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Monday, March 29, 2021

Jam and a surprise supper

Full disclosure: I have been staying up too late, sleeping in mornings for several days now. The only way I know to get back to a better routine is go to bed earlier last night (which didn't happen) and get up at my "normal" morning time (which I did this morning). Of course, consequently, I am in trouble staying awake. I've dozed off several times.

Jam: Almost every morning I have a lovely grain filled bread for breakfast, toasted and jammed. I prefer jam to jelly, and for several years have used boysenberry jam.


It's a lovely hybrid of raspberry, blackberry, dewberry and loganberry. For several years I could buy boysenberry jam at the market, but when they quit (for lack of sales volume, I suppose), and did not restock, though I asked them to do so, I turned to my reliable source, Amazon, and bought it from there ever since.

I joke with my cat that he has a jam breakfast, too. He has his breakfast before I ever have mine, and I sprinkle a powder on his kibble that I began using several years ago in an attempt to reduce hairballs. It is something called Nutra-Thrive, and it's first ingredient is fish oil. A kitty yum, yum I can tell you.

My attempt to filch a picture from the internet was not successful. It is in a little brown jar, an inch of powder in a three inch tall container. It goes on a quarter teaspoon at a time, and I stir it thoroughly to get the powder on all the kibble. Next morning the powder is licked from every remaining kibble and from the bottom of the bowl. I believe he would be unhappy if I quit.

A new container of Nutra-Thrive is needed, too, so I checked, and sure enough, Amazon carries it. Theoretically, all the jam will arrive in the same shipment.

Last night I was going to make a mushroom pasta for supper. I need to use the mushrooms I bought, and also the greens I bought. But when I opened the refrigerator door last night, most of all I needed to use the squash I bought from the day old bin. It was already cut, one piece halved and one quartered. It had a yellow rind, was not identified and I did not recognize it. It looked like any fall squash, so I roasted it.


As I scraped it from its shell I realized at once I was dealing with spaghetti squash, for the first time since I was thirty something. In short, it did not become a family favorite. But, I saved myself. In my freezer was a tiny container of jarred spaghetti sauce, saved for a rainy day, or a spaghetti squash as the case may be.

I am so looking forward to braised mushroom and leek pasta for supper tonight.

Has anyone watched the Netflix series "Episode"? Opinions, please.


52 comments:

  1. The fridge is always a source of inspiration...often of desperation!

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  2. I recognized the spaghetti squash immediately. It is great with sauce. I also like it with salt and butter. It is a wonderfully clean taste and so good for me.

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  3. $60.95 a jar???? Googled it.... Had my second Pfizer shot this morning so it's soup and grilled cheese sandwiches in case I don't feel so hot tonight!!

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    1. No, I pay half that much. And last Thanksgiving I got a Black Friday deal that got me for jars for $35. It has a lot of distributors. I wonder who you found.

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  4. It is years since I have had (or seen) spaghetti squash. The first time I saw it was when my father grew it, so you have rocketted me down memory lane.
    Hooray for a cat treat which is also good for him.

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  5. I grew spaghetti squash when my son was young, to amuse him. But none of us took to it as a sub for pasta. It's a novelty though.

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  6. One of my ex-girlfriends used to put vaseline on her cat's paws to reduce hairballs. The cat would lick its paws clean, ingest the vaseline and presumably get those hairballs all greased up for easier passage out of the GI tract.

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  7. I haven't seen the series, but I don't watch much TV. I wish I did because it would keep me busier in the evenings and away from the snacks. Perhaps? I like some squash but am not too sure about the spaghetti variety.

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  8. Nope, but I bought that pillow. After cancelling it three times and reordering it, One company finally sent us two. They are BIG. I thought they would be too big, but I slept really well. Thank you.

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  9. earlier on in the pandemic I watched all of EPISODES, entertaining, annoying and Matt played such a fine jerk.

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    1. I just finished it tonight. I give it a C+. That's the average between all the F scenes and the really well done A+ scenes.

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  10. Loved "Episodes" filled with wonderful dialogue and is a great spoof on Hollywood. Only the Brits can do this so well. Another great show from across the pond is "Last Tango In Halifax". Got hooked on this one and hated to see it end. One problem is some of the accents are hard to understand, so you will have to turn your closed captioning on. Well worth the time invested.

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  11. Hari OM
    Oh yes, I like boysenberry jam. I would most definitely not be paying the prices I am seeing online for it though!!! I recognised the squash even before you told me. I am jealous - can't get it here and I love the stuff. Never heard of Episodes - but see it has Stephen Mangan as the lead - he's generally worth the entry. YAM xx

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  12. I don't think I've every tried boysenberry jam or jelly. I'll have to try it!

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  13. I admit I like that we can find products online that may not be available in the local stores. Thanks for mentioning that cat hairball powder. I try to give our two cats the hairball stuff that comes in a tube and they hate me for it! It would be nice to have something they actually enjoy.

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    1. Mine won't touch the very expensive tube. He closes his teeth.

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    2. I don't even try to get it in their mouths. I put it on their paw and they wash it off. But they do hate me for doing that to them!

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  14. Haven't seen Episodes, but will check it out. My favorite jam or preserves is strawberry. And we've always had good bread (usually challah or pretzel bread) with butter for breakfast with our coffee or tea... but now that I'm going gluten-free, I'm not sure what breakfast will be.

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  15. I like spaghetti squash but it is no substitute for real pasta in my carb loving opinion. I’m a strawberry/blueberry jam girl. Very pedestrian tastes compared to you exotic boysenberry lovers:-)

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  16. Spaghetti squash is one of several squash I grow every year, love it. Sorry I have never watched Episodes.

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  17. Squash is always good, spaghetti, butternut and acorn. Love them all. Amazon comes in handy for getting products that the stores simply decide not to carry.

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  18. 1) Last Tango in H. is set in my home county, so no need for sub-titles for me. It's a wonderful series!
    2) New on Netflix; Seaspiracy, a documentary about the environmental impact of commercial fishing. It may put you off eating tuna for ever.

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  19. We've had our cat for two years. She never spits up in any form -- no hairballs at all.

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    1. She must be a short hair. Far shorter than Toby. No hairballs from him, either, when he has a haircut.

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  20. I’ve known several cats of friends. None had hair balls, the cats, not the friends.

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  21. I'm not much of a fan of spaghetti squash either. Braised mushrooms and leeks sounds divine.

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  22. I love spaghetti squash! Smothered in buttered mushrooms! But it is a bit strange, with the strands kind of watery inside. I have a very picky thin (rescued) cat and a huge, very heavy cat. I wonder if the Nutri-Thrive would induce the little one to eat! I might get a jar. I like preserves but I absolutely LOVE lime curd! Give me a vat of lime curd and a spoon and I will die happy.

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  23. I like jam too, but here in Australia, jelly is the stuff that you call jello. I grew up with plum jam from a great big 7 pound tin, that's how mum bought it and would empty small amounts at a time into a washed out jam jar.
    I've never had spaghetti squash, although I've heard of it. The Nutri-Thrive seems like a good idea. Hope it helps with the hairballs.
    I found a product here called VitaRapid, little crunchy treats that are supposed to help with shedding, as in reducing the amount of hair a cat sheds. It worked! but wouldn't you know it, as soon as the pack was empty, I could no longer find it in the stores, so we are back to having cat hair on everything again. I'll have to search online for it.

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  24. I've never seen Ruby cough up a hairball. (hoping that I never do!!) I tried spaghetti squash ages ago and didn't care for it. The other squashes, however, I'll take any day--especially squash soup that's made well. Our local restaurant serves it--at "The Shed," which is run by the owner of "Red House BBQ". Good stuff!

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  25. It's not that I LOVE spaghetti squash, but I really enjoy scooping it out of it's shell.

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  26. I, too, am a boysenberry jam fan.
    My cats don't cough up hair balls. I wonder why.

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  27. Maybe I should try toast and jam for breakfast. We have a couple of unopened jars here that people have given us. I have the same bowl of cereal every morning so a change would be nice.

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  28. I like real spaghetti. The alleged "spaghetti" found in the squash just ain't the same.

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  29. There has only been two 'winter' squashes available here all winter...butternut and spaghetti squash. husband won't eat spaghetti squash so butternut it's been along with the ever present zucchini and yellow. we prefer jam or preserves over jelly, something with real fruit in it instead of just juice and sugar. though it's off my diet for now, not that I ate that much to begin with.

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    1. We've had acorn and butternut all winter. That was fine by me.

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  30. Yes, do try Last Tango. Derek Jacoby, what more do you need? I'm from the North of england, different region but I easily got tuned in to the dialog. I had to explain some of the references to american friends who also loved it.Yes I'd agree, use captioning.

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    1. I'm having no trouble with the accent. I am hooked.

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  31. We are not excited about spaghetti squash as well.
    Toast with butter and jam is a treat. Your jam sounds delicious. I bought some gooseberry jam from Amazon a few days ago. Good stuff.

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  32. I am in a raspberry jam phase of my life right now and I am quite liking it. I have not seen Episodes.

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  33. My favorite breakfast is an open faced whole wheat sandwich with a slice of tomato and some black pepper. And coffee. There must be coffee.

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  34. It seems that we can purchase absolutely anything from Amazon. I wonder if they sell coffins, Pacific islands or canned dolphin...

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  35. I make my jam myself - strawberries are best in June - and then apricot and plum jam in October, delicious :-)) (only ripe plums without sugar) and for breakfast I currently eat whole-grain rye bread with sourdough, I've been baking it for a while now excited. I'll take a look at Episodes on Netflix ... let's see how I like it. I am always open to tips. Many nice greetings to you. Now I'm looking a little further on your blog. Very interesting. Thank you. Best wishes for you Viola

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  36. We do not see boysenberry in the grocery stores here, which is unfortunate. At present, we're eating Bon Maman blueberry, which is good.

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  37. I also have a wonderful multi-seed bread for breakfast, but I prefer marmalade to jam. Is marmalade not to your liking? I've never seen a spaghetti squash in my life. I gather it's so-called because "its flesh, which, when cooked, separates into yellow-gold spaghetti-like strands." Intriguing.

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  38. I love blueberry jam that we made from picking blueberries.

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  39. Episodes!! One of my all-time, no-doubt-about-it favorite shows of all time!!
    So glad you found it.
    Not a fan of sauce on my spaghetti squash. I roast it, pull out the strands and saute it very briefly in garlic, with parsley and Parmesan tossed in after.

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  40. I've tried all kinds of berries but never boysenberries. I remember trying some jelly though when in the US once. It tasted to me very similar to blackberry jam, of which I made quite a quantity last year, from wild blackberries.

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  41. I have oatmeal or cereal for breakfast. I would love loganberry jam though.
    We were watching Stranger Things on Netflix together. I watch Call the Midwife on my own. Art can't take watching women in pain.

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  42. I'm just catching up on several weeks of blogs posts. You have been busy with your weaving. I'm glad business is picking up. As for lungs, don't get me started. Last year's asthma check up for me was done over the telephone. Crazy, as part of the check is to see how strongly I can blow into the tube thing. Not possible over the phone, is it doctor? I'm due another check up, but don't think I'll waste my time. If they say something next year, I'll explode into their tube thing.

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