{"id":12134,"date":"2014-09-06T00:16:23","date_gmt":"2014-09-06T00:16:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/?p=12134"},"modified":"2015-03-01T00:38:24","modified_gmt":"2015-03-01T00:38:24","slug":"jamming-berries-and-craniums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/jamming-berries-and-craniums\/","title":{"rendered":"Jamming Berries and Craniums"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Written 16 December 2014. \u00a0Don’t tell anyone but this actually happened on 6-7 September 2014!<\/em> ]<\/p>\n

I’d only been at my new job for a few days when an email went out reminding everybody to submit\u00a0their homemade jam for the jam-making-contest the week after.<\/p>\n

Now, I have never made jam. \u00a0Ever. \u00a0But, I’m eternally competitive, so I was determined to try. (12 images total)<\/p>\n

Saturday 6 September 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’d seen a redcurrent bush<\/a>\u00a0(rifsberjarunna)\u00a0by one of the local playgrounds that I figured might still have some berries, so I took the kids there one fine Saturday. \u00a0We were in luck, because although almost all the obvious berries were gone, there were still juicy clusters hiding down low, and inside the big bush. \u00a0Anna and Bjarki were a huge help in picking from inside the bush, and Emma helped by not running away.<\/p>\n

\"It's<\/a>

It’s hard to take photos up into the air when you’re sitting\/squatting\/lying on the ground.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

\"Emma<\/a>

Emma carefully eating berries. They were very ripe and sweet.<\/p><\/div>\n

Lucky for me, the big kids had just made redcurrant jam with their Grandma Anna, so Anna knew to tell me that we’d need the stalks and green berries to for the jam to congeal on its own.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sunday 7 September 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Sunday had a dramatic start, with Emma kicking the booster-seat-containing chair she was sitting on\u00a0away from the kitchen table so that it fell backwards with her in it. \u00a0She hit the back of her head pretty hard, and screamed bloody murder for a good long while.<\/p>\n

I called the medical hotline to ask about the guidelines for head trauma, because I can never remember these things (can she fall asleep or no? \u00a0if so, for how long? yadda yadda…). \u00a0The nurse told us to bring her in if she started vomiting, which is exactly what she did as soon as I tried to lay her sleeping body down to rest.<\/p>\n

So, Finnur and I hopped in the car with Emma, leaving the older kids home alone. \u00a0They were on the computer, meaning they would barely\u00a0move three inches until we came back home.<\/p>\n

We got super lucky in that the ER was essentially deserted when we arrived, so the wait was short.<\/p>\n

Emma was a bit woozy, but quickly started rallying. \u00a0As expected, this turned into a game of wait-and-see, because that’s non-severe head trauma for you. \u00a0We were directed to a children’s waiting room, so the medical staff\u00a0could peek in once in a while to see how things were progressing. \u00a0This is where Finnur watched Frozen<\/a> for the first time, pretty much from start to finish.<\/p>\n

\"Emma<\/a>

Emma with her hospital band. I have such a hard time keeping my phone camera-lens gunk-free!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Shortly<\/a>

Shortly after noon, they decided to give Emma something to eat to see if a) she had an appetite, and b) whether she would keep it down. Half an hour later the answer to both questions was yes, so we were given the green light to take her home, after spending about two hours in the hospital. \u00a0The official diagnosis was a ‘mild concussion’.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Later in the evening, after the younger\u00a0two were in bed, Anna showed my how to make a redcurrant jam. \u00a0All you do is weigh the berries and stalks, and put them in a pot with an equal weight of sugar. \u00a0Bring the sugar and berries to a boil while crushing the berries, and let boil for a few minutes (I think?). \u00a0Strain the sugary goo into clean small jars and close the lid. \u00a0Put in the refrigerator and hope it congeals as it cools. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

I realized after the fact that this recipe is probably meant for berries that are less ripe than we had (unripe green berries are almost preferred, and we hardly had any), so I think we should\u00a0have used slightly\u00a0less sugar. \u00a0Oh well, you live and you learn, right?<\/p>\n

\"Anna<\/a>

Anna doing the hard work of crushing berries.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Crush,<\/a>

Crush, crush.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Gratuitous<\/a>

Gratuitous photo of yummy looking stuff.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Meanwhile,<\/a>

Meanwhile, Hrefna takes a selfie.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"We<\/a>

We got enough to fill three small jars!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Anna<\/a>

Anna designing and applying labels.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Our<\/a>

Our entry into the competition. The kitchen staff anonymously judged the jams, and I vaguely recall our jam coming in second!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The<\/a>

The three yummy amigos. They are no more!<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Written 16 December 2014. \u00a0Don’t tell anyone but this actually happened on 6-7 September 2014!<\/em> ]<\/p>\n

I’d only been at my new job for a few days when an email went out reminding everybody to submit\u00a0their homemade jam for the jam-making-contest the week after.<\/p>\n

Now, I have never made jam. \u00a0Ever. \u00a0But, I’m eternally competitive, so I was determined to try. (12 images total)<\/p>\n

Saturday 6 September 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’d seen a redcurrent bush<\/a>\u00a0(rifsberjarunna)\u00a0by one of the local playgrounds that I figured might still have some berries, so I took the kids there one fine Saturday. \u00a0We were in luck, because although almost all the obvious berries were gone, there were still juicy clusters hiding down low, and inside the big bush. \u00a0Anna and Bjarki were a huge help in picking from inside the bush, and Emma helped by not running away.<\/p>\n

\"It's<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s hard to take photos up into the air when you’re sitting\/squatting\/lying on the ground.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","post-container col-md-12"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12134"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12147,"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12134\/revisions\/12147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrefna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}