Bluebell

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Or Ball, as it were.  These beautiful blue Ball jars are my new obsession:

So now when I visit antique malls I’m on the lookout for vintage Pyrex and also these very old canning jars.  Because really, I needed more heavy glass objects to take up space in my studio apartment.

See how pretty my photo is?  That would be thanks to my new, tiny, very expensive camera.  I’ve been taking lots of pictures lately–of the blue jars, of my entire Pyrex collection, of the cat, of a turtle my mom found in the side yard, and of course of the bread that I baked all by myself from scratch no really:

And yes, the bread went perfectly with the strawberry jam.  We can add it to the list of things I have made this summer, which is actually pretty long:

• bread
• strawberry jam
• weird “supreme pizza” pasta salad that my mom liked and I did not (this recipe made a ludicrous amount of pasta salad, just warning you)
• Thai lettuce wraps
• this baked chicken
• tomato basil bruschetta (delicious, this was a two-nights-in-a-row recipe)
• now I’m tired of finding recipe links…
• homemade flour tortillas (not so successful)
• glazed lemon pound cake (meh)
• chocolate-chip banana bread (amazing)
• cinnamon chocolate chip sour cream coffee cake
• cinnamon coffee cake (again, my mom liked this one, me not so much)
• strawberry cream popsicles
• roasted pears with raspberries
• strawberry shortcake (homemade shortcake!  really!  it is very different from pre-packaged Hostress brand sponge cake!)
• freshly-squeezed lemonade
• guacamole
• bacon Cobb salad
• blondies with chocolate chips

Also: asparagus frittata, steak fajitas, ground turkey with peppers, and spaghetti.  Turns out, menu-planning is way more fun when you have someone else’s debit card at the grocery store.

Although I’ve apparently been spoiled in St. Louis, because shopping in Joplin is really frustrating.  I’ve had trouble finding fresh beansprouts and fresh cilantro and fresh mozzarella and (admittedly this was a long shot) a very specific kind of unsweetened cocoa powder.  After telling Sam about my shopping troubles I actually said, out loud, “Joplin really needs a Whole Foods.”

I’m not sure when I became the kind of girl who buys really old canning jars and yearns for Whole Foods, but there you go.

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Filed under a few of my favorite things, culinary prowess, sudden obsessions