caterwauls yummies

caterwauls

yummies from a loving hand

Auntie Jane's Good Stuff - food, preserves, canning, recipes, cooking and eating

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I am a capricious breeze
I am the awesome fire in the sunset
I am soft rain in the forest
I am as timeless as the oceans
I am the strength of Woman
I am Love.

The seasons come upon us quickly

The delicious Fraser Valley strawberries and raspberries and other produce come and go very quickly in June and are famous as their own delicious variety so don't miss the opportunity to preserve your own! (Note: These are not those perfectly formed, bright red berries from California that are white and woody inside. Our berries are a separate variety that won't ship and need to used ASAP) You can go to the farms and pick yourself, or buy them there, or even purchase them retail but do make yourself some delicious jam. It isn't that hard and all you need to do is follow the directions of a recipe. You do, of course, need to have some equipment, like the large pots for boiling and sterilizing your jars.

Strawberries were cultivated in ancient Rome, bellissimo, Julius! And are very high in vitamin C, potassium and antioxidants. BC berries are vine-ripened and picked daily resulting in the berries having a unique, intense sweet flavour. Don't be put off because they are not all a uniform shape, these special BC berries are about taste!

We believe that once you start canning, you won't accept the commercial products filled with preservatives and things you cannot even pronounce, there is nothing like the fresh taste of your own efforts and the feeling of accomplishment while looking at your larder! So go for it, fill your pantry, start today.

The summer is short but British Columbia produce is without doubt, the most flavourful of all. There's something new in every season and they pass quickly, grab on now. Why not get back to Grandma's old ways?

And why not enjoy it all year?

Did you know that Sir Edmund Hillary made a side trip to Vancouver to buy Fraser Valley strawberry jam on his way to conquer Mount Everest?


Give AuntieJane a bowl of fresh local figs and .......	..... fig jam!

What to do with Auntie Jane's good stuff ... or your own good stuff ...

Bruschetta

Pahoehoe Sauce

English Mustard

Toast a fresh French baguette with cheese and top it with drained Bruschetta. (Use the liquid in a vinaigrette) You can mix Auntie Jane's Bruschetta with cooked pasta, olive oil, Parmesan cheese & pepper. Or even serve crackers with white cheese topped with a spoon of bruschetta.

Pahoehoe flow in Hawaii can be seen on the Big Island and is the smooth rope like lava flow from Kilauea. A'a flow is the rough one. That's why we named our smooth pineapple delight sauce, Pahoehoe! (In Hawaiian you pronounce every vowel) Use it over ice cream. Spoon on chicken while it bakes, or dribble on hot baked ham. It is a delicious flavouring for your BBQ'd burgers too. Or even on humuhumunukunukuapua'a. Regardless, Auntie Jane's Pahoehoe no ka oe!

AJ's Pahoehoe Sauce ©

What can we say, Pips? It's not Grey Poupon but it's not snooty either! Use it at your tailgate party even if you're not going to the big game! Slather it on a grilled burger or a ham sandwich while you watch a cricket match and try to figure out the Rule of the White Sweater.

Human beings do not eat nutrients, they eat food .... Mary Catherine Bateson

Please try these URLs for more information about preserving your own produce -

Bernardin - http://www.homecanning.ca

National Center for Home Food Preservation - http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/

Avery Labels - http://www.avery.com/avery/en_us

It takes so little time and the reward is large. And it isn't complicated at all. To get started all you'll need is your large canner, which is only about 16 to 24 dollars, your jars and lids, about 8 bucks, sugar and Certo for berries, not even that for veggies, consult individual recipes.

Could it be less easy? And a flat of fresh Fraser Valley strawberries! That's enough to have jam all winter and plenty of berries left over for eating! And don't be fooled by the shape and look of BC Strawberries. The California berries are perfectly red and symmetrical and the BC may be mis-shapen and darker red, but flavour is key and BC wins by a Fraser Valley mile!

Fraser Valley berry farms and more info - http://www.bcstrawberries.com/ - - - http://www.bcstrawberries.com/FarmList.php

If you have a computer printer, you can even add custom labels to your jars. They're creative and fun. Avery has many varieties of labels suitable for preserves, and within the label package you often get the software on CD! Or go to their website and download it free! What's better than a homemade jar of jam with your own private label for a Christmas gift? Start now!

Avery label products - http://www.avery.com/home.html

http://www.bcfresh.ca - Fresh veggies from 32 Fraser Valley family farms.

Excellent website for learning about what foods are healthiest - http://whfoods.org/foodstoc.php

Auntie Jane's blog - lots of yummy recipes here - http://auntiejanesgoodstuff.blogspot.com

Q uestions? We'll try to answer everything or give you a direction - auntiejanesgoodstuff@hotmail.com

Try to breath air as often as you can, it is very good for you.

Buy Local

The interest in buying locally produced fruits and vegetables is exploding! All over North America, people who are concerned about additives, growth hormones and chemicals in their food are looking for alternatives to mass produced, imported foods. And GMO Frankenfoods are quite honestly, scary for the person trying to look after a family. Searching out local markets can be rewarding in that you support local growers, farmers and merchants. Be sure there is one near you and if there is not, why not investigate the possibilities of starting one?

Good eating begins with confidence in your food and it's source. Buying products from another continent can be downright worrisome when we consider our agricultural and health regulations opposed to the standards in some other countries. Buying local does not mean the cheapest price, but I for one would rather serve food of quality from within fifty miles of my dinner table than preservative or insecticide laden produce from wherever in the world.

Jump onto this burgeoning bandwagon with the pride of supporting a growing groundswell of goodness. Googling the phrase 'buy local' will result in many weblinks.

There is usually a Farmers Market near you!

Genghis Khan Relish

Red Wine Jelly

Did you know Genghis Khan invented the hamburger? The Golden Horde of Mongols travelled across two continents wreaking havoc and the riders

had little time to dismount to dine. So they packed fresh meat patties under their saddles before riding into battle! Talk about fast food and building an appetite! The patties were tenderized between the saddle and the horse's backs and eaten raw. How else could we name our best burger relish than after the ...
Emperor of Emperors?
Eat slowly please.

AJ's Genghis Khan Relish ©

Made with our special choice of lusty Italian red wine. This Auntie Jane's jelly is all about amore cibo delizioso e più amore! (Love, delicious food and more love!) Mmm a Ritz cracker, a slip of asiago or cheddar cheese, a dab of Red Wine Jelly. The flavour is fabulous, the mood is Montepulciano D'Abruzzo, the ambience is Roma after dark.

Say hello to Marcello, does he still wear that black hat?

Ciao, bella, see you on the via Veneto!

There's sure no passion in the human soul, But finds it's food in music - George Lillo

Notable Quotes . . .

Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.	As for butter versus margarine, I trust cows more than chemists.	My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. Unless there are three other people.	No man is lonely while eating spaghetti.	I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate.	What is the definition of a good wine? It should start and end with a smile.
Mark Twain Humorist	Joan Gussow Professor of Nutrition	Orson Welles Actor	Robert Morley Gourmand	Julia Child French Chef	William Sokolin Vintner

California has always protected their citrus industry. They even have Agriculture Inspectors on their borders who may inspect your goods coming in and seize them if they might have harmful seeds or bugs in them. This vigilance by California has resulted in a product you can trust to be the best. And the navel oranges they grow are second to none. In Canada we get the new crop navels in about November and they run through March. They are sweet and loaded with juice! And Auntie Jane makes a delicate and delicious jam using only 8 oranges! You can too and you will have a delicious jam for morning toast and a spread you can use over ice cream or chicken! Use a bit of orange zest in there too!

For the bread that you eat, and the biscuits you nibble,

The sweets that you suck and the joints that you carve,

They are brought to you daily by all us Big Steamers -

And if anyone hinders our coming you'll starve.

... Rudyard Kipling

Fresh berry jams

The simple jams are simply grand in the middle of winter. Especially if you picked those blackberries yourself from a neighbouring bush! Free food with a wonderful reward, in about 2 hours picking, two people can get enough for 10 jars of fresh blackberry jam! Bring a pail, some old coat hangers to stretch out and pull the branches toward you with the hook, and wear long sleeves and pants! Bring a friend and see where the conversation goes! Berry picking is conducive to talk. Don't forget a damp cloth to wipe your hands later or you'll have purple stains on everything!

Blackberries are an excellent source of vitamin A and dietary fibre! Full of nutrition and flavour even after preserving.

That morning toast on a wintry day can set you up with the right attitude too, like something good has already happened!

Jar labelling

Labelling can add so much to your canned products. And it can be fun too. We use Avery label products because they are available everywhere. Check out their variety in retail stores or on their website. Anyone who sells printers will have Avery Labels too. They have hundreds of templates which can be downloaded or simply used from their website! Large, small, oval or circles for every need and jar! When you look at your pantry and see all those beautiful labelled food products you will be proud of what you did last summer! The rewards endure all winter on your table.

However don't just consider summer as the only time to can make yummies for your pantry. California navel oranges are best in late autumn, and the Indian River grapefruit from Florida is excellent at the new year. You can make marmalade! We advocate shopping locally, but California and Florida always guard the quality of their citrus and can be trusted. Salsa can be made anytime you get a deal on peppers! And you can freeze the little chipotles for extra hotness while it snows outside! Wine jellies too! We use Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Italian red in ours! And Italy NEVER runs out of that one! So don't restrict yourself to only summer months.

And once you start with labels, the creative possibilities are endless! Design your own with custom fonts and pictures. (Be careful not to use copyrighted photos though) yet with a simple point and shoot digital camera, you can visit produce markets and get great personal photos for use on your canning efforts! And check out our reflections page for photography hints. All the pics on this website with very few exceptions are my own. Look at the photo bars here to see what you get by just grabbing a shot in a produce market! But free clip-art is everywhere, so you can let your creativity free too!

You will find Avery to be very helpful and interested in your needs with tons of hints and suggestions. We use the 22xxx series because they stick on jars better than simple shipping labels. And you can save them on your computer as a file, and simply pull them up again next year too! Just create a Canning Labels folder and save as, say, 22830 Strawberry Jam, or 22806 Dill Pickles so your design work is done and you only have to print how many you need! Just re-check your printer settings for spectacular results.

With Avery software, (free!) they are very easy to make and print with your own individual name and design.
Then you just stand there and let your mouth water! - AJ

Avery label products - http://www.avery.com/home.html

Green Hornet Dills

Green Hornet dills

Warning: Auntie Jane's Green Hornet dills could cause you to lose friends.

The Lie

So Jack knocks on my door. What'dya want? I says. Just wanna grab a little milk, you got some? he says.

I go = Nope, fresh out, no got. Zilch, fridge empty. Cows on strike. Jack thinks a bit, he ain't too bright, he goes = You always got milk, why you standin' front a the fridge like that? Jack has this look, he narra's his eyes. I'm spread over the fridge door grippin' tight. He sees the white knuckles and sweat on my brow. What you doin'? he asks. The jig's up. Jack ain't that dumb. He gets an edge in his voice, sorta accusin' like = You got some left, don't you? I go = No way, I tol' you, all gone. Jack grabs my arm, tryin' ta pry it offa th' door. You got some! He shouts. His left eye got it's own wobble now. I shouts back = No! He yellin' louder = You got some a Auntie Jane's Green Hornet dills in there! You tol' me they was all gone! You lied! I says = No Green Hornet dills in there, really.

We struggle. Jack fell down. Really.
I only got enough Green Hornet Dills left ta last till March.
Jack is stayin' at his Mom's till his jaw heals. Auntie Jane broke up our friendship.

AJ's Green Hornet Dills ©

A word about GMOs. We simply don't trust lab technicians with food. They have not, and probably will never get close to a naturally

grown apple, or strawberry or potato for nutritious value. We trust Nature and the ways that let us evolve to now. Why tinker with success?

Mustard Pickles

Auntie Jane's Red Rocket Salsa

Red Pepper Relish

Let the Grey Poupon people go off somewhere in their stiff collars and Rolling Royces, you can't eat this in a car anyway!

(You can see on the Red Rocket jar how our labels have improved, even though we sometimes still put them on crookedl)

Arguably Auntie Jane's most famous mix! But who's arguing? Made with local fresh vegetables by Auntie Jane in her own kitchen. The salsa has red and green peppers, yellow and orange peppers, hot peppers, onions, vine ripened tomatoes, and secret herbs and spices.
Red Rocket Salsa

a little hotter, a little more dangerous.
Mmmmm GO-O-D!

AJ's Red Rocket Salsa ©

Mmmmm Auntie Jane's Red Pepper Relish is soooo goo-o-od! And if you like the White Spot, try adding a little fresh mayonnaise to our mix for your own Triple O hamburger sauce!

My wife and I tried two or three times in the last 40 years to have breakfast together,
but it was so disagreeable we had to stop. - Winston Churchill

There is no limit to the amount of good eating you can preserve in a jar.

What we are trying to do with this page is not to show off of what WE can do, but to encourage YOU to try canning for yourself. You'll be rewarded with products that do look exactly like these. Jars filled with good healthy food for yourself and your family. To enjoy and savour throughout the year. Nutritious and good to eat in a time when reading labels becomes more important each year. The feeling of accomplishment at seeing your own efforts on the shelf and knowing it is something you did yourself encourages that sense of pride. Check the URLs above to many websites that will get you started. You'll never look back and realize that in Grandma's time there was something better than the genetically engineered food being promoted today. Try it, the art of good eating can be enjoyed by everyone!

and there's no limit to what you can invent yourself,
and how great it will look in your own kitchen!

our new - THERMATE ® hot sauce

steel cutting - war starting - full nuclear capability - incendiary hot sauce!

The same stuff to bring down a building? Gastronomic demolition for the brave? You'll need a carry permit to take it home and have to sign a waiver to eat it .... but it'll be mmmm OMG good!

Hey, no guns at the table, please. And if you lose a bottle you must report it to Homeland Security! Have the fire department standing by.

It's Auntie Jane's Good Stuff quality, based on her wonderful Red Rocket Salsa, but she won't have anything to do with it, (except lend her talent, wizardry and expertise to making it) therefore it's known as ..
Dirty Uncle Bob's Smudge

Thermate

heat up your life - check your thermometer - don't dribble any

Cooking is like love. it should be entered into with abandon, or not at all. - Harriet Van Horne.

There is always time for pie!

Have fun with your cooking too - look closely, it's a Dali Pie!

more Dali?

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The Harvest Moon has set, the Hunter’s Moon is near, and Winter threatens with a scowl and a chill rattle of the wind. The bounty of summer lies secure within Auntie Jane’s jars. Preserving fresh fruit and vegetables at their peak of freshness and ripeness means more vitamins per serving. Crops that go directly from field to processor retain vitamins better than those shipped across country and sit for days in chain store produce bins. Because Auntie Jane’s - (or write in your name here) - food preserves are packed at the peak of harvest, as the produce is picked, it is also at its nutrient peak and healthful best. Fruits and vegetables especially have the highest nutrient content when they are ripest and what could be better than watching the arrival in February of the Snow Moon while enjoying the warm taste of last summer 's delicious flavours? It's not hard, you can do it too! Forget TV, listen to the radio!

Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once .... anonymous

Yummy Discoveries

Real apples

If you're travelling between Ashcroft and Spences Bridge on Highway #1 you'll pass Paolo's Fruit Stand. But don't give it a pass 'cause it looks old, stop in and buy some tasty fruit, grown right below on the edge of the Thompson River. Especially good are the apples they grow without all those supermarket chemicals and spray coatings. Real apples like MacIntoshs from the days when BC was famous for them. They're still the best at Paolo's and the wonderful scent induces you to bring some home for eating and pies!

And ask him about that huge black chicken.

We had to remove one restaurant because it changed and the quality failed.

Okay okay, this is it, ssshhhh, I have kept this a secret for years - the very best food in the world.

Their potato crochettes are here! Have them with your bifsteak ...

The Swiss Chalet Hotel in Merlischachen, Switzerland, near Lucerne, on Lake Lucerne.

- www.schloss-hotel.ch - Fax +41 (0)41 854 54 66 -

... or try their famous fondue and say hello to Prinz Joseph!

Voted Best Donuts by me

None of that artificial stuff here. Say Hi to Jack and tell him caterwauls sent you

Harmony Delicatessen

2945 Lonsdale Ave. North Vancouver, BC. V7N 3J3

604 987-0525

Seek out your local farmers' market, they're everywhere!

Hola España

Well everyone is heading for the Costa del Sol these days, and we used to live there. It may be gone now but things in Europe tend to be enduring and the El Picotin cafe may still be in Fuengirola, in the old town. Run by a Belgian family, it features a choice of home cooked meals; a small steak, or roast beef stew with a delicious gravy, or pan fried fresh fish, or ham or roast chicken. With a beer or a glass of Rioja wine and even ice cream and all for one astonishingly low price. Of course they have traditional Spanish tapas too. Look for it in the maze just north of the Fuengirola church. You'll find it always full, warm and friendly and it's not the price, it's the fooood. Tak!

the best wine anywhere

Food as Entertainment ...

The best movie ever about food - Who's Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? - George Segal, Jacqueline Bisset, Robert Morley - mystery, murder, Europe, food and the delectable Jackie Bisset (hey, do you think anyone watches The Deep because they're oceanographers?) what more could a gourmand ask for? Don't watch it on TV, they cut down the final scene which is fabulous for foodies, rent it and see it all!

A sensual food movie - Like Water for Chocolate - Marco Leonardi as Pedro Muzquiz, Lumi Cavadoz as Tita. A love story that takes place in Mexico. Tita's cooking transfers her feelings to those who eat it throughout the film.

And then there's Albert Finny and Suzanna York tossing chicken bones on the floor during that famous lusty scene in Tom Jones.

The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover, might be an adventure in weirdness, but it looks delicious with Michael Gambon, the original Singing Detective, and the always watchable Helen Mirren.

Best spy novel with food - The Monte Cristo Cover Up - by Simmel - paperback about a spy/counterspy in France and Germany during WWII who has to constantly cook his way out of trouble and you get the recipes too!

Death a L'Orange by Nancy Fairbanks is a culinary tour of France with murder on the menu. Must be tasty!

And if you read my own novel, Tango Murderoso, if I ever publish it, you'll get my recipe for Chicken with Mango and Cream, mmmm, as detective James McGrath gathers evidence against Cassandra Coronado to find her secreted six million dollars in stolen drug money.

- - - - - -

Read the entire prologue chapter of Tango Murderoso here .....

And of course, the one who got us all interested in gourmet cooking because of her casual attitude that took the tension out of French cooking, Julia Child, watch any TV episode of any of her shows.
She proved we can all do it too!

                               the amazing Auntie Jane herself

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