elderberries, elderflowers, and needles. Lots and lots of needles.

I had big plans to climb on the east side Tuesday through Sunday this week, but they were dashed when my partner bailed at the last minute.  It's very hard to find reliable climbing partners, and that's all I'll say about that.

So full of energy with no outlet, I rallied Porensky to go down Putah Creek road and pick some elderberries and elderflowers.  I'd heard that they were edible, and I have been meaning to try a few recipes.

First up was elderflower syrup. Here is a closeup of the flowers:

This is what they looked like stuffed into water in my new 12 qt pot:

Next up was the elderberry syrup.  Here is a photo of one of the shopping bags full of elderberries that we collected:

So pretty! Here's the finished syrup:

 I think it will be tasty on pancakes, between layers of genoise cake, in mixed drinks (Karrigan suggested mojitos), basically whatever. Next up was the infused vodka:

 The idea is sort of like limoncello: infuse the vodka for a month or so (with some lemon peel), and then add sugar at the end and seal it up.  Finally, the jelly:

 This was my first jelly/jam process, and I'm pretty proud of how it turned out (it actually jelled!).  And it's tasty.  I will say that it's an effing epic process too, especially because of the elderberries.  You have to strip the berries off of the stems, which takes a LONG time.  And then you have to measure them out, wash them, crush them, and strain them through a cheesecloth, which quickly gets clogged and needs to be washed.  Boil the juice with a crapload of sugar, add the pectin, have it boil over all over your stove and cover it with jelly, frantically lift the pot so that it hopefully stops boiling over, but boils long enough to set...you get the picture.  Then you can it and hope for a good seal and jelly sets.  This involves jars in the stove at 200 degrees, boiling water poured over the lids, and a giant pot of boiling water to create the seal (plus pot grips so you can get the OUT of the boiling water without burning yourself).  The kitchen was a disaster.

Anyhoo, it was fun and now I know how to jelly and jam. 

The elderflower syrup was a failure, because I added too much citric acid and lemons.  I added the flowers to the warm sugar water before adding the citric acid and lemons and the flowers turned brown.  I panicked and frantically added more acid and lemons than was called for to stymie the browning, and it came through in the taste.  I'd probably try again, since the flowers are much easier to deal with than the berries.

Finishing up the post, here are the needles I've used in the past year and a half or so:

 Kind of impressive, no?  And keep in mind I probably skip every other injection...they suck, and I don't like them.  I need to drop off the needles at the hospital soon...my containers are full.

Finally, the plan is to go up and climb at Mayhem today with some Tahoe area folks.  Finding partners has been epic this weekend, as everyone I know has some prior obligation or is a flake or whatever. I've never been there, so I'm kind of psyched to check it out.  What I'm not psyched about is driving up Highway 50 (otherwise known as Highway Soul-Killer) to get there.  I suppose I could go up 80 and then drop down.  I wonder if it my soul would die a little less on that route, even if it took a little bit longer. Driving in California.  Sigh.