strawberries galore!

I'm currently in Portland, Oregon visiting my sister, brother-in-law, nephew, and future niece. Since my sister moved up here, it's been a pretty consistent tradition for me to visit yearly. I even lived with them for about eight weeks last summer during one of my clinical rotations. I think this is my 8th trip up here. I love the gorgeous summer months here. This year's trip was a graduation present from my parents. [sidenote: I have so much to catch you up on, including the actual MS150, graduation, becoming licensed, obtaining a job, moving churches, putting our house on the market, being diagnosed with a not-so-terrible disease/deficiency, etc... life has been a bit crazy and filled with some slightly significant life changes... I promise to fill you in one day.] Anyway, this week's weather is perfect--60s to 80s and sunny. Any Texans reading this post should be very jealous. ;)

Julia and I went strawberry picking yesterday on Sauvie Island on a farm appropriately named Sauvie Island Farms. We decided to pick the Shuksan variety after getting a sample and discovering that they are the most delicious strawberries known to mankind. I wish I would've had my camera with me because the farm was beautiful. The sky was clear, so Mt. Hood even graced us with it's presence. I seriously felt like I was in a Hidden Valley Ranch commercial. I love Texas, but I really have never seen country this beautiful in our state. Anyway, we picked for about an hour and ended up with 15.5 pounds, only to later discover that Shuksan strawberries have a shelf-life of about 24 hours. Julia and Todd are also members of CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), so they get a ton of awesome produce from local growers every week. This week's box contained 8 pints of Hood strawberries... oops. Needless to say, we, primarily Julia, got busy coming up with ways to use the plethora of berries.

This picture was taken after we made nine 8-ounce jars of jam.The bounty of jam.This is one of the two cookie sheets that are currently freezing.

We ate strawberry shortcake last night with about a cup of the Shuksans on top of each serving. There is also quite a bit of puree for little Simes' oatmeal and pancakes, considering he won't touch fruit or vegetables. I think Julia felt quite accomplished last night that we managed to save all 15.5 pounds of Shuksans in some way, except for the small container that we can eat today before our 24-hour window expires. It's a good thing Hoods last about a week...

I hope you enjoyed your breakfast, as much as I enjoyed mine.

Until next time.