Wanna know what six quarts of salsa looks like when it falls off the shelf?
I admit, Cam warned me not to put them up on that shelf because it wouldn't be able to hold them. But they all looked SO pretty all lined up. So we both stared in horror as they crashed down. And Cam was mad at me. And I laughed. Hard. Because if I didn't laugh immediately, I was going to cry. We spent the next hour wading through salsa, picking up all the broken glass and mopping down every single appliance we own. How awesome is it that you can see six jars that totally didn't even crack after a 7 foot drop? Resilient little buggers.
It took a while to get up to this point though. Saturday morning, we woke up feeling mighty rested [odd, because we were out late the night before] and decided to get up and go to the farmer's market in downtown Dallas. These Texans don't mess around. I'm learning that the saying "Everything's bigger in Texas" is actually quite true. 4 huge buildings of shops, farmers, resellers, and wholesalers. We went to the wholesale tent, naturally. And bought 50 lbs. of carrots, 35 lbs. of tomatillos, and 20 lbs. of yams. Also, some cilantro, serrano peppers, and okra.
We also visited the spice shop. Locally ground spices, SO FRESH. I bought some chai masala and vanilla beans. Everything smelled so great. We will for sure be going back. At the farmer's stalls, they will cut off pieces of anything you want to try. The boys and I were sucking on mangoes, pineapple, seedless oranges, peaches, watermelon, cantaloupe, cherries, and more. I was kicking myself for paying 3x more than I should have for asparagus at the grocery store the week before. It was a fantastic family walk. And I was beside myself with the great deals we scooped up for canning.
However, do you have any idea how much 50 lbs. of carrots is? I clearly didn't. We have 14 quarts so far and have barely finished a third of them. Nuts! BUT, the whole bag cost me $16. So I'll take it. And my boys love them. All 3 of them.
The rest of the day was spent roasting tomatillos, peppers and onions and blending up salsa for canning. We finished six quarts the first day, and made another 13 jars Sunday morning. I was arranging the jars all pretty on the shelf. 5 minutes later, we were taking part in The Great Salsa Verde Exodus of 2012.
It.
Was.
Everywhere.
I had just shaved my legs so it was burning them. That was cool. I cut my foot open on a piece of glass, so Cam made me go get cleaned up and put shoes on before I could come back to the kitchen. We spent the next hour scooping up the mess in the dustpan and wiping down walls, baseboards, floors, appliances, etc. I'm amazed Cam didn't get more angry than he did. It was ridiculous. And all my fault. And I was in the corner laughing to myself. Hard. Like crystal light/bars are pregnancy laugh-attack hard. And an hour later, we skyped his parents and the kitchen was beautiful. And the boys were adorable. And Nash ate his carrots like a champ, DURING the skyping. [Talk about pressure!]
You know how sometimes you realize just how much your spouse puts up with for your crazy hobbies/loves/quirks? I married a good man, ladies + gents. I tried to make it up to him by making him chocolate peanut butter cookies and delivering them to him on the couch, along with milk in a butterbeer mug. We also had Nachos for dinner. Shepherd's pie was on the menu, but he informed me that he needed some mexican food after wading through salsa all afternoon. I was more than happy to oblige. And we ate some of the salsa. And it is GOOD.
However, now we will have to think up another Christmas neighbor gift, for all our gift jars of salsa broke.
Good job for laughing--it's the best medicine for something that frustrating. I'm trying to learn to laugh at other drivers on the road when they do crazy things--it takes a lot of patience sometimes. :) AND, that is totally something I would do after Matt told me it was a bad idea. That makes me smile. No doubt I would hear for the rest of my life, "Remember that one time when I told you you shouldn't put that salsa on the shelf, but you did anyway and it fell and got everywhere??" Then I would say, "Remember that one time when I married you and made you the luckiest man in the world?!" You are superwoman doing all that canning!
ReplyDeleteWanna know the sentenced that impressed me most? Not that you had just canned a bajillion things, or bought all sorts of amazing things at a farmers marker the size of texas (ha get it?? Super jealous of that by the way...). Nope, here's what did it for me:
ReplyDelete"I had just shaved my legs so it was burning them"
freak. If a mother of twins who is canning and making dinner for her husband PLUS cookies can find the time to shave, i guess all my excuses are out the window...