic as the end of the world, but it means change. 

Many of my Friends will decide to take the severance package and retire early, or chase other options out side of our current employer, some will move to other centers across the US.  The JellyMan has not made a decision.  Moving to SLC would be a step in the direction I have wanted, but we will have to see if now is the time.  I am keeping my thoughts clear, my emotions in check, and dusting off the old resume.  You never know what hand life will deal you.  I have been sitting at the tables for the last couple of years, and have won hand after hand, and I forgot that in life, the house always wins. 

You never know.  This may be the kick in the pants the the JellyMan needed to chase other dreams.  During this time of decisions that all of my friends and work family are making, I will be making my own.  And while I am doing this, I will be doing alot of baking therapy both to keep my spirits up, and to keep the sugar levels up in all of us! 

Tastey Cakes!

Hello again!  Finally have time to sit down, and blog.  Christmas was a whirlwind of activity of cooking and canning!  Once that was done, then came Midget Pygmy #1's 7th birthday.  I can now sit down and breath!

I guess Christmas Jam's and Jelly's were a hit...I haven't been sued yet so that's always a good sign!  This year for Christmas we tried to give all gifts that were purchased or made locally.  Most of them were made in the JellyManKelly household as you can imagine from some of my previous blogs...it was alot!  This year we also added home made Vanilla ( that will be a future blog ) the beginnings of a home made Nativity Set, ( that mistake won't be repeated as I was asked wow, this looks great for something your children made......awkward silence.......umm no I made them.....continued awkward silence......okay moving on! )  And flavored popcorn from The Art Of Popcorn ( ask me how they can be at your next event and I will tell you!!!! )

After all of the time spent in my Kitchen, and then in my man cave making Nativity Sets, I was burnt out!  We have been doing very basic cooking, errr I have been doing very basic cooking, and today...I just couldn't take it anymore! 

Why watch the Superbowl when you can have a SUPER CAKE!!!

Looks good don't it?

This was the first edible cake I have made from scratch.  I made one before.....a long time ago.... when I got my Kitchen Aid 6Qt professional mixer from Mrs JellyMan ( way way before she was Mrs JellyMan ). 

I bought a bunt cake pan a couple of years ago at the insistence of Mrs. JellyMan...." If you buy it for me I will make you a cake "  Well that was like 3 years ago...and I found the un opened pan when I had to make room for a new dryer a couple months ago.  Good Times!

I need lots of help in the kitchen.....or at least I do according to Midget Pygmy #2

This is how you do it Daddy

Or is this how you do it?

Well after the help, we got the cake into the oven

This was a Chocolate Sour Cream, Bundt Cake with Chocolate ganache.  The recipe was on the back of the Cake Pan box.  I really do not care to flaunt my skills, but I did a dang good job on this cake!!!

I think my cake looks better!!

Muy festive with the Fiesta ware plates!

Mmmmmmm

Midget Pygmy #2 was more interested in gummy bear wars than eating.  He thought he would be slick and ask for gummy bears, then when he was done he would get his own cake...he fails to remember he is my clone, and I can think faster than him.  So he settled for stolen bites from me and Mrs JellyMan.

Overall, it was a good distraction from watching the Superbowl.  49ers weren't playing so it wasn't worth my time.  And frankly both of the Manning brothers look like they are missing brain cells or something.

Dishes are done thanks to Auntie C, and all I have left to do is wrap up this blog....wait slowly fading....talk to you guys later!

Alright we're jammin!

Christmas has officially peeked around the corner and yelled BOO!  It surprised me.  I have been thinking on how much Jelly or Jam I need to make, and the number astonished me.  I have over 154 Jams and Jelly's to get done in....well....yeah not alot of time.  The last couple of days I have been busy.

I had planned on a 4 day no interruption weekend to get this done, but it didn't work out the way I had planed.  It never does.  Sooooo without further ado.....Its Jelly time!

I boil all of my jars in the caner, and then put them on cookie trays in the oven at 200 degrees.  Keeps em nice and hot.  I have not had a jar explode when coming into molten sugar since I have been doing it this way.

Next we have our trusty caner, and trusty kettle.


Now the one thing that makes all of this craziness possible.....

Chocolate...mmmmmmmm Auntie C hooked me up with these..... Okay so back to my art!

I have quite a list to fill for Christmas.  Apple Butter, Pomegranate Jelly, Orange Marmalade, and White Wine Jelly.  I also have 2 custom orders pending right now, Raspberry Chipotle Sauce, and Jalapeno Pomegranate Jelly.  Both sound like interesting combinations.

Monday I pretty much only worked Apple Butter.  We went up to Apple Hill this year, and I came home with 40+ lbs of apples.  I ended up running out and had to run to the store to get 2 lbs of apples. 

First I cook them in a pot with Water and Apple Cider Vinegar for about 20 minutes at a medium boil

I cook them till they are soft, but firm.  I quarter them and leave the peels and cores and stems in them, it all adds to the pectin.  Now...here comes the fun part.

Ahhh my Friend.  The Chinois Sieve.  I ladle apple mixture through it and all of the seeds, and other things I don't want in my butter stay in there.  Its a great way to take out aggressions.  Beating up on Apple's always makes my day a bit brighter.  " Oh I'm sorry...I didn't hear you....SQUISH...can you hear me now" ?  " Oh my spreadsheets aren't good enough even though YOU ASKED FOR THEM THAT WAY " SQUISH!  Oh my day got better and better the longer I got to squish stuff.  All of that is behind me..so now it is on to Apple Butter. 

I add the Juice and zest of one lemon, Allspice, Salt, Sugar, Cinnamon, and cloves.  Now for the secret...

Yes...the microwave.  Most recipes call for cooking it down in a pot, constantly stirring.  Forget that noise, I do not have time for that.  30 minutes in the microwave takes off 4 hours of cook time.

Ahhh the finished product out of the canner.  I get about 8-10 jars out of each batch.  Its all relative.

After doing that for hours and hours and hours, I then switched off to Orange Marmalade

Yeah I don't like Marmalade too much so that is the only picture you get.

Day one count of 47 jars of goodness.


A good night sleep, and extra strong coffee Tuesday morning helped me get back into the swing of things.

I started off with another batch of orange marmalade....yeah....still not my favorite.

I then moved on to White Wine Jelly.  Now that's some good stuff, and only like 4 ingredients.  Wine, Sugar, Lemon Juice, and pectin.  LOVE IT!

I got the recipe for this from my friend at work...its been a keeper since the first time I made it. 

This one didn't want to seal...so I cheated and put it in the window....then I got bored and went out into the Man Cave

Not to bad if I say so myself

Next we did Pomegranate Jelly.  This is a close second to Apple Butter.  This Jelly is important to me because my Grandmother Pauline made this for years.  She lived down on the " Ranch " in Modesto.  She had access to Persimmon Tree's, Pomegranate Tree's, Fig Trees, an Orange tree or two, and Walnut Tree's.  Actually, alot of people in my family have made this, but the memory always goes to her. 

I only did 2 batches of this as I ran out of pectin, and I was slowly running out of energy.

I finished off the day with Sugar Free Strawberry Jam.  I thought it was a failure, but Mrs. JellyMan ate it today, and she didn't die.  So I figure it is okay.

I still have a couple of batches left in me before Christmas.  The gifting of Jam and Jelly may be slim, but its the thought that counts.  Getting something for Christmas that is handmade is a wonderful feeling.  The fact that someone took the time to MAKE you a gift always warms the heart.

The end result of day 2.  In both days, I canned a total of 97 jars, and had 3 failures.  One Wine, one Apple Butter failed to get a good seal.  I also had an explosion in the canner of the strawberry Jam type.  Ehh Not to bad for a couple of days work.  My kitchen is in shambles, I don't want to see another grain of granulated sugar, and for the next day or two I HATE mason Jars.