I have a lovely square recipe that I was going to use as my birthday post.  Then I felt bad about taking things out of chronological order.  I have a little 'thing' about chronological order.  I have to read my books in the order that I purchase them.  I don't know why.  It doesn't even make sense.  I've never really taken it seriously because... well, I just didn't.  Maybe I thought it was one of my fun/quirky things.  Except now it seems that my 'quirkism' (my word - duh) is bleeding into other areas of my life.
So there I was with my great sweets recipe, thinking that it could make such a lovely birthday post because I'm not making a cake for myself and then it hit me BAM.  I couldn't do it.
Maybe it's a product of age.
This got me wondering what else is a product of age.  I wonder if
 - not caring about toilet seats and toothpaste lids
 - worrying more about a blog post than a clean floor
 - not going out on a weeknight 'cause I won't be home by ten.
 - caring more about champagne than birthday cake
 - caring more about seeing my friends (you know who you are you two) than getting presents (that's a new one for sure)
... if this is all a product of age.  If so I guess it's ok to be a year older.  If I start not caring about wearing dirty underwear and talking to myself on the subway then that's cause for concern.
For now I'm just going to roll with it.

Plums and sugar soaking up some sun...

Last week I thought I was ordering 5 plums.  Cool.  I ordered 5 pounds.  Not so cool.  Fortunately they were lovely local plums that I didn't feel guilty about but really... product of age I ask you.  Not one to fuss to much about these things and also not going to see them go to waste I got proactive.  When life gives you plums then you make... plum jam.
The ground cherries (also known as gooseberries) just looked interesting so I ordered them in the food box and they were lovely.
So a weird happy birthday to me.  I'm not going to tell you which one because I'm sure that you don't care, I sure as hell don't.  Let's just toast a slice of homemade pilgrims bread (recipe coming soon), butter it and slather it in plum and ground cherry jam... with a candle stuck in it of course.


Plum and ground cherry jam from Hitchhiking to Heaven

9 cups sliced plums
1 pint ground cherries (i had a little less so I mixed mine with the last of my wild blueberries)
4 1/2 cups sugar
2 oz (juice from about 1 1/2 medium lemons) lemon juice

4 500ml canning jars and lids

Prepare the plums: slice and combine with sugar and lemon juice in a large bowl.  Cover the bowl tightly and set aside for about 24 hours (or 4 if you are like me and don't want to wait that long and decide that the process will go faster if they sit in the sun... p.s. it works).
Combine in a large pot with the ground cherries (and blueberries if you screwed up on that one too).  Boil down at med/low heat for about an hour or until the whole things starts to thicken up.  I cooked it for about an hour but it could easily have gone longer.
Sterilize the jars.  Place the jam into the hot sterilized jars.  Seal the lids until they are just sealed but not super tight.  Place in a boiling water bath for about 10 minutes.
Set on a clean towel and cover with another clean towel.  Lids should be sealed so that they didn't click or give when you push on them.
Let them rest under the towel for about 24 hours to set.
Place in a cool dry place.  They will keep for up to a year.

This has nothing to do with plum jam... it's just me and kid #2 on vacation.  I'm reminiscing.