There hasn't been much canning around here lately, but that's not to say there hasn't been much planning for future mason jar exploits. I've been reading Oded Schwartz's Preserving which is really wonderful. This is not your grandmother's canning book. Mr. Schwartz includes many kinds of preserving recipes and techniques in addition to a complete history of preservation with commentary on sugar and salt, as well as an entire section of pictorial instructions. It's a beautiful book and I highly recommend it. I'm pretty sure the first recipe I'll be trying is onion confit. I also got a notice from my library that Janet Chadwick's The Busy Person's Guide to Preserving Food is ready to be picked up. I foresee a summer of sweltering kitchen and rack after rack of great food. And, if I'm organized, all have all my equipment, jars and recipes ready and in order of how produce ripens so I can really get it all done efficiently (you can't hear me laughing at myself, but I am).


Last weekend I gave a little party for my husband's thirty-fifth birthday. I didn't serve much of my canned stuff, mostly just because my can-make-them-in-my-sleep party dishes don't require anything really involved or fancy. (Our friends Jiffy and Donna who were visiting from New Jersey with their two children have seen all my tricks and weren't super impressed. The new Charlottesville people seemed to be pretty impressed with the spread - which is what I really like in a guest. Soon enough, though, they'll have seen all my tricks, too, and I'll either have to get new tricks or new friends, or move again.)


One thing I made that is a cocktail party standby for me are the marinated olives from the cookbook Cooking with Friends, a book based on, I kid you not, the television show "Friends." It has recipes for things like "Marcel's Banana Muffins" and "Mrs. Geller's Currry Chips." It's really just beyond cheesy. The thing is, it's a great cookbook. The recipes all work and none of them are terribly difficult (and, the recipe for hummus is one of the best I've ever made). If you can get your hands on a copy, grab it. You won't be sorry even if, like so many of us, you feel that The Friends have overstayed their welcome.


Anyway, the olives go something like this: get a bunch of pitted, mixed olives from the olive bar that your supermarket no doubt has just installed. Put them in a mason jar and insert about half a cup of olive oil, a sprig or two of rosemary (or thyme), add a couple peppercorns, a couple cloves of garlic (sliced very thin) and the zest of a small-ish lemon. Put a lid on the jar and let sit at room temperature for a day or so. Serve at room temp, too. These, with a couple varieties of spiced nuts make a very good snacky to have around when friends (no, not those friends) come for drinks.