Chefofcake

I have affectionately named this year the Land of Not !  Seriously, it has been nothing but chaos which means a lot of the things I normally do are not being done, including blogging.  Some years are just like that but honestly, I need things back to normal.  Aside of mint and gooseberries, my garden is non-existant and I doubt there will be much in the way from the peach and pear trees.  I realized the year quickly slipping away leaving me little time to get my canning done before we head south.  So, I went to my favourite organic grower last Thursday to pick up beans for fresh eating and canning.  Green and wax beans are one of my favourite vegetables to can.  By far, the best canning bean with respect to flavour and texture is Blue Lake but any string bean can be canned, especially the heirloom favourite Kentucky Wonder.  Ask for these varieties if buying.  Both grow easily and are suitable for small spaces growing vertically.  It's ...

This has been the first year in many, many, many years that my home canning in down.  Despite that, I am always on the look-out for home canning products.  One of the recent food contaminants concerns has been BPA (Bisphenol-A), an additive found in many plastics.  Most of the exposure to BPA is dietary through plastic food containers and the lining in metal cans.  The general work around is to avoid using plastics entirely and if not possible use BPA-free plastics.  Home canners, however were forced to use BPA lined single use canning lids unless they used glass inserts or Tattler reusable canning lids .  [Please note the warning against using the 4ever Recap canning lids as they have an extremely high seal failure rate during storage.]  One of the reasons I do a lot of home canning is to avoid food contaminates like BPA.  The fact that the metal single use snap canning lids contained BPA has bothered me ever since I made that discovery.  ...

Our View From Our Condo Balcony Costa Linda Beach Resort, Aruba May 17, 2014 Aruba is an amazing island to visit!  It is one of the friendliest and safest islands in the Caribbean.  The average temperature is 82�F with trade winds keeping the humidity at bay.  My husband and now former friends first visited Aruba in May of 2012 .  We very much enjoyed our visit so when the owner of the condo offered to sell it to us, we accepted buying it between the two couples.  Quite frankly I was against the purchase but decided to go along with it because it made good financial sense.  Unlike a time share that has a set ending causing the value to decrease, the units at Costa Linda Beach Resort are deeded with no ending date so the value will increase.  Essentially we own that unit for one week each year until such time we decide to sell.  If we don't go one year, we can always rent our unit out.  It is an ideal way of making a tidy profit.  This ye...