Cooking in the time of uncertainty

Yup, I'm a home body these days. The world is an uncertain place right now, and the best thing I can do for it is to stay home and take care of my people. I got this.

So, I've been turning to my home making. We have an orange tree that needs to be harvested, and a bumper crop of mint out front with all of the spring rains we have been getting. My daughter and I had a kitchen day yesterday.

 First up was making up a batch of sekanjabin. This is a drink that I usually make for SCA camping events. But my daughter had her tonsils out a few years ago, and we found that this is awesome stuff for sore throats. She had a hard time getting water down when she was recovering, but this stuff did the trick. I decided since we had so much mint, it might make sense to have some of this already made and on hand for if/when we get sick. The syrup lasts for a long time without refrigeration, and you just dilute it with water to drink.

Sekanjabin

5 lb honey
4 c water
2 c apple cider vinegar
big handful fresh mint

Dissolve honey in water. Bring to boil (watch this, it will boil up all of a sudden), add vinegar. Simmer 1/2 hour or more. Remove from heat and add mint. Let cool. Strain out mint. Dilute resulting syrup with water to drink, about 8-1 water to syrup, or to taste. 

 Then we harvested some oranges and juiced them. Store bought tastes nothing like fresh squeezed from the back yard!

We also had a dozen lemons from a neighbor's tree, so we made up a pitcher of fresh lemonade. Which reminds me, I want a drink. Just a sec...

Ok, I'm back. Yum.

And then we took the time to make candied orange and lemon peels. Luckily I wrote on this a few years back, so I could just pull up my own blog entry for the recipe. Thanks, past Melissa!

http://tangibledaydreams.blogspot.com/2010/02/cooking-post-candied-orange-peel.html

 And here are the fruits of our labors. Two containers of sekanjabin syrup. Candied orange and lemon peels, which are really yummy. Little containers of lemon and orange syrup. A pitcher of lemonade. And I saved all the sugar that fell off of the finished candy, and tucked it into the tea cabinet.

The afternoon of slow cooking and chatting served to settle me from my anxiety. I know things are going to get worse before they get better. But I also know that home arts speak to the heart, and provide comfort. We've got this.