Jujube Butter

I took pictures late last summer when I made some jujube butter from a larger than normal crop of the fruit so that I could write up a blog post about the process. I wish I had managed to write it then because I would have still remembered exactly what I did to make the jujube butter. It was delicious. Now that I am trying to get back to writing a post a week I will write down my best recollections.

The picture of the colander full of jujubes shows the harvest that I turned into a batch of fruit butter. I do remember a few specifics. I looked at some jujube butter recipes as well as apple butter recipes and

put together a plan from what I liked from reading all of them. I sure wish I had made notes when I was done. I did cut out the single pit (it is much like a date pit) from each piece of fruit before beginning to cook. I also left the skins on, unlike the instructions in the jujube butter recipes.

What I am unclear about is whether I cooked the fruit before or after using my food processor to puree the jujubes or what other ingredients I added. I think it is most likely that I put the jujubes in a large pan, added some water and simmered until tender. I may have added some cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves or honey as these were suggested additions in the jujube and apple butter recipes I looked at. (All except the honey, I traditionally substitute honey for sugar when possible.) I think it was after cooking that I blended

everything in the food processor. Perhaps I simmered it some more if it did not have a firm enough consistency yet. Hopefully I will get a bumper crop again in August and manage to create another tasty batch of jujube butter and take good notes. If I do, I will update this post.

When the jujube butter was finished I scraped it into a container. It had the consistency of a thick icing. It was very good on toast but my favorite thing to spread it on was heated, store bought frozen pancakes. I did not even need any dairy butter when eating the pancakes topped with jujube butter.

Have you made jujube butter? If so, I'd love to hear about your process in the comments.

Artist Spotlight - Ellengant Creations

My husband and I have seen and almost purchased the work of this talented polymer clay artist for ourselves for years. (I did purchase one of her fish ornaments for a family member several years ago.) She is known for creating whimsical sea creatures and dragons. Last year she added cats to her hand crafted menagerie. Her name is Ellen and she came up with a wonderful business name that I think perfectly captures her work, Ellengant Creations.

So what about this piece we purchased last fall? Ellen created it almost two years ago for a group show in Mansfield, "Inspired by Nature". My husband and I

were both enthralled with it, however we could not justify the purchase at the time. We both saw the piece again at BRIT's Fall Gallery Night Artisan Market last year and decided it was time for it to come home with us. It fit in perfectly next to a corner cabinet near the top of the stairs. The variety of technique, sea creatures and textures draw you in. This is a very elaborate work and the more you look at it, the more you discover. At a glance one thinks, "Oh that's nice."

Upon careful examination one thinks, "That's amazing!" From the painted canvas background to the polymer clay canes, fish, barnacles and more this piece is truly a work of art that evokes the wonders to be found under the sea.

In addition to a photo of the entire polymer clay on canvas piece, I have added closeups of some of the bits I particularly like. You can click on the images to enlarge them and better appreciate the details.

Design This - Fashionable Beaded Lanyard Holder

So many businesses require badges today and a popular way to keep up with one's badge is to wear it on a standard, flat fabric lanyard holder. During this past holiday season I had a customer, who while looking at my jewelry, asked if I had any beaded lanyard holders. I did not but told her I would consider doing a custom one if she was interested. From her purse, she pulled out a beaded black one to show me what she had in mind.

She was looking for an additional option to be able to wear to work. I took a measurement and her contact information so I could send her some ideas from the materials I had to work with.

I took a picture of two options I came up with from looking through my supplies. One option would use wood and howlite beads and the other would use kiwi jasper and white cat's eye beads. My customer chose the option with the jasper beads. I mocked up the design and sent a photo to get feedback. She liked the design and wanted a continuous strand of beads, without a clasp. I was able to achieve this by using a couple of

crimp beads and covers on either side of the back center bead. I used a large lobster claw clasp strung with the beads to hold the split ring that a badge would attach to. After finishing the lanyard holder I decided to experiment with making a pendant that could be interchanged with the split ring or even worn with it so that the beads could be worn as a necklace or as an even fancier lanyard holder. I gave this pendant to my customer as a freebie to try it out. Let me know what you think of the concept in the comments.

The second photo is a composite of two of images of the completed lanyard holder and the third photo shows the pendant added to it. Photos enlarge when clicked.

Yellow-rumped Warblers Have Returned

While yellow-rumped warblers have probably been in the area for a while this winter, I saw my first one this morning. At first I was wondering what little gray birds were flitting around, some of them were pretty nondescript. I grabbed my binoculars and it clicked that I should be looking for some patches of yellow. Some birds can be shy about showing their namesake patch on their rump. Depending on the subspecies of yellow-rumped warbler, time of year, age and sex of the bird their may also be yellow patches on their sides, top of head and throat. The bird pictured here is likely an immature or female myrtle yellow-rumped warbler.

Over the past few weeks I have noticed other migrants coming back to the area such as American goldfinch and dark-eyed junco. I also start to see more sparrows again this time of year such as the song sparrow I saw yesterday. This could be due to migration or trees and shrubs that have shed leaves to make the little brown birds (lots of similar looking sparrows) easier to spot long enough to try to tell them apart. Seeing all of the bird activity gets me pumped up for the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC). My city of Dalworthington Gardens will be hosting a GBBC event on Saturday, February 15 from 10am - 1pm. We will gather in the annex before going out to see how many species of birds we can identify in Gardens Park. I'm looking forward to it.

Upcoming Artisan Market for Eclectic Design Choices

One of my two fall shows is coming up the first weekend of September. I will be at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT) at their Artisan Market, which is a part of their Fall Gallery Night event. BRIT will have a member event on Friday, September 6 from 5:30 - 7:30pm, with an all day public event on Saturday, September 7. The Artisan Market will be open Friday evening and on Saturday from 11am - 9pm. BRIT will have four spaces set up with different art exhibits and two spaces dedicated to the Artisan Market. I will be located in Atrium II with my photographic art. I will have some of my ready to hang pieces as well as matted prints and note cards.

Speaking of note cards, I will have some boxed sets of my "fireworks" note cards I shared in an earlier blog post as well as my new Texas wildflower boxed set featuring a TX bluebonnet and a TX paintbrush. This project has been in the works for a couple of years. When I first decided I wanted to create a set like this, I found I did not have a suitable photo of TX paintbrush in my stock photos so I had to wait until the next spring to find suitable flowers and photograph them. That was last year. It was not until this year that I had the time to fully develop my photographic art version of my original photos and have the cards printed. This show will be the first time I have had them with me at a show. The boxed sets include three cards of each image along with six envelopes.

Bird of Paradise Ornamental Tree

Several years ago I recognized a seedling that came up in my pasture as a summer blooming, water thrifty small tree. I potted it up and waited until I created a good spot in my garden to plant it. About a year ago I figured out where I wanted it. Even though it was a potted plant that had enough time to create a root ball in the pot, the soil was very loose and planting the little tree did not go as smoothly as it should have for a plant in a pot. It did suffer a fair amount of die back but has come out pretty well this year. It even put out blooms that I have been enjoying for most of the summer.

As I was thinking about writing a blog post about this plant, I realized I really did not know much about it other than having seen it in a few locations where its drought tolerance had been touted. I knew a common

name for the tree was Bird of Paradise. I looked for it in the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower plant database and did not find it. This concerned me because I had always guessed it was a native. Since it did come up as a seedling, when I did not see it listed as a native, I was concerned about its status. I then checked the Texas Invasives database and was relieved to see that it was not listed there. TexasSmartScape lists the plant as being good for North Texas and it listed the scientific name, Caesalpinia gilliesii, so I could do some more research on the

ornamental tree. It turns out the tree is a South American native from Argentina. Even though it has been blooming all summer, it has produced less than a handful of seed pods. Just to be on the safe side, I will be removing any pods that do form to make sure my tree does not spread itself in the local ecosystem.

It is a lovely ornamental tree with lacy, mimosa like green foliage and exotic yellow flowers with crazy, red thread like stamens. It does have very low water requirements and I am glad to have it as part of my garden.

Perfect Match - Research Project Earrings

My music, math and science jewelry and accessories have been created with the hopes that people who geek out over those topics will be able to find things that reflect their passions. A recent purchaser of my helium atom earrings on Etsy shared her reason for her purchase with me. I was so happy with her motivation, I asked if I could share it with my readers. Keep reading to find out her fun story.

Several years ago when I was thinking of things I could design for my EclecticSkeptic Etsy shop for science geeks like me, I had an aha moment for a creative way to turn some of my supplies into a representation of hydrogen atoms. It turns out this design has been popular with both science types who know what they are and people who just like pretty hoop earrings. I expanded my hydrogen atom earring offerings when I found a supplier of similar gold tone hoops and also made a pair using larger hoops. It turns out it was these larger hoops that inspired me to see if I could create representations of helium atoms as well. I had to create a custom supply piece to make it work out, but the bottom line was yes.

So what about the fun story of the purchase? Imagine you are a college student doing a summer research project. You want to be able to subtly share that you are part of this project that involves helium. You search online to find the perfect pair of earrings to tell your story. You find some helium atom earrings and can even choose the color of the protons. Now you will be able to cleverly show your participation in the project as you go about your days at school in the lab and around campus. How cool is that! I love it. I have sold a few pair in person as gifts for people expected to appreciate the chemistry behind the jewelry but this was the first time I knew the story behind the purchase of a pair online.

If you are passionate about science, math or music, check out my sections in my EclecticSkeptic shop. If I do not have quite what you are looking for, drop me a note and I will be happy to see if I can create what you are looking for.