hawaii gone digital..

by Julie Marie Craig (me!)

Hawaii Hawaii Hawaii, how I miss you already.
I have been back for almost a month now and I still constantly miss just lying on the beach, having positively nothing to do all day.

Waking up to go to my 3am shift is completely torturous, even more.

I was only there for about a week but is was such a much needed break. I didn't take many photos, sometimes its just nice to enjoy the place and not feel the distance from it from behind a camera.

These are a few of my digital files. Another post to come of the dil photos I took, whenever I manage to send them in to get developed and then scan them.

My mom sent me over all her photos, so I threw in a few of them as well, credited of course to the woman who is constantly taking photos.

A few from Iao Valley, the place we went directly after the plane ride. We'll not technically 'directly' after, frozen treats were need first. 

After a short drive from the airport, we were in a different land. Fruit stands all the sides of the road, tropical plants everywhere and views of the rainforest in one direction and ocean in the other.

I had been there before but it still seemed breathtaking because you don't really remember it like it truly is.

While looking through one of the magazines about maui that we had gotten, someone saw that there was a goat farm between the area that my grandma was staying and where we were. 

After my amazing trips to Harley Farms in Pescadero, CA I always want to go to other goat dairies. 

So after my persistence bugging and a windy road that looked like it was leading us the wrong way, we made it to Surfing Goat Dairy. There were goats playing on surfboards, hay that you could feed them and the friendliest cat I had ever met wandering around the grounds.

I fed a few of them, bogarted the cat from little kids and tried their cheeses. It was amazing, one of my favorite places that we went to.

On one of our last days we went to the lavender field that was up, far away from the beach. 

All the chairs were painted purple, all the railings and there was every type of lavender you could imagine there. They also had a garden and a quite surprising amount of succulents. I, of course, at a lavender field was more draw to the succulents. Magical little plants.

The trip didn't last long enough. 
I kept sending texts to my partner saying 'take me to the water!' 
It has gotten Hawaii hot here in St Helena and with no ocean in sight, I am in desperate need of a trip to the water.

My Family. taken by my Dad.

by Julie Marie Craig (me!)

Swiss Chard in a garden. by Julie Marie Craig (me!)

by Julie Marie Craig (me!)

by Julie Marie Craig (me!)

by Julie Marie Craig (me!)

by Julie Marie Craig (me!)

by Julie Marie Craig (me!)

by Julie Marie Craig (me!)

by Julie Marie Craig (me!)

Photographing the surfers. taken by my Mom

by Julie Marie Craig (me!)

by Julie Marie Craig (me!)

by Julie Marie Craig (me!)

by Julie Marie Craig (me!)

by Julie Marie Craig (me!)

by Julie Marie Craig (me!)

Me. taken by my Mom

Wandering through the gardens. taken by my Mom

cherry jam

cherry jam.

There are quite a few cherry stands popping up around my town. Tis the season.
I bought a bag of cherries, not knowing what I would do with them but just felt compelled to buy them because of their deep color, amazing taste and cheap price.
I kept thinking I should make a pie.
Cherry pie, not something I often have.

But then when push came to shove and I really needed to either eat them all or make something quick before they all went bad, I really didn't want pie.
Strange, who doesn't want pie? Pie always sounds good to me, if it's in the apartment, that is definitely going to be eaten for breakfast.

But with a abundance of coffee in my system and taking forever cutting out all of the little pits, I really just wasn't craving sweets. So jam seemed like the perfect option since it could be eaten later. Plus I only needed a few ingredients for it which was perfect because my fridge and pantry is quite sparse at the moment.

So I made jam. I didn't use a recipe.

You could go look one up if you feel so compelled but sometimes its just nice to wing it.
I took the de-pitted flesh of the cherries, tossed it in my big le creuset (courtesy of sur la table), squeezed a lemon over them to preserve the color and threw a bit of sugar on top. Probably one cup of sugar for a bag of cherries.
Then just let it boil until it all the liquid had reduced quite a bit until a thick, gooey sauce. I heated it over low heat, since my stovetop can burn everything even on low but you could probably use a medium flame. Just give it a quick stir every once in a while so the bottom doesn't burn.
Then I spooned it into two little weck jars and boiled them in a waterbath to 'can' them.
The ball jar website has a great 'canning 101' instructions you can download that will give you all the proper information. HERE is the link.

Thats it, quick a simple.

Now time to get ready to go ride bikes and see the Great Gatsby tonight!