Blogiversary Giveaway

It's been a while since I've done a giveaway on the blog and since we've just passed my two year blogiversary,  and since I just had my 100,000th pageview, and since it's that time in between winter and spring that is just so....so....transitionary-al-ish,  I thought we needed to give something away.  And, I thought it would be nice to give something away that is red.

Red is warm.   Red is good.  Red is the color that gets me from Christmas to March.

So I collected this cute little red whisk and this awesome grater/zester with the attachment that holds stuff like a nutmeg for you as you grate so you grate only the nutmeg and not your knuckles.   Because we don't want so see that kind of red.  They're both made by KitchenAid.

And I wrapped it all up with one of my own handwoven towels in a fabu red plaid, with stripes in cherry, lemon, lime, orange and sky blue.   I love these towels.  I wove them myself.  100% cotton.   Machine washed and dried already, so you don't have to treat it daintily.   Use it!   Love it!   Then toss it in the washer and dryer with all the rest of your towels.

The Rules:

• Leave a comment telling me what you're looking forward to this spring.
• Please consider friending/following me on facebook or Twitter or Google + [Links on my sidebar, near the top - that's what the barns are.]
• Please consider voting in the cookbook poll at the top of my sidebar.
• Open only to folks in the U.S.

Giveaway will be open until 11:59pm March 1st, 2013.  The winner will be selected at random from the comments and posted later that week.  Please only comment once.  

If you want to see my other handwoven towels,  here's the link to the towel section of my Etsy shop.  I'm sure you'll find a color you love.

Marmalade Tools

It's that time of year.   Time to raid the grocery stores of all that gorgeous citrus and make some marmalade.

I scored a nice selection of citrus this year and decided that I'd make a batch of  Four Fruit Marmalade to start things off.  [Recipes coming soon.]

Last year I tried Food in Jars' method of making marmalade.  She supremes her fruit.   This year I decided to skip the supreme-ing and just section the fruit with a grapefruit spoon.

Honestly, I liked the spoon better.   It was just as fast, too.   [The one in the pic is an old silver one I picked up at an antique mall for cheap.  I can never seem to get the tarnish all the way off.]

Which brings me to the rest of the tools I use when I make marmalade:  A sharp knife and a couple of zesters.

Because marmalade is all about the zest. 

I found a new zester this year.  The long one with the red handle in the pic above zests beautifully and quickly.  The zest is small, but not too small.

I like it a lot.  It's a KitchenAid medium grater.

This thing is really, really sharp.

Really sharp.  So be careful!

For longer zest, I use this little thing.  It's a 2 in 1 lemon zester.  There are bunch of different brands out there.

It takes longer to use but I like the longer confetti zest that I get with this.

Hold the fruit firmly in one hand.   Drag the zester along the fruit with the other, using your thumb for support on the back of the fruit.   This way you can get the job done pretty efficiently.

The larger blade to the side of the zester [pic above] is for when you want really big peels, like if you were candying lemon peel or something like that.

Once you've mastered these, then you'll end up with this. [KitchenAid medium grater]

And this. [2 in1 lemon zester.]

And then you're ready to make marmalade.






Want the recipe for Marmalade and a whole lot of other terrific jam recipes?   Check out my ebook:  A Simple Jar of Jam  at www.rurification.etsy.com.   You can preview the book by clicking the link on the sidebar.  Every purchase helps support this site.  Thank you!