What can I say?  It has been a great couple weeks.  Two weekends ago I made an absolutely delectable Raspberry Peach Jam.  It is so scrumptious on a hot-buttered slab of artisan toast.

Making Peach Melba jam has been a desire for many, many years and even though its’ been on the to-do list, it has never come to fruition… until this weekend.  Its actually been a bit of an intimidating thought since you basically have to make two jams and then put them together.  I hardly felt knowledgeable enough to do one at a time!  Well, I bit the bullet, dove in and am happy to say that it turned out perfectly.  It is every bit as gorgeous as I envisioned!  I will not consent to even opening a small jar!!  I’ve waited so long for it to happen that to open a jar would be like opening all of them and negating my efforts.  I now realize that I am really weird and have come to the conclusion that the only way I can reconcile my weirdness and move on is to make more… hee hee!  Then, maybe, I’ll be able to part with a few due to over abundance…?  Is that possibly an adequate justification?  Ha ha!  So yes, my confidence has grown tremendously in creating jams without added pectin.  I know what to look for.  I’m in the jammin’ groove.  :)  I want to make a blueberry lemony combo… and I so wish rhubarb was still in season, because now I know what I did wrong with my batch that burned this Spring.  It was not a good year for rhubarb, so I was not able to attempt a second batch.   This jam made up for all my sulking over the raspberry-rhubarb loss.  ;)  Here's the recipe:  Peach Melba Jam

Then… the time was finally right.  It was lobstah roll makin’ weekend.  I have longed for this day since writing my blog entry from about this time last year.  I ran into road blocks with my own creation of the perfect lobster roll until this weekend.  I can easily say that it was so worth the wait.  What a happy time tending to the details of what I think make the perfect one.  If you haven’t read my account of this from last year, you can read it here: The Perfect Lobster Roll

So here are some pics.  Sadly, I was so excited by the end of the preparations that I did not take up-close shots of the roll itself.  Meg was my wonderful photographer of the process, so all credits to her.  I think there are a couple from Tom too, but I can’t remember which is which!  :)  Here you go:

Truly, they were the best lobster rolls in my book.  I think the only thing I would do differently the next time is put the meat in the microwave for about 15 seconds to warm it up a bit since it cools down quickly.  I seriously want to make them again before this summer is out.  As if this meal was not enough of a culinary endeavor, I found this recipe for Raspberry Lemon Buttercream Cake on Pinterest that I just HAD to make.  I'm so glad I did.  It was fun and the recipe was perfect.  I made double the raspberry compote - the recipe just did not seem like enough and I always double the amount of lemon a recipe calls for.  It was a good call.  It was as decadent and delicious as it looks.

Raspberry Lemon Buttercream Cake

So Meg keeps telling me the Summer is over.  I refuse to acknowledge that.  I am loving this wonderful cool weather.  It is so unusual for August, but so perfect for making jam.  The gardens are fading, yet there are still some beautiful late blooming flowers to enjoy.  Here are some of the last garden pics.  I'm adding a few from the early spring since they are just so beautiful and I can't help myself.

  

You are all so kind to listen to my rambling.  I look at the stats from my blog and am humbled by all the countries represented who view it.  Thank you.  You all inspire me to be better at this blogging endeavor and would love to hear your thoughts and/or comments.  I will leave you with a this question:  Below is a picture of a dozen eggs in a bowl.  How many yolks do you see?  Yeah... 23.  Every single one was a double-yolker except one whose yolk was the size of two!

Hang onto and enjoy these last few weeks of Summer!