Is it Kir time?

I'm thinking of creme de cassis right now - any local (NoCal) sources for currants?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/dining/22currant.html

Fruity drinks at the farmette

While at the Sonoma farmette yesterday, I pulled out the frozen watermelon and plum juices yesterday to whip up a batch of drinks. The watermelon was light and frothy - especially with the addition of some lime juice and mint, freshly picked from the garden. For the plum, a dark rich purple jammy juice, I added a bit of basil that I'd gathered, and it really highlighted the sweet-sour of the juice. (Next time I might add a bit of seltzer or more ice to lighten the plum as some found it a bit too thick.)

We also had occasion to pick some more cucumbers as well as some green beens (tiny haricots verts ready to eat raw!) as well as eggplant and zucchini which the doctor grilled up to accompany the sausages and brats the marketeer had sourced from her North Beach butcher. The marketeer also brought along a few of her creations for the doctor and the gamer to try: cherries in wine and the apricot conserves. Being the marketeer, her preserves were beautifully labeled, unlike my scrawls using any indelible marker on hand. :) Time to up my game!

We had some fabulous wine and great conversation, enjoying the visiting sailor's tales of the South Pacific, especially his trip from Easter Island to Pitcairn. (I briefly wondered what food preserving might be like on that incredibly remote and isolated island!)

The marketeer and market goods

I had the great good fortune of spending some time yesterday with my friend the marketeer who has been on a canning roll in the last week: white peaches, apricots, strawberries, and (as of last night) cherries. Inspiration for some of this comes from the Eugenia Bone book, Well-Preserved, as well as Mes Confitures, by Christine Ferber. (Both of which were featured in the recent NY Times article; thanks to my incredibly generous friend, I now have copies of my own!) I love the focus on savory in the Bone book, and as the marketeer noted, the Ferber book has more of a preserved whole fruit approach which resembles that of my own preserving bible, the Oded Schwartz book, Preserving. I wonder if this is a more European approach to preserving?

We prepared cherries in wine last night, and while they'll have to sit for a little bit before we use them, I'm looking forward to sharing the bounty with the doctor once she returns from the wilds of Wisconsin.

In the meantime, I'm on the search for good fruit in alcohol recipes, so if anyone has ideas for recipes or sources for purchasing copious amounts of eau de vie (we will have a LOT of pears!), please post them here!