Waiting for warm weather

Having gotten a taste of warm weather this past weekend, it's made me realise how much I've gone into hybernation. This winter seemed sort of endless and I cannot wait for spring to arrive.

Until then, I'm sharing a few photos I took last summer from ingredients in my folks backyard in Shelter Island. It was their first year of having a proper veggie garden and this next summer promises to be even better. We planted fruit trees last year (fig, pear, plum, peach and 2 varietals of apple) that should start bearing good quality fruit this year and I'm so excited! Having been put on a canning hiatus due to jam and chutney overload the last two years, we've finally cleared some space in our cupboards. This year I'm going to try some of the recipes from Mes Confitures by Christine Ferber in addition to my old favorites. I'll definately be making my Peach Raspberry and my Peach Plum.

And while it'll be a while until summer arrives, I've also been thinking that I'd like to get into pickling and Spring (which is almost, almost here...) seems like is the perfect time to get started. David Chang has some awesome recipes for quick pickles, korean style - ramps, asian pear, cucumber etc. Maybe I'll try that first....