Some days shopping at the market is the best part of jam making. Other days it's the transit to and from, as was the case today.
The scene: the 23 Monterey bus stop behind the market, a few feet from a truck-full of caged chickens, pheasants and rabbits awaiting their doom. A woman waiting at the stop noticed me watching the stall owner grab a chicken by the feet and move toward the back of the truck, his other hand grasping a long metal implement.
"I don't even remember how to gut a chicken," the woman said.
"Mmm," I assented.
"It's been some time. Twelve years?"
"You could buy a book, probably," I offered.
"Or look it up on the web," she said. "My husband and brother hunt for turkeys in the fall. They looked up on the web how to clean 'em. I never ate that turkey, though. I said, 'If you had to look it up on the web, you probably did it wrong."
I got peak season O Henry peaches, $1/lb (organic), at the Ferrari stand. A recipe tomorrow...
I went early to Rainbow to load up on more half-pint jars (back in stock!) as well as some other supplies. In the bulk foods aisle, I tried to find a larger plastic bag to contain all the white sugar I needed, impervious to the flyers posted around the store advertising a food lecture:
Clearly I've found the digital macro setting on my new camera. This morning I went to the farmer's market with a special guest non-jam-maker, where I picked out blackberries ($5/qt)and blueberries ($8/qt).
Tonight the blackberries will macerate; tomorrow I'll go to Rainbow to buy new jars and then cook down the fruits. I hope my half-pint Masons are back in stock...
