Cookies in the Mail and Beef in the Marinade

Ho ho ho.

They’ve been shipped!

Well, most of them.  I have a couple things to add to two of the boxes, and those will go out tomorrow.

YAY!

Today I’m making jam and mustard.  I HAVE to make at least the jam today.  It’s a grape/cranberry preserve, actually, and Alex made me pinkie swear that I’d make it today so he could have the leftover grape juice.  I’ve been refusing to let him have any, just so I have enough, and I think he’s reached his limit of endurance there.  So today will be a canning day. 

And I’m very happy about that.  It’ll make a nice change from the baking.

What else…

Well, I’ve got beef marinating in the fridge.

We’re making Sauerbraten for an early Christmas get-together with family on my husband’s side who won’t be around or are already committed to other parts of their families next week.  I kind of hope this week-ahead gathering will become a tradition.

Bill decided on Sauerbraten, and I’ll make Spaetzle as well.  (And for some reason it looks like a bunch of links within that post are broken, and I’m not sure why, but I’m planning a revamp of my whole recipe section for after the first of the year, so if you need to find something, please either email me or look through the categories for now.  Thanks for your patience!)  And Bill has sauerkraut fermenting in an old pickling crock on top of the fridge.  The rest of the menu remains to be seen, but it’s got a good German start.

The Sauerbraten marinade is primarily red wine vinegar, which you combine with other things – carrots, onion, celery, red wine, water, and some spices – and then bring to a boil on the stove top.  You let the marinade cool, and then pour it over the meat.

I did that yesterday, and you know, just the smell of the vinegar got my stomach growling.  Happens all the time – Bill will make a barbecue sauce or we’ll do something as simple as make a vinaigrette, and the vinegar makes me salivate.

Just thought I’d share that with you.

It’s hard, you know, because I try to use vinegar and baking soda and so forth instead of store-bought cleaning products, but every time I wash the windows (with the vinegar and water), I drool, and I have to go back and wipe that off the windows, too.

There must be a better way.

Anyway, with that little odd bit of humor, I bid you “see you later” so I can go keep my pinkie-sworn promise to make jam.

Comments

[jasmine]

how do you pack your cookies for shipping, by the way? i have a friend who adores mexican wedding cookies - i used to make them for her every christmas, but now i've moved away. i've been thinking of sending her a box but i'm afraid they'll fall apart since they're so crumbly. how do your cookies hold up?

[Jayne]

I pack my cookies as tightly as I can without smushing them, and I sometimes use tissue paper to cushion the more fragile types.

[judith]

Somewhere I saw something about shipping cookies, especially round cookies, wrapped in several sheets of butcher paper. Making a sort of tube. I guess they would be stacked inside the tube. I know some of the people sending to the military ask for Pringle's tubes. I guess the wash them out and use those.