We have entered a new season of life this year. Our son Mike recently announced his engagement to Leanne Martinson. We are thrilled and excited for them. But it does give us, as parents, a strange feeling. “It is almost like the feelings I had when I found out we were pregnant the first time,” I said to one friend. Happy, excited, full of anticipation but also realizing life is changing, never to be the same as it is now. There will now be a transition period for preparation, planning and anticipating this new season of life for us as parents and for the young couple.
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Planning a wedding
After Mike and Leanne announced their engagement, it seemed the first thing we all started to do was ask friends and family what they did to plan their family wedding. Where do we start? What has to be done? Who does what? Mike and Leanne bought some wedding magazines and talked to two of Leanne’ s cousins. One couple was married last summer and the other is planning a wedding this summer.
One suggestion was to start a wedding planning binder with check lists, a planning calendar, budget, and clippings of ideas for such things as dresses, flowers, cakes and picture poses.
The internet is also a rich resource of wedding planning information, including vows, music, invitation wording, budgeting and answering just about any wedding question there is.
Here are some websites that we visited and found helpful:
- Wedding Channel, www.weddingchannel.com – It has a 12-month checklist for the bride and groom, as well as checklists for attendants and parents.
- Wedding Bells, www.weddingbells.com/canada/index.html – You can select the type of wedding (simple, traditional or formal), the budget and the amount of time to plan. This information will provide a planning priorities printout.
- Christian Bride, www.christianbride.com – It has articles that focus on the emotional and spiritual aspects of planning a wedding together. The Diary of a Christian Bride records the feelings, fears, fights and resolution of two individuals learning to work and grow together as a couple. This site deals with some of the real life issues of planning a life together, not just the etiquette, pomp and ceremony of the wedding day.
- Idoido.com, www.idoido.com/ – It has an excellent budget planner where you can add and delete items. The result is an accurate and working budget.
- VerseIt, www.verseIt.com – It gives suggestions for wording invitations, announcements and thank you letters.
The next year is going to be exciting and busy as we prepare for the wedding. The planning guides suggest that selecting a date, time, place, and pastor and developing the guest list are the first things to do.
Freezing asparagus
Dear TEAM: We have lots of asparagus and would like to freeze some. Could you tell me how long to blanch it? – K.L., Rosetown, Sask.
Dear K.L.: To freeze asparagus, select young, tender stalks with compact tips. Sort according to thickness of stalk.
Wash asparagus thoroughly. Cut or break off and discard tough parts.. Leave spears in lengths to fit the package or cut in two-inch (four centimetres) lengths.
Put the stalks in boiling water to blanch according to the thickness of the stalk:
Small stalks – two minutes.
Medium stalks – three minutes.
Large stalks – four minutes.
Cool promptly in cold water and drain. Pack into containers, leaving no headspace. When packing spears, alternate tips and stem ends. In containers that are wider at the top than bottom, pack asparagus with the tips down. Seal and freeze.
Source: Complete Guide to Home Canning, Preserving and Freezing, United States Department of Agriculture.
I came across this pickled asparagus recipe that would be another way to preserve asparagus.
Pickled asparagus
7 pounds asparagus 3.2 kg
2 tablespoons dill seed 30 mL
2 tablespoons mustard 30 mL
seed
4 tablespoons finely 60 mL
chopped red pepper
2 tablespoons finely 30 mL
chopped green pepper
2 tablespoons finely 30 mL
chopped hot green pepper
5 cups white vinegar 1.25 L
12/3 cups sugar 400 mL
12/3 cups water 400 mL
4 teaspoons pickling 20 mL
salt
Fill boiling water canner with water. Place six clean pint (500 mL) mason jars in canner over high heat.
Combine chopped peppers and garlic; set aside.
Place snap lids in boiling water; boil five minutes to soften sealing compound.
Prepare pickling liquid. Combine vinegar, sugar, water and pickling salt in a large stainless steel or enamel saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil; boil five minutes. Add asparagus, return to a boil; boil two minutes.
Place five teaspoons (25 mL) chopped pepper mixture in a hot jar. Add one teaspoon (five mL) each of dill seed and mustard seed. Pack asparagus snugly into jar to within 3/4 inch (two cm) of top rim. Add boiling liquid to cover asparagus to within 1/2 inch (one cm) of top rim (headspace). Remove air bubbles by sliding a rubber spatula between glass and food. Readjust headspace to 1/2 inch (one cm). Wipe jar rim.
Centre snap lid on jar. Apply screw band until fingertip tight. Place jar in canner. Repeat for remaining jars. Cover canner; return water to a boil; process 10 minutes at altitudes up to 305 metres. Remove jars. Cool 24 hours. Check seals. Store in a cool, dark place.
