what jen does

Life, home, and a little travel

Author: JEF

  • blueberry almond coffee cake
    recipes

    blueberry almond coffee cake

    I recently cleaned out my freezer and truly discovered what was hiding in the depths of those drawers. The answer? Blueberries and perhaps some real sad soup recipes that I have no intention of ever eating. Also, pounds of butter and not nearly enough frozen waffles. I love frozen waffles.

  • tomato jam… with a kick
    recipes

    tomato jam… with a kick

    Ah tomato jam! File this recipe under “way too easy”, “fast”, “super unique”, and many other things. I first made a tomato jam back in 2012 when I lived in my very crooked North End apartment. I gave away most of the jars that I made pretty much because I didn’t really appreciate the diverse…

  • That moon right?

    That moon right?

    I think I’m currently at month ten of living in the suburbs. Give or take. Through a variety of circumstances I’ve recently had the opportunity to think about this decision more. I switched onto a new project at work and when people find out that my commute is 90 minutes long … each way… the…

  • What do you want?

    Like any big project, I’ve been delaying the things that are hard and nebulous. But the way to tackle things that are big are to make them smaller. In this specific case, I’m going to make a case for the things that I care about the most… and then slowly work my way through them.…

  • carrot green chimichuri sauce… with tomatoes
    recipes

    carrot green chimichuri sauce… with tomatoes

    The original plan for this sauce was different. I was going to grill some swordfish and make some sort of carrot puree… and then use this sauce. But, then I got hungry and went back to my old friend the sliced tomato. Not any old sliced tomato of course, but my beautiful garden fresh sliced…

  • dinosaur caterpillars are my enemy

    dinosaur caterpillars are my enemy

    It’s been about 3 weeks since the last garden update. Ever since that date, a whole lot has changed. The garden literally exploded with produce. Specifically tomatoes. It legitimately happened the very next day. I was in the garden and began to pull out my expected 2-3 ripe tomatoes and just did not stop until…

  • oh maine, good to see you.
    travel

    oh maine, good to see you.

    Maine. You sweet lovely land. This was my 6th visit to Maine for Labor Day weekend. I had a great streak going for several years but couldn’t make it last year. Dumb work got in the way. So this year, I took off a few extra days and snuck up to Maine before the weekend…

  • proud flowers

    proud flowers

    I went to Maine earlier in the week. On the long way there, I listened to a great podcast about slowing down, not procrastinating, and all the related things. Apparently there is some small theory that people who procrastinate are more creative. So I guess I’m procrastinating on writing up the latest garden update and…

  • grilled tomato caprese salad
    recipes

    grilled tomato caprese salad

    Man oh man. Everyone should immediately grill some tomatoes. Immediately. During the weekends, I repeatedly check on the tomato plants like they are children. I check for new ripe fruit, things to be trimmed, weeds, etc. Then the work week comes… and I only see the babes for a few minutes in the morning and…

  • blueberry donuts
    recipes

    blueberry donuts

    For my birthday last month I bought myself two things from Amazon, a slotdog and a mini donut pan. Welcome to the 33rd year of my life. I used the slotdog immediately but didn’t get around to the donut pan until this week.