Wild Week in Baltimore

Moments before hurricane Irene blew into Stone Hill Uncle Charlie secured a few shingles on the roof. The flag gives you only a hint of the wind gusts that hit us. It was loud, scary and exciting.

It rained and rained and rained. We lost tree limbs and power at 4 a.m. last Sunday morning. I couldn't sleep I was so afraid our big maple tree would fall on the house.

The power went out but our gas stove still worked so I...of course....cooked bacon!

And canned figs...until it got dark and our sweet neighbors Paul and Viv brought us dinner.

The damage was minimal, mostly many large limbs fell down. Eric loves any excuse to get up on the roof and that was a power line.

He was very careful.

We moved into a hotel on Monday night. Storm troopers? No, these gorgeous guys were flown up from Atlanta to help get power restored to hundreds of thousands without power and were staying at the same property. Stone Hill didn't get power until late Wednesday night. We met these guys in the elevator and I wanted to hug them all! After working tirelessly for days they were still chipper and happy to be up in Baltimore to help out. We finally have power and are so thrilled to have had the luxury of friends in high places. Thank you Renaissance Harborplace for taking such good care of us during the power outages. I was able to walk to work and get so much done staying downtown.

This was our view at 6:00 a.m. over the Inner Harbor. Amazing how pretty it was the day after hurricane Irene passed over.

This week started with a hurricane, power outages, and a Yankees v. Orioles game. All of these items created havoc on our streets. We also have a little race happening this weekend called the Baltimore Grand Prix. It's the first time Baltimore has hosted this style of street race. The cars will be driving around a 2.1 mile loop in the middle of downtown. That is the Somaru (our nickname for the new car) on Pit Row just outside of the Camden Yards warehouse!!! How funny is that? 

All week signs of the race became more and more visible.

Taking this turn really made me want to speed for some reason.

Our neighbor Guy sent this to the Stone Hill list serve. It sums up the week so well. 

Shake, shake, rattle and roll!
Blow, blow, bless my Soul!
We'll shake and shake with a lil' earthquake
Then lose our lights in Irene's wake
It's Baltimore before the prix
The grandest thing they say we'll see
Streets all closed including Pratt
C'mon to Bmore hon that's where it's at!

Guy Holliday

Last night many of the racing team crews were seen all over town. These are a few of the Newman Haas team. I know nothing about racing but look forward to visiting this pit crew in the paddocks on Saturday. It also reminded me that Paul Newman passed away three years ago. The guys said that racing was his passion and you could tell they really missed him.

I'm really excited to see more real races tomorrow. Tonight's qualifying and practice rounds were pretty cool, even though I still have no idea what it all means. Hoping to learn all I need to know about the Le Mans race tomorrow and Indy Car Race on Sunday.

This car needed a tow. It looks like a ribbon is pulling it.

Enjoy the weekend everyone. If you are in Baltimore hope you get to ride, bike or skateboard downtown. Traffic is nutso crazy but I have to say it is very, very fun to see cars driving 170 miles an hour down Pratt Street.

Kindness and thanks to Susan and George for letting me shower at your place on Monday morning. I loved seeing sweet Jemma all smiles! And we can not thank the Renaissance enough for our accommodations during the week. The views and ability to walk everywhere downtown really lowered the stress level.

Pears 2011 and One Year of Stone Hill Farm Blog

Exactly a year ago today I braved the new world of blogging and started Stone Hill Farm with my Pear Chutney recipe. It's our "blog'aversary."

In perfect timing for the anniversary last weekend my friend Carla came over to help me can pears for this season. She has been to many a party where we serve the chutney over cream cheese with wheat thins and wanted to learn how to make it for herself. I needed a little help from my tall husband to get the primo pears from the top limbs. All of the pears are gone now. We had to pick them before the birds and squirrels got them.

I'm not sure the variety of these pears but they were so sweet this year and ripened beautifully. 

Carla and I donned my mother's vintage 1976 aprons and got to work. I think it is important to wear long sleeves while canning. Carla started peeling the lemon zest and I boiled the jars.

We have air conditioning in the kitchen this year so it was delightful and a far cry from that fateful first canning experience. Carla has fond memories of her family canning when she was little. There is nothing to it really and she was a fast study. She did research before hand coming very prepared. 

She even sharpened my knives. No one was hurt during the canning of the pears this year even though we look crazy.

We had a fun little photo shoot with E.

The recipe and directions can be found here from a year ago today. I didn't walk through the process of canning last year. Start by sterilizing the jars and lift carefully with the tongs.

Place on a clean dry cloth to cool and do not touch anything but the sides. 

I used a large lobster pot that holds seven jars at a time. You know when they are done when they start to rattle but should really be boiled for 10-15 minutes.

Next are the lids. This lid separator is the best little gadget and can be found at hardware stores or Walmart. I boiled the rings too but now that I think about it, I'm not sure if they actually need to be sterilized since they don't touch any of the contents inside the jar.

You can see the lids near the dish towels in this photo.

Dump the lids on another towel to cool off and dry. Do not touch the lids at all after boiling. 

Use this magnet thing if you need to move the lids.

While you are boiling your jars and lids start the chutney in two dutch oven sized pots .

We split the contents evenly between pots and went according to the recipe...kind of. You get the hang of it after a few years and this year we referred to the recipe but weren't exact. The onion, curry, ginger mix goes first.

I went a little heavy handed on the red pepper flakes but Carla and I thought the extra heat was a great touch in the end. This is a spicy condiment with sweet mixed in. It's the most fun food combo of all time in my opinion.

I skipped the apricots and added golden and normal raisins.

Then we added some peeled pears and some with the skins. I wouldn't use overly ripe pears. I think it will just turn to mush. 

Used two bags of pecans this year. Carla didn't remember the nuts from the recipe. I had forgotten last year that I added them too. It does seem odd but I think they add a great dimension of flavor.

Once all the jars are cool move them closer to the stove to fill.

We had a lovely brunch that E. cooked for us while we waited for the chutney to reduce on the stove. Carla was impressed that he knew how to make such a great frittata!

After brunch the chutney was rich and the pears were soft. We were ready and I let Carla have the honors of filling the jars so she could get the hang of it. 

The funnel is the most important. 

This chutney doesn't have a ton of juice. Try to give each a half jar of juice if you can. It is totally okay that it isn't that soupy.

After they are all filled use the magnet thing and place the lids on the tops without touching anything but the magnet "wand". The chutney was still hot hot and so were the jars. This is okay.

Place the rings on each jar by hand making sure you don't touch inside the ring. Bad luck. Then use all your might and close the mothers with this jar buster tool. The jar will be hot so use a towel if you need to hold on tight. You can also let them all cool before closing. Holy popping veins Batgirl!

Have a system so you know what jars are sealed and what jars are ready for boiling.

Make sure to have fun in the kitchen too even if you look a hot mess! Carla, my lipstick didn't help. Ha.

When the lids are sealed and ready to go lower the jars into the water with the rubber dipped tongs. I gave Carla a new blue set that we got to test run.

Open a bottle of wine and toast to the good, hard work. Each set of jars needs to boil for thirty minutes. A glass of wine is a great way to pass the time.

When they are done boiling and removed from the water they should pop after about 15 minutes. I have no idea why the lids on the left look "dusty". Maybe the dish towel lint? If they don't pop, re-boil them for another 30 minutes. They will keep for a year if you are smart enough to stock up. We had our last jar two weeks ago at a party!

We made enough so that we could each have 17 lovely jars of pear chutney. I know a few friends who are calling dibs already.

Thanks E. for picking the perfect pears. Carla, I loved having you in the kitchen all day long with me. Next time I'll boil the jars first so it won't take so long. Thank you so much for your help. Blog friends, it has been so nice getting to "know" you over the past year. We have battened down the hatches and are hoping for minimal damages in Baltimore during this hurricane or tropical storm or whatever. I must say the breeze is lovely right now at 1:00 p.m. Our prayers go to all of our friends up and down the East Coast especially our Asbury Park buds.