Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

On July 20, hosted by the Portland Beavers was the annual "Bark in the Park" at PGE park where you can bring your dogs with you to watch the baseball game! So who better to bring than but my beloved basset hound Libby. We are always looking for ways to get her out and socialized since she is still a pup (although no light weighted small fry as you can see in the picture above). Plus it was going to soon be her 2nd birthday so I thought this would be a great early birthday present! And I really wanted to go since recently I have started to become a fan of watching baseball (Thanks Lisa. ...although it will never replace my love for basketball and the Portland Trail Blazers!) This time they were playing the Aces from Reno, NV, and even though they aren't the greatest team they won 2-1!


Since it was my puppy's first time to a baseball game, we had to do it up right! Above is a picture of her eating her first ballpark hotdog, something everyone must experience! Of course she loved it! Maybe because she kinda looks like a hotdog herself...? As well we got her a miniature Beavers baseball bat, which she proudly carried around. My dogs are so spoiled!

Naturally we met a lot of other dogs there as well which was so fun! One of her favorite new friends was a 5 month old baby beagle named Willie, he was so stinkin' cute! And they played for a while in the stands. We met a lot of other people there as well all who either adored her (because she's adorable) or said something along the lines of "Whoa! That's a long cool looking dog!" It was great, we all had a blast!

After wandering around the stadium for a while visiting and meeting new friends, we took a seat and watched the rest of the game. There she is just enjoying watching the baseball fly across the field and resisting the urge to run down and chase it. (As well she continuously tried to reach her neck out and snag that couple's hotdog in front of her). She's such a laid back dog, I love it! All in all it was a great day at the ballgame and we can't wait until next year! Anyone who lives in Portland and has a dog should definitely join in on the event!

Jammin' With Jam!

The other day my family and I made homemade jam! For most of us it was our first time making it, but lucky for us my cousin Andy's wife Heather is queen when it comes to anything and everything sweet and deliciously homebaked! So she gave us a tutorial on the art of jam making.

We started off by going to Rowell Bros. Fields on Scholls Ferry Rd. In Hillsboro, a u-pick berry farm to get our most important ingredient. We decided that we wanted to make blackberry, raspberry, and boysenberry jam. We ended up picking about 50 lbs worth of berries!! It was time to go back to the house and start cooking up the deliciousness that would be homemade jam! By the end of the day we were pros making nearly 30 jars of jam! We could have made more because Lord knows we had more than enough berries to feed a large army but we got tired and decided to call it a day. Since I had such a great time I think I will attempt to teach you how to make it as well! So here goes... Keep in mind that this is only the recipe for most berry jams, except strawberry so don't try and make peach jam with this recipe!

You will need:

(utensils)

-2 large sauce pans

-Mixing spoon

-Hot sterilized jars with lids like in the picture

-A funnel

-Tongs

-A towel to place the hot jars on

-A wet washcloth

-Extra bowl to hold sugar

(ingredients)

-5 cups of the berry of your choosing

-4 cups granulated white sugar

-1 tsp butter

-1 package pectin

*Makes about 3, 1 pint jars of jam.

Preparation:

In one of the sauce pans boil hot water and place the lids in the water to sterilize. As well the jars need to be hot so the best way is to just put them in the dishwasher and turn it on with no soap. If you dont have a dishwasher they can set in the hot water but make sure you get as much water as possible out before adding the jam. Keep them boiling on the stove until needed. Next measure out 4 cups of sugar into a bowl and set aside.

Now its time to start cooking!

Measure out 5 cups of berries into a large pan as close to exact as possible. Add the pectin, butter, and 1/4 cup of the sugar you measured out earlier. (There should be 3 3/4 cups sugar left in the bowl now.) Place the pan of ingredients on the stove and continue to stir, mash, and mix together until it becomes a liquid and is brought to a boil. When it starts boiling quickly add in the remaining sugar. Mix in vigourously (it will probably start to foam and rise but thats ok, keep stiring and it will go down). Let it come to a rolling boil again and time it for one minute, then remove from the heat. Make sure you are stirring the whole time it is on the stove to keep from burning.

Now its time to put them in the jars! First take the boiling water holding the lids off the stove. Set the jars up and using the funnel fill them with the jam leaving only about an 1/8 of an inch at the top of the jar. Then with the wet washcloth, wipe down the edges of the jar so there is no spilled jam on the outside or around the rim. With the tongs carefully take the lids out of the water and put them on the jars. When they are on tight, flip the jars upsidedown to seal and leave them for about 10-15 minutes. After flip them back up and you are done! To check if they sealed push down on the lid, if it doesn't pop then it worked! If not thats ok to, just stick it in the fridge and you are still good to go!

Congratulations! I hope you enjoyed making jam as much as I did! If you want to make a different type, inside the box of pectin there will be recipes and directions for many other flavors of jam!