My Summer: 3

Because of my oldest daughter's stomachaches, I spent many hours in the kitchen this summer. I very much enjoyed At Home with Jamie. I used his enthusiasm to put my garden to use, and start cooking fresh!

I also feel like I received a cooking education via Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food. It is fantabulous! It's a few generations of lost secrets in the kitchen. It's funny, in this era of graphic design with all things visual, and our generation's rapidly declining attention span, enter Alice Waters, with the brilliance of simplicity. I need pictures... I need pictures on everything, blogs, magazines, and cookbooks (especially cookbooks). Nope, not in this book. It's a tonic to over stimulation. It's a salve to hyperactivity. It is a classic.

Waters offers nine tenets for a "food revolution":1 Eat locally and sustainably 2. Eat seasonally 3. Shop at farmer's markets 4. Plant a garden5. Conserve, compost, and recycle 6. Cook together 7. Eat together 8. Remember food is precious

We spent the summer trying to do just that!

And one of my proudest accomplishments this summer is my attempt, and successful achievement of homemade jam. There is something powerful about researching and attempting something that seems so forgotten, and lost inside a people of convenience. It's enchanting. I think I understand myself better and have drawn a little closer to my farming roots. There is a simple way of life that I hope my family can sustain inside of suburbia.

Now we have tasty jam on the shelf made from blueberries, apricots, and pears. Not to totally freak you out, but we did happen to pick the blueberries and pears ourselves!

But none of that tasty jam would have been possible without Lip Smakin' Jams & Jellies. What a resource!