Grape Juice Tradition

My Grandma (I call her Oma) has been making grape juice from the grapes in her backyard for decades. It's the most decadent juice I've ever tasted; rich with flavor as well as memories. One sip takes me back to visiting Oma in the summers as a child.

Well, this season, Oma was gracious enough to pass on the tradition to Mutti and me. What follows may be boring to most-it's just a step by step explanation of the art of grape juice making as per Oma. For me, its a bit of family history. :)

STEP ONE: HARVEST THE GRAPES

Opa (my grandfather) kindly did the harvesting the day before. Here's Rudy checking to be sure Opa was thorough. Not a grape in sight. :) Oma says its best if you can keep the grapes on the vine until the weather turns cool for a few days. She says that helps the grapes sweeten up.

STEP TWO: SOAK THE GRAPES IN COLD WATER IN THE SINK TO GET THE GRIME OFF.

Oma would run the water every once in a while and scoop the floating gunk off into the other side of the sink.

STEP THREE: PICK GRAPES OFF STEMS

Discard any green or shriveled ones. This step takes a lot of time, but is a great chance to catch up on family conversation. :)

STEP FOUR: SIMMER GRAPES UNTIL MUSHY AND THE JUICE HAS BEEN RELEASED

Oma fills a pot up with grapes until it's about 2 inches from the top. Then she fills the pot with water just to be even with the grapes, no higher. Then you just stir off and on until you've got grape goop.

STEP FIVE: STRAIN THE GOOP

Pour the goop into jelly bags over a bowl, and allow the juice to drip down at it's own pace. DON'T PUSH IT TO HURRY IT THROUGH. You may knock the bag over (a very messy occurrence-trust us) or at least you'll push sediment through that wouldn't have gone through otherwise. Oma just keeps adding more and more goop as new batches get ready, and lets the weight of the new goop do all the pressing. She also uses a spare bowl so that she can transfer the bag over the spare while she pours the juice into jars. This is a great practice of patience for me, coming from a generation of 5 second commercials and high speed Internet.

drip...

drip...

drip...

The resulting juice is so smooth, it's totally worth it, though.

STEP SIX: ADD SUGAR TO NARROW MOUTH MASON JARS AND ADD JUICE

Oma uses narrow mouth jars because they're easier to pour the juice out of when you want to drink it. She adds 1/4 to 1/3 cup sugar, depending on the sweetness of the grapes. She fills the jars up to just past the first line around the mouth of the jar with juice and spoons any foam off the top.

STEP SEVEN: PROCESS THE JUICE

I don't have a picture for this one 'cause I was busy feeding Rudy his lunch by that point. Oma uses a water bath canner, but I'm sure you could steam can it too.

TA DA! A bit of family history "preserved". Ha ha ha. :)

Maybe he's teething...

Ever since Rudy was about 3 months old, teething has been the fall back excuse as to why he's doing something (anything) out of the ordinary. Jason and I have been absolutely convinced he's teething so many different times that it's become a family joke. (If I'm having a frumpy mood day, Jason may venture to say, "maybe you're teething" which usually results in either a laugh or a stink eye. Usually a laugh.) Well, today is the day of all days: at almost ten months old, Rudy has pushed his first tooth past the gum barrier! It's his bottom right front tooth, and it's just BARELY peeking through. When it's easier to see with the naked eye, I'll snap a shot of it and post it up. I guess I gotta start brushing his tooth or something, huh? My little man's growing up so quick! I'm mostly stoked about his progression, but with this milestone, I'm a bit apprehensive about the fate of some particularly sensitive parts of my body. He better not turn cannibal or weaning may become a top priority in this house!

image added 12/22/08. Now he's finally working on a second tooth, but that one is in the microscopic stage now.

Remembering the Splendiferousness of Getting Engaged

As I was nursing Rudy this morning, I picked up the children's book that I gave Jason when we got engaged, and memories came flooding back.
Both of my brothers have gotten engaged this year and both will be married before the year is through. Needless to say, there's been a lot of love in the air at the Jarvis home. As Jake and Thomas and their sweethearts have told the stories of their engagements, I found myself regretting that Jason never did that whole 'pop the question' thing. He just sorta said, "Well, I've got my answer. I wanna marry you. Let me know when you've got your answer." After a about a week (I wonder if Jason was sweating it...I'll have to ask him) I gave him the book, I Like You, by Sandol Stoddard Warburg, and told him I liked...er loved...him very much and planned on loving him forever. Then we called my dad on the phone and told him we were getting married and to spread the news. Ta da. Not too ceremonious, huh?

So anyway, I'd been feeling a bit jipped on the ceremoniousity of falling in love and getting engaged until I read that book to myself again today. And then I remembered. It was perfect.

Anything else would have sent me into a hyper-ventilating froth of anxiety. I'da been like, "Did he just ask me to dedicate the rest of my life to loving him? Am I s'posed to answer him just like that? Like he'd just asked me if I wanted to see a movie? But if I don't give him an immediate answer, it'll ruin the whole evening he's planned....etc. etc. etc. And if I would've folded and given an affirmative answer to preserve the romance of the moment, I'da be freakin' out the rest of the night about whether I'd done the right thing or not...if I said yes because I meant it or because that's what you're s'posed to say when someone you really really like drops to his knees and gazes into your eyes with unending passion. Whew. And maybe it wouldn't have played out like that. Maybe when I said yes I'da felt the warm conformation of the Spirit that I did as I prayed and pondered and pondered and prayed to get my answer. Afterall, I really knew I wanted to marry him long before my week long search for spiritual confirmation. The spirit had confirmed to me that I should marry Jason every step of the way as our relationship progressed from neighbors to friends to being a couple to being a seriouse couple. Maybe that's how all you girls survive the pressure of such a super charged moment. You just have enough confidance in all the previous confirmations you've felt throughout the dating relationship.
As for me, I'm newly grateful that Jason and I went about things as we did. And I'm grateful God saw fit to humor me and tell me one more time, "YES! MARRY THIS GUY-IT'LL BE SPLENDIFEROUS!" And it has been. :)

Happy Birthday Melanie!

Rudy went to his first birthday party today. Here he is with the birthday girl, Melanie. She's three years old now. Can't you just see the admiration in Rudy's eyes? ("Maybe some day I'll be that big!")

It was a "Royal Birthday party" and the kids were encouraged to wear whatever costumes they had, just to make it more fun. Rudy's costume is Dumbo, minus the head. He's not a fan of the head part of the costume. Good we had this trial run so that I have some time to conjure up an alternative before Halloween. Turns out, it's good he didn't have any head gear today anyway, since the first item of business at the party was decorating your very own crown. Unbelievably, Rudy did not protest to wearing his crown.

Melanie's mom, Julia made this rockin' palace cake herself. The children were amazingly civil when it came down to divvying up the princesses. In fact, the kids were amazing all around. I couldn't believe how non-chaotic it was, considering there were 11 small children in an apartment after it'd already been raining all day. PLUS it was conference today (meaning lots of guys just talking on the TV and no trips to the playground in between sessions). Julia must have the touch when it comes child whispering. :)

While all the big kids were eating cake and ice cream, Rudy and Amy busied themselves exploring a standing toy together. Don't they just look like a match made in heaven? They've been betrothed to each other ever since we found out Amy would be a girl and Rudy would be a boy. Amy's just a few months older, but there's nothing wrong with being into older women, is there Jason?

Rudy with one of his party favors. Cool, huh?

In this picture, I swear Rudy looks like something straight out of a Dr. Seuss book. A Who, maybe. It must be the hair. :)

Waiting for all the kids to finish their crown masterpieces.

Our happy prince.

The Prince and his Princess. Kelsey is Melanie's older sister.

Going to this party brought back so many memories of the parties my parents would throw for us when we were kids. I don't think I'll do a full fledged party for Rudy this year--just a family thing, I think, but it will be fun to put on parties for him as he gets old enough to understand how exciting it all is. :) I think he enjoyed himself today, though he probably just thought it was a decked out play group.

Red Cabbage is Super Cool.

I have a new favorite vegetable: red cabbage. I never knew the absolute coolness of it! Mutti gave us one of those cabbage heads we took pictures of Rudy with. Today I brought it out and commenced my first attempt to create a meal with cabbage. The meal turned out pretty edible, that's all I'll say, but the process of preparing it was a delight to the eyes!

As I peeled away the outside leaves of the cabbage head, the most vibrant color of pinkish purple came into view. After I'd cut the head in half, the view was even better! Now I had white marbled through the purple. The coolest part was when I lifted the lid off of the cabbage I was steaming for Rudy. Did you know when you boil red cabbage the water turns bright blue!?

All this was mundane and unexciting to Jason; I s'pose he's been around the cabbage patch a few more times than me. To me, it was something delightfully new and intriguing. I can't believe Mutti grew such an exotic vegetable right under her kitchen window!

Pear

Rudy wants so much to be all grown up. I cut up some tiny pear pieces and tried to feed them to Rudy as I munched on my own. No go. The kid had to have the real deal. I think pears are Rudy's new favorite fruit, 'cause he can munch on them so easily with his pink little gums. It must be satisfying to finally be able to sink his gums into something, and come away with a respectable mouthful. :) He was taking such delight in his budding maturity that I couldn't help but record the event with photos. In the last shot, he's filled both cheeks with the bottom half of the pear. (I scooped that prize out and attempted to teach my nine month old about the propriety of taking small bites) :)

"Yo Mom, you left the scissors in my pants, dude!"

So, I wish Rudy could have said those words to me last night, as I was closing up his nighttime diaper. Usually, I think I'm pretty in tune with Rudy's needs, but I totally spaced this one. Can you blame me? How many times have you thought, as you're going through the check list of what may be going on with your little one, "Maybe he's got scissors crammed into his diaper."?

I was letting Rudy play with his baby manicure set cover while I diapered him in an attempt to keep the squirming to a minimum. I forgot that the scissors were in there...we never use them. Anyway, I didn't miss them when they were not there after I finished diapering.

Rudy took unusually long to settle into sleep for the night. Then he kept waking up. I thought it was just fallout from his sickness and told myself I wouldn't go in to him until at least 11:00 so that he would snap out of the idea that every time his eyelids flutter open he needs to nurse or be rocked to sleep. I put him down at 7:00 pm. He woke up at 9:30 and cried for 5 minutes before going back to sleep. At 10:30 I folded and nursed him to sleep when he woke up. At 2:00 I was like, "Dude, why are you being so needy?" I decided to change his diaper, and then it all made sense. I would have a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep too if I had a pair of scissors in my pants. I feel so sheepish.

I usually let Rudy figure out how to get himself back to sleep if he wakes up between 5 and 6 am. I don't get him until 6--otherwise he just slowly keeps waking up earlier and earlier. Well, Today he woke up at 5:40 and I zoomed right in to try to make it up to him that I left him to battle the scissors alone and helplessly. Sheesh!