Summer in the Dead of Winter.

I love cold weather – so much in fact that in making the decision to live in The ‘Shire, weather was a pro, not a con for Spouse and me. But what I miss in the colder months is the variety of fruits and vegetables one can readily buy/grow in the warmer months. Things like strawberries, blueberries, cherries, sweet corn, etc.

I spend a lot of time in the warmer months, washing, drying, chopping and freezing these items so I have them to enjoy in the colder months. It’s so flarking easy, I thought I’d share with y’all how to do it.

It is really easy and yet, the first summer I froze my veggies and fruit, I did a super poo-poor job – which I’d rather you not have to suffer through. What did I do, you ask? Well, I didn’t dry the items very well and instead of freezing them on a cookie sheet, just stuck the wet items in a freezer bag.

Yeah, everything froze into one fruit/veggie-sicle to the point that everything was badly freezer burnt and gross/unusable when defrosted. Had I found this blog post before I went hog wild on my own, it probably would have saved me the time and money I basically wasted. Owel.

Um, yeah. I don't *do* spiders.

Quick note. I was enjoying myself in my kitchen: listening to quality tunage, boiling potatoes for potato salad, slicing strawberries to freeze (1st qt.) and eat (2nd qt.) and MINDING MY OWN BUSINESS...

when...

in the bottom of the second quart, was a SPIDER. Kinda drowning b/c I had washed them (of course) and was letting them drain a wee bit. 

But yikes. 

Mr. Spider is now living (eek!) in the bottom of my trash can. It's not like I could kill him.

I should note there was no girlish shriek (actually no utterance of any kind as I recall), or hopping. There may have been a few hand shakes (the eww-gross-get-it-offa-me kind). And I am vaguely itchy all over as I type. 

Ugh. Back to my chores. Smell ya laters, peeps.