Author: Jana

  • I’m cookin’ now…

    Today I flirted with the cult of domesticity. After filling a huge bag of dented and squishy organic persimmons (50 cents/lb, my friends) at the Farmer’s Market, I brought them home and commenced to figuring out some persimmon recipes. I know I could probably just chunk and freeze them for shakes (yum), but I thought I’d scout around for a few good recipes instead. What I ended up making: Persimmon scone cookies and Persimmon Freezer Jam. Both turned out so outstandingly that I have to share my recipes with you…

    Persimmon Scone Cookies
    * 1.5 cup pureed ripe persimmons (about 1/4 lb)
    * 3/4 cup brown sugar
    * 1/2 cup butter
    * 1 egg
    * 1 cup white flour
    * 1 cup wheat flour
    * 1 teaspoon baking soda
    * 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    * 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
    * 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
    * 1/2 teaspoon salt
    * 1 cup chopped pecans (note: taste just fine w/o nuts or with walnuts, too)

    1. Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease or line one baking sheet with parchment paper.
    2. Combine the flours, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt.
    3. Cream the butter with the sugar. Beat in egg and persimmon puree. Add flour mixture and mix until combined, stir in the chopped nuts. Drop by teaspoonfuls, 2 inches apart, onto the prepared baking sheet.
    4. Bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes.

    Baking notes: Pureeing your persimmons is a breeze with one of these! You’ll have soupy sweet orange goo in about 5 seconds flat.

    These are very cakelike cookies. I couldn’t decide if they were more like cookies, scones or flat muffins. If you try making them, let me know what you think!

    Oh, and if your walnuts are the ones on the shell that you bought at the Farmer’s Market a few weeks ago and then realized that you couldn’t open because you have no nutcracker, have your kids open them with a hammer. And make your youngest wear your glasses from junior high to protect her eyes from flying walnut shell shards. And try not to giggle when you realize that she looks an awful lot like Sally Jessy Raphael in those hideous glasses.

    Persimmon Freezer Jam
    * 2.5 cups pureed persimmons
    * 1.5 cups sugar
    * 1/8 cup fresh lemon juice
    * 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon or orange zest
    * 1 pinch ground nutmeg

    In saucepan over medium heat, combine all ingredients. Boil for 30 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Stir constantly.

    Cooking Notes: Do make sure that you keep up with the stirring part–when I left the pot unattended for about 30 seconds to wash some dishes, mine started burning on the bottom. Older kids make good stirrers–esp if you tell them that they can lick the jam pot after they’re done.

    This jam tastes a lot like marmalade. It’s sweet, but the lemony bits cut the sweetness just enough to make the flavor a bit complex and interesting. You’ll love it. Seriously.

  • before I get carried away…

    People:
    This is one of the most evocative paragraphs ever to cross my desk (note: yes, it is from a university undergrad student in a class I taught quite some time ago). The topic of the essay: racial inequity.

    We show each other as different in order to show them that they are somebody meant to be in society?…We are making separations and distinctions when we should be showing that we are all squish meat only governed under heartless elitism like a meritocracy should be. In short, we are contributing to the problem in the sense that we are trying to solve race relations by making race. We group people together and they duke it out as what we made them, of different races. To help close this issue before I get carried away, we may have to deal with the fact that ill race relations forever. We make race, we distinguish by race. We all know race and shoot ourselves in the foot.

    Even now, our family often laments that we are all just ‘squish meat’ duking it out in our heartlessly meritocratic society…

  • my feet, they’re all wet…


    gettin’ my feet wet, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

    I can’t get my right foot wholly wet because I don’t want it’s computer-y parts to malfunction. But I can get the prosthetic footshell and nylons a bit soggy, as I’m doing here. Chasing the waves and enjoying the cold sand between my toes.

    When I load photos of my fake foot to flickr (even one as innocuous as this one), I get hundreds of views. There’s a large community of amputee fetishists (called devotees) who are fascinated by such pics. Sometimes I am wary of the attention that such photos garner. Sometimes I just don’t care. Sometimes I am curious about the people who are so interested in me simply because of my missing limb. I suspect that some of my regular readers on this blog may be devotees and I’m okay with that. If you are interested in the whole me (and not just the missing bits) then that seems far less disconcerting than those who simply compile links to images of amputees.

    While I don’t completely understand the fascination that devotees have with amputee women, I can recognize that I have my own odd proclivities. Some folks are just more interesting or attractive to me for whatever reason–it’s a personal aesthetic that seems beyond explanation.

    But a part of me still feels a bit uncomfortable with the fact that a photo of my feet is of more interest than one of my face.

  • 100% adorable


    Yeah, Whaddya Want?, originally uploaded by mind on fire.

  • just beachy


    beach: self-portrait, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

    Starting to get better at the self-portrait thing….

    Here’s me, with the rosy setting sun turning my hair a warm reddish color.

  • at the beach


    roiling sea, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

    We spent the afternoon and evening at the beach today. It was just what I needed. Not crowded, a bit cold, and just gorgeous.

    The sun setting behind Catalina was so pretty–I wish you could have all shared it with me (this picture hardly does it justice).

    Why is it that life seems so clear and so simple when one is watching the crashing waves?

  • making history


    On Christmas Eve, I posted the latest installment (part 2 of episode 2) of Making History Podcast (a gift for me!).

    If you’re interested, this particular episode has a great Q&A with historian Martha Hodes.

  • ready…


    IMG_5140, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

    The presents are wrapped, the stockings are all full, and I am ready for bed. Deep breath….

    What a wonderful season this has been. I can’t wait for tomorrow (or rather, a few hours from now!). And the joy that awaits as we open gifts, eat god food , and enjoy the peace that comes from spending time together.

    Blessings and love to all of you!

  • Make me smile…

    –feeding the growly bottomless belly that is Lola-Kitty, our neighbor cat that we’re watching while her mama is away for the holidays.

    –putting the finishing touches on several gifts ;-)

    –getting a present from Bonny and then the elation at finding that it’s like the one (tho even better!)that’s been on my amazon wishlist for soooooo long!

    –dropping by my favorite plant nursery while John was on a super-secret mission at the GameShop adjacent to it. Finding poppies and roses and sweet peas and so many other plants begging to take them home with me. Restraining myself mightily and just enjoying the thrill of so much beauty (ok, so a few of them did find their way into my basket…)

    –feeling better. My neck and back are still sore, but the pinching nerve pain is dissipating quickly.

    –giftwrapping. It’s actually one of my favorite parts of the holiday, but only when I can do it with a bit of creative flair. In years past I’ve hand-aged paper with tea, reproduced vintage photos of Paris landmarks, wrapped with maps from my travels, sewed reusable cloth bags, stamped designs on butcher paper, etc. I like it when the giftwrap hints at the type of gift that lies inside or when it connects in some meaningful way with the person I’m gifting.

  • making history


    I posted another episode of my Making History Podcast earlier today. This was really a fun one to record–Martha Hodes, author of The Sea Captain’s Wife, is one of my biggest historian-heroes.

    Take a listen and let me know what you think! :)

  • orange-y


    clementine oranges, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

    I eat several of these wee clementine oranges nearly every day. We have a big box of satsuma oranges for snacking on, too. Yum! :)

  • not even a mouse


    a mouse in our house, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

    Yesterday I went on a Freecycle adventure (with the help of John, my lifter-of-things) and we came home with a lovely new area rug for our bedroom.

    Since we acquired our living room rug I’ve been wanting something similar for the bedroom–to add some color and texture to such a simple space. The rug has beiges and greens and blacks, with just a smidge of purple. It looks great with the bed and the overstuffed purple chair in the corner.

    EllyCat and TobyJoy aren’t so sure about the new rug, though. Last night they both perched near it, but not on it. As if it was invader in their space. Even placing Elly’s favorite mousy on the rug was no help in enticing her onto it. I might just sprinkle a bit of catnip on it and see if that helps.