Taking it Easy

This week has been blessedly uneventful. I'm really looking forward to experiencing some real boredom. Some time to wallow in nothing, maybe watch something truly trashy on television though I will probably draw the line at reality tv. That stuff is just toxic and studies show that if you watch too much of it your brain will begin to deliquesce and leak out of your ears. No one wants that.

But I don't have too much time for wallowing. Summer is slipping away and I have yet to make any jam or preserves. I've been to the farmer's market a lot lately, thank goodness. I think it's against the laws of physics to feel down after visiting the farmer's market. But I've always been on my way to somewhere else and so I couldn't buy a ton of stuff. But this Friday I plan to load up on summer's bounty and preserve it for the winter days to come. When I was a kid I would visit my grandmother in Belgrade. There they have a real market. It's several times the size of of the market in Union Square. Piles of strawberries, mountains of watermelons, heaps of beans-you get the idea. People there still preserved the summer harvest. It's called a "zimnica". It's hard to translate, there's no English equivalent, but essentially it means "for the winter" (zima is winter- not to be confused with the bad but trendy alcoholic beverage). My grandmother's pantry was always lined with jars filled with brightly colored fruits and vegetables. Her apricot jam was pure bliss. I have a lovely vision in my head of having my own zimnica. Because even though one can get apricots from South America in winter they just aren't the same. Preserves are more than just food. They're a moment in time caught in jar, a memory of warm days to savor during the cold winter.