2himo

except there is so much stuff i had to just put a little snippet of everything in here cuz it won't fit in one pic

all the stuff i bought today (mostly from farmer's markets, some exotic stuff too)

buying more veggies and thinking, "wow, i should totally get red and orange and yellow and white and purple carrots... and green and yellow and grey squash... and yellow and red and white onions..." before i stopped myself cuz i'm throwing this all in one soup anyway

tomatoes in pink, red, orange, yellow, green, white, brown, black... beans in yellow, green, and purple... i think i ended up spending over 50 bucks, but considering how much takeout costs, it's probably not that much in comparison

i went out to the market today at around 6 am to beat the heat and the crowds, but i wonder if leaving my phone at home made me feel differently about things. seeing the blue sky after so many days of smoke, peppers in red, orange, yellow, green, purple, and white...

i think i boiled them too hard because i wanted to make sure the pectin activated, so they're not the pretty red colour i wanted... but man, for a lot of people out, there this is probably a very nostalgic flavour. it's so simple to make but i actually don't know anyone who's made em at home

i have these chinese hawthorns that have been in my fridge for 8 months now and are still good. since the season's coming up, i'm gonna try to use these old ones up to make one of those homemade... leathers? jellies? idk. i've never heard anyone talk about those candies in english

good ingredients

man tasting those morello cherries raw made me think about birthdays cuz my favourite cake is black forest, and then i thought about how i haven't celebrated my bday properly with friends in person for like, 5 years now, cuz of stuff or me being sick or me moving or whatever. man.

here in north america, the montmorency (an amarelle type) is the most common sour cherry, but apparently the morello type is more common in europe? that makes sense, all the sour cherry products i've gotten from europe seem to be darker in colour and flavour. i love this cherry.

i found some of the amarelle cherry juice i made so here's a comparison with the colour of the morello cherry juice. the amarelle is bright, zippy, bitter, and has that candy/medicine quality to it. the morello is darker and deeper and has a jammier quality to it

in terms of flavour, they're sweet, they're tart, they have a deep complex flavour to them and a slightly bitter aftertaste... but there was a familiar flavour i couldn't place until i realized it was the jammy cherry flavour in black forest cakes here. i wish these were easier to find

i almost passed these up at the market and i'm so glad i didn't because sour cherries are already on the harder side to find (perishable, seasonal, regional) and this variety of cherry is even harder to find since most sour cherries grown out there are the amarelle type montmorency cherry

i didn't manage to get these at the same time (first pic is from a month ago) but here's two types of sour cherries. the amarelle type cherry (left) has that bright red skin and yellow flesh, while the morello type cherry (right) has a deep purple/black skin and red flesh

well i got drizzled on and gusted on, so i guess i just barely made it back

this is kinda fun. i essentially have about 30 minutes to get home before this storm passes through and i get drenched. it's like one of those timed sections in a video game

as for what i'll miss about here? probably the skyline view from the islands and the parks, restaurants from all over the world using ingredients i've never heard of, being able to hope down to the store at 3 am to grab eggs or ramen or whatever and get back home within 10 minutes...

so, sure, maybe i'll have friends who'll make fun of me and go "wow, you've left for a few years and now you're back acting like a tourist", but... maybe it's okay to take pics of stuff now, cuz you really don't realize what you've got til it's gone

but then i remember me having trouble digging up pics of nice places because i was used to them so i never took photos, or me getting sad because a thunderstorm interrupted my plans to show friends a cool viewpoint only for them to say, "who cares? the view from your place is amazing already"

i've always been super hesitant to take pics cuz i've wanted to avoid looking like a tourist, especially if i was born there or had lived there for a decade or what have you

(i dunno why this came to my head when i looked at myself in the mirror after working all day, but i was like. eh. i'll post it for fun. maybe i'll just post some of my unfunny thoughts here too.)

i look at the mirror – the bags under my eyes, the tired dark circles, the wrinkles – and ask: "is this what you wanted?"

and my reflection looks back and replies, "yes. yes, it is. for you would not imagine a world where you did anything else."

1 day update: they lookin ugly af

but the ume seems to have let out the most liquid, and they do have an acidity that balances out the 2 kg of sugar i used for all this fruit so no wonder that's the one that was most popular

i also have these frozen unripe plums, peaches, apricots, and ume, but i don't have enough jars so i'll try it out in bags instead. i think the ume and plums will turn out the best, have no clue about the peaches and i think the apricots will be too sweet. we shall see

i got my 2L glass wine jars (usually for making infused spirits) but i'm using them to make plum syrups. here i'm trying out semi-ripe and unripe plums so i can compare the taste afterwards. i thought they'd be too big, but they're just the right size

anyway, i got these tiny apricots that have a bright red blush to them. they're also super soft and sweet and freestone. very attractive. i dunno the cultivar though

i haven't gotten a chance to get my hands on black raspberries or haskap berries (honeysuckle) either, those two are really hard to come by in markets here. next year i might have to try driving out to the farms myself instead

man i knew i'd have to wake up early for the farmer's market but i didn't so they're sold out of the yellow raspberries. next week's probably my last chance to pick em up

for comparison, here's two other "red" kiwis i've had. this is definitely the reddest

probably one of my favourite pics i took on this trip! wish i could have gotten it once the sun got low enough for the mountain to turn purple, but i love the framing by the pacific madrone (arbutus menziesii)