In an attempt to pull myself back up, I decided to take the phrase literally is probably a good start. With Emre's help I have begun to attempt pull ups. This in itself is hilarious. Seeing as I can not do a single pull up, let alone reach the bar (and it's too high to jump and grab), I need help. Every morning and night I make an attempt at one, with Emre giving me a little push, and then I slowly release myself from the bar. This is a good routine that is helping build up my otherwise scrawny arms. One day I will be able to do it all by myself.
In addition, I decided it's best to keep myself busy and stay away from the computer as much as possible. Today happened to revolve mostly around the computer, and I allowed myself a small 20 minute nap, as it was much needed. But, this time I actually got up feeling refreshed and I really must attribute it to the past two very productive days. Which mostly consisted of making jam.
There is a tree on the other side of the garden wall so laden with plums that a branch the size of my arm actually snapped. There are several more heavy branches hanging over the wall onto our side. Sick of seeing all the over ripen plums splattered all over the ground I set to work collecting several kilos of plums. They are very small, unlike any plums I've ever encountered in the states.
Not wanting to waste all the plums in case my first ever batch of jam turned out less than exquisite, I decided to start with only one kilo of plums. Luckily Emre's mother is a really great cook and gave me a good recipe.
In the end it came out beautiful. Just the right texture and firmness, and the color was perfect. A lovely red-orange. It is a tart jam, as the plums are rather tart, but I tend to prefer tart to sweet so it's perfect for me.
Not wanting to lose momentum, or waste the plums, I set out to make a second batch the very next day, this time adding equal parts sugar to plums (the first time I only added 800g sugar to 1kg plums) in an attempt to make it a bit sweeter. No dice. It's just as tart. I can only hope I can find enough people who like tart jams to give away my excess. There really is too much. And I still have another kilo of plums sitting on the kitchen table and several more waiting to be picked from the tree....
In addition, I decided it's best to keep myself busy and stay away from the computer as much as possible. Today happened to revolve mostly around the computer, and I allowed myself a small 20 minute nap, as it was much needed. But, this time I actually got up feeling refreshed and I really must attribute it to the past two very productive days. Which mostly consisted of making jam.
There is a tree on the other side of the garden wall so laden with plums that a branch the size of my arm actually snapped. There are several more heavy branches hanging over the wall onto our side. Sick of seeing all the over ripen plums splattered all over the ground I set to work collecting several kilos of plums. They are very small, unlike any plums I've ever encountered in the states.
Not wanting to waste all the plums in case my first ever batch of jam turned out less than exquisite, I decided to start with only one kilo of plums. Luckily Emre's mother is a really great cook and gave me a good recipe.
Not wanting to lose momentum, or waste the plums, I set out to make a second batch the very next day, this time adding equal parts sugar to plums (the first time I only added 800g sugar to 1kg plums) in an attempt to make it a bit sweeter. No dice. It's just as tart. I can only hope I can find enough people who like tart jams to give away my excess. There really is too much. And I still have another kilo of plums sitting on the kitchen table and several more waiting to be picked from the tree....
