> >
> I had an early breakfast before five this morning, in celebration of
> the Boston Red Sox win last night. I was so excited, fearing the
> hated Yankees would win, I never ate dinner. I only had 1/3 rd of a
> cucumber and a small amount of left over egg salad with a slice of
> bread. Marcel had steak, but I knew I could not eat one too, with
> Game 7 coming up. I do not like steak.
>
> So, this morning I made a pot of nice, strong coffee, sliced off some
> bread from an Italian loaf, toasted it lightly, buttered it and spread
> some yummy Apricot Butter on it. It was a wonderful way to celebrate
> the victory. No wonder the Apricot Butter won the Blue Ribbon at the
> State Fair. M

I was so happy the Red Sox won. DH was raised in the Boston area
(Milton).

I am a judge at one of my State Fairs (California has one in about
every county starting in June and the final one insin Sacramento in
October)in th Home Arts section and have been one of 4 judges in the
Preserved Foods area for more years than I would like to remember.
Usually the top Strawberry Jam winner's name is used on the Strawberry
Jam sold at the fair NEXT year (so the one sold this year has last
year's winner's name on it)and finally after many MANY years, they
decided the Apricot Jam would be the one for next year...it was so
nice and such a wonderful change. I was happy to judge anything but
strawberries.

If you won, you must have made a fresh batch- I noticed the dates of
canning on all fo the apricot items and the ones that were made last
year or even a few months ago had no smell and no flavor. That seemed
to be the key at least in that category. Butters are just nicer also.

When we do judge so amny sugared things for a while, the salty/spicy
preserved foods stick out in our minds more. Last year Best of Show
was a melange of dried veggies; each one crispy and filled with
flavor...this year we all chose a BBQ sauce as Best of Show...I do
think its because it is so different and NOT sweet....I think three
years ago, each of the judges brought their favorite Jelly to be
chosen as best of jellies and all of us chose odd flavors- merlot,
mint and jalapeno come to mind...I remember none of them were sugared
(except the mint)...(and also none of them were made with liquid
pectin...all made with powdered. The liquid has some sort of slimy
texture and smell and aftertaste)

Anyhow, that was a digression from breakfast, but when I get around to
wanting something early, I usually like eggs scrambled with cheese and
toast or english muffin wit real butter and half of it with a
jam...any kind really....had cherry the other day.

Cindy