Experimenting in the Kitchen...

...is sometimes a great idea, and sometimes... not.

Last Saturday, after all of my previous canning and jam/jelly making, I thought I'd try to make some apple jam, using crab-apples. So I found a recipe for Caramel Apple Jam that sounded like it would be pretty good. The only thing was that with crab-apples I would have to put them through a food-strainer instead of chopping them—because they are just way too small to seed and chop. But, I thought, that will be OK because to make apple butter you just cook the apples and put them through the mill, so it would be kind of the same thing.

Well, in the first place the jam recipe says how many cups of chopped apples you need, which is probably not the same as milled apples. And, secondly, milled apples turn out to be the exact texture of applesauce. (Imagine that!) In hindsight, maybe I should have taken my hand-blender to them before I cooked them...  Third, how much sugar should you add to eighteen cups of applesauce to make it into apple butter/jam?

In the end, I guessed on the amount of sugar. I guessed at how much...well, instead of water I used apple juice. I guessed on the amount of pectin. And I guessed on the cinnamon and spices too.

I cooked up the apple...goo, but by the time I'd gotten that far I was sick of playing with apples and sick of canning for the day. It tasted strong, but ...Okaaayy, so I just poured it into jars and processed it in the canner. Then my eleven pints of apple-something-or-other sat on my counter for the rest of the weekend, and I continued to stew over them.

Well, the picture doesn't look half bad. But in real life it looks like really old applesauce.

I really didn't think anyone would eat it as jam since the texture is exactly like applesauce. And it kind of looks like food that's been on the shelves for twenty years already, even though it is fresh, so I couldn't envision my kids running to the shelves and looking at it and thinking, "Yum! Let's have some of that!" In fact, I didn't think I'd want to eat it. But I didn't want to just throw all my labor down the disposal either. Hmmmm.

This morning I opened up a jar of apple-goo and tasted it. The flavor is good, but strong! It is like cinnamon-applesauce concentrate: potent! One bite was as much as I wanted to eat. So I stirred in a little water, but it made no difference; I just really couldn't eat more than a tablespoon of this in one sitting—maybe even in a day. Well, after all, it was supposed to be jam!

So I made all my kids taste it. "What do you think of this?" I asked, after they tried it. "Would you want to eat it?" They all thought it was too strong, although Kaylie said it might be good on waffles or pancakes. Then Melanie happened to call me, and I asked her what she would do with it. She echoed my own thoughts: Throw it all out except for a couple of pints.

And then I had a stroke of genius! I would use it to make an apple cake. Maybe if I added no spices, and no. sugar. at. all, it would work out. So...four cups of flour, some baking powder, baking soda, salt, eggs and oil, a little vanilla, a drop of maple flavoring... The batter was gray, but didn't taste half bad.

Well, the timer is beeping even as I type..

It's a little ugly—I probably wouldn't give it to guests.
But how does it taste?

The cake smells good, but it is cracked and the inside is gray. The jam experiment didn't really work out...is there any hope for the cake? We are about to find out...

News From Hungary! vol. 33

It's nice to check my email first thing in the morning and find letters from Brandon!  

Hoo

Well I spent most of this last week sitting. Sitting on Trains, sitting in meetings, and sitting on other trains. Or at least that is how it feels.

Sunday
I really did sit on trains almost all day, I had to get up really early to catch a train to another city, because we were having a District conference. Which is pretty much like a Stake Conference, but it is just with the branches that are run by the mission, and form a district. The conference was awesome. The talks given were really good, and I feel that they will help the members out here really focus on living by the gospel. Especially where topics such as ministering are concerned.
After the conference there was a big lunch and it was really yummy. Then we helped clean up afterwards and left. That was pretty much the whole day because I had another really long train ride after that and got back late.

Saturday
We had a long day of finding. We tried to use the Book of Mormon Challenge as a finding tool, but we didn't find anyone who was interested in learning about the gospel. There were plenty of people who kind of looked into it, but for the most part they were not all that interested.

Friday
We met with our most progressing investigator Ádám. He is doing so well that we have decided that we are going to ask him again if he will be baptized. We then had district meeting, and...Weekly planning actually, because we didn't have time to do it at all the previous day. We met with a member named C—, he is pretty gone in the head. C— had a nasty car accident, and ever since then he has believed some really strange things. So we visit him to help keep him active in the church. Though I honestly question how accountable he is for most of the things that he does. He is a strange man and can often surprise you with incredible wisdom and insight, but most of the time he is just really weird, and very incorrect about the gospel.

Thursday
We had Zone Conference. It was pretty good. I didn't learn about anything that was taught, but I did learn. I have found that it is much more important to listen to the spirit that what is being said by the speaker. More often than not those things will line up, but sometimes you will hear something different and more specific to you, and this is what happened for me.

Wednesday
I was on Splits with my Zone leaders. It was really good and we found two new investigators. Actually four, because we found 2 for each companionship here in Debrecen. That is really all that happened.

Tuesday
We Started Splits with the Zone Leaders, and we went to do a lot of finding.

The most memorable thing that has happened on my mission.  *1 
Hmm... I will never forget the time when one of my investigators commit suicide. It was the hardest point of my mission. And I don't think that I ever told you. But I wanted to go home so bad that I couldn't stand it. But that is also a point of time when I grew the most. I cannot say that I loved the experience, but I am thankful for it because I now know more about myself than I knew previously.  *2
Aside from this experience, the most memorable thing that I have experienced is the Spirit testifying with me as I have testified to others.

Which reminds me, and I would like Ryan especially to read this. But there have been many many times when I have testified and the spirit was really strong, and then the person who I was talking to still did not understand, or didn't want to change. I want to advise you to never be discouraged by this. It is OK. It is hard, But everyone has their agency. On the bright side, your words will likely have more impact on that person than you will ever realize. So please just prepare yourself. Your mission will be the best thing in your life. I don't know how I can better say it. And please don't be too worried because of my words. It will all be awesome, and it will always turn out well in the end. *3

Now I was asked a very interesting thing. What have I learned on my mission. I honestly can't say that I have learned it because I am learning it still. But there is a scripture that goes. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him; and He shall direct thy paths." I have tried to do this my whole mission, and I have seen that the most important thing that you can do, no matter what walk of life you are taking. You need to make sure that you are 100% converted to the Lord. You need to make sure that you follow that scripture's instruction. And when you do this you will be more Christlike, more loving and Charitable. You will be strictly obedient to the commandments, and most importantly as a missionary. You will shine forth the light that God has given you, and be the most perfect example you are capable of being, so that others too can come unto Christ.

This is all for now.
Love you!

Brandon.



These aren't pictures of me, but I have been drawing in what little free time I have and I wanted to show you. *4

This Dragon took a long time to draw, but I finally finished it.

I have been having a lot of fun drawing this wolf, and I am still working on it.

Mom's Notes:

1. I asked him the most memorable thing that happened on his mission. If I had thought about it, I would have guessed that the story he told was the thing.

2. This happened in his first area. The man committed suicide, and the man's brother accused the missionaries of driving people to their death. There was a police investigation—Brandon and his companion were interrogated twice, and then transferred immediately. I could tell he wasn't happy at all, and I was afraid that he would want to come home, but he stuck it out. I'm proud of my son.

3. Ryan got his mission call last Saturday (day before yesterday). He will be serving in Gilbert, AZ, entering the Provo MTC on November 28—two weeks after Brandon gets home. I love that Brandon gives him this insight and advice.

4. Pictures from a second email. I would like to see pictures of him, his companion, people they work with, Hungary...  But this is all right too.

'Til next time...

I Can Can!

I can! I can can. (That's just a funny thing to say. ;-) )

Not Can-Can! (Although I've done that too...)

I am talking about canning—preserving fresh fruits and vegetables in jars. I can can!

And I've been canning...

We bought our lovely house last November with one thing in mind...Well, two things. First, we wanted our own house that we could all comfortably fit into right now. But the second thing was that our kids are growing up, and they'll be moving out, and having their own kids, and we wanted a house that would have enough space for our eight kids and their eight spouses (16), and their families of eight kids each (bringing us up to 80 people) to come visit for big family gatherings...like Thanksgiving.

So we got a four-bedroom, two-bath house, with three big family rooms and a big kitchen and dining area. (We don't actually need three family rooms, so the one in the basement became my sewing room.)

The house also came with a smallish back yard that had one big covered patio, and another 20 x 25-foot brick patio (which I think was used for a fire-pit). The yard, before it was abandoned for two years, must have been lovely...lush, green grass, roses in nooks and along the block wall, and all surrounded by big shade trees. I'm pretty sure the people who built this house and the yard wanted a nice place for their family to hang out, too.

The trouble with the yard—aside from the fact that it was dying and would need a lot of work—is that nothing edible was growing in it. Unless you count roses. No fruit trees, no berry bushes, not even a garden space. We wanted to plant a garden—nothing huge, but a place where we could grow some summer vegetables and some tomatoes for canning. And we figured the place that would be easiest to work with, and got the most sun throughout the day was the superfluous brick patio. The brick patio had to go.

We all worked on removing the bricks (which are still stacked up by the house, even as I type this. We have a plan for the bricks...)

And there I am, looking my utmost best, removing a bush.
Bruce and I removed about twelve bushes from around
our patio/garden plot.

Once we cleared our garden space we were a little slow tilling the ground—which, after years of being covered by two layers of really good garden fabric and about 700 bricks, was kind of like a big baked brick itself. Finally, at the end of May we planted...

...one watermelon plant, six serrano peppers, six green bell peppers, and...

...thirty-six tomato plants! (Not because we are such great tomato-farmers; pretty much the opposite, actually. Also they were a really good price.) That left us no more space for summer veggies, like beans, carrots, radishes, etc.

Our little garden started out pretty enough!

Then Jason got engaged, and I became engaged in dress-making and wedding-planning. As part of the wedding preparations (a bread-bar for refreshments) I canned about a dozen pints of apricot jam, and maybe ten of cherry jam. But during that time we paid only minimal attention to our poor garden, which ended up looking a lot like a little jungle. Nevertheless, the week after the wedding we brought in about twenty-five to thirty (-ish—we didn't weigh them this time) pounds of tomatoes...some of which we ate with tremendous enjoyment. I also bottled about seventeen quarts of tomatoes and juice. Not bad!

The next week we had a lot of rain, followed by a big, swirling hailstorm (stones the size of marbles) on Thursday. Did our tomatoes survive?

That Friday we brought in fifty-eight pounds! We had fresh salsa, fresh tomatoes in salads and on burgers, baked stuffed tomatoes,  and I canned another twenty-seven quarts.

The weather has cooled since the hailstorm, the plants are beaten to death, and it's taking longer for the tomatoes to ripen; I think autumn is here. Still, we've been bringing in about fifty pounds of tomatoes every four or five days; so far about 250 pounds in total. We've got fifty-nine quarts of diced tomatoes, twenty-five pints of salsa, and thirteen quarts of tomato juice. On top of that I experimented with tomato jam—six half-pints (which turned out to be like spaghetti sauce with lots of sugar in it—kind of weird). And today, right now, this very minute, I am roasting the last of yesterday's forty-four pounds of tomatoes, which will be reduced down to sauce; I'll probably get eight to twelve pints of that.

Our garden today (after I picked everything that was ripe yesterday). We had intended to stake up the plants, and not let them sprawl all over the ground. But then maybe the hail would have ruined all the tomatoes. As it it, most of the fruit was hiding
under the plants when the hailstorm hit.

You'd think that would be enough canning for anyone, but between tomato sessions we kept driving past this beautiful crabapple tree that's in front of an empty house. I'd heard about crabapple jelly... 

Now we have ten pints of crabapple jelly, and that tree is still tempting me to make more—or maybe crabapple butter.

Seriously, they beg to be used.
"Oh, shake me, shake me, we apples are all of us ripe!"

And I think I'll try making some serrano pepper jelly. Because...why not?

Last Monday Lindsey wanted to go visit the Pride of Neola Orchard and pick some peaches. (Beautiful, beautiful fruit trees and friendly owners. They specifically told us to eat as much fruit as we wanted while we were out picking; we were delighted to comply!) We took the whole family to the orchard including Jason and Adreanna, who were visiting for the weekend, and a couple of good friends...which is probably why we left with eighty pounds of white peaches and honeycrisp apples, instead of the intended twenty pounds of peaches.

This week we've eaten a whole lot of fabulous fresh peaches, had a peach cobbler, and I'm wanting to try a peach ice cream recipe. Yum! And we also have nine pints of peach jam and eleven quarts of bottled peaches.

Next week I intend to make green-tomato salsa; maybe twenty pints. And whatever tomatoes ripen after that will be for our immediate eating pleasure. Or for friends.

My mom might tell me I'm nuts for working so hard—she often does, when I do the things that she used to do all the time. But back in the day she has bottled over 1,000 jars of fruits and vegetables in a year. I'm not anywhere near that; I don't know how you can even manage to do that much. Anyway, I gleaned my mad canning skills from her.

I don't know how the canning bee got into my bonnet this year. I've already spent a lot of time on my feet, in the kitchen, up to my elbows in fruit, but I am glad we have such a nice little store of home-canned goodies for the coming months!

News From Hungary! vol. 32

I got Brandon's travel itinerary last week...He will be home on November 15 at 2:00 p.m.! I don't know if he has received a copy of the travel plans, but he doesn't say anything about it. Which is good. Better to be focused on what he's doing than on coming home. :-)  I, however, am excited for him to come back, and the itinerary makes it real.

No pics today. :-(

I am tired

I just out of no where got really tired. Maybe that is because the last few days I haven't slept super well. Aside from that the work is going really well out here, although it is also going a bit slowly right now. The school year just started today, and for the last week, and probably this week too, people have been super busy and it has been tough to meet with them.

Sunday
We had a wonderful fast and testimony meeting, it was really good. We have had a new record for people in church. 26 people, that doesn't sound like a lot, but it was really so cool to finally have a number over 20. I intend to do all in my power to keep making that number bigger, and I now have the full support of the Branch out here. I just need to get better at planning and things are going to go crazy out here in Debrecen. I have been so blessed to work out here. We have also finally had a Branch Counsel meeting. It was really needed, and they actually did a pretty decent job of it. Everyone worked together and discussed the topics on the agenda. None of them actually knew how to have a Branch Counsel meeting, and so a senior missionary let them know how they should do it in the future. I am excited for the upcoming weeks out here. And I predict that they are going to be really rocky, but worth it.

Saturday
We looked up a lot of members and less active members to let them know about the 21 day Book of Mormon Challenge. And then we helped the new senior couple get familiar with the area. We will also be assisting them in finding a new apartment.

Friday
We had district meeting, so we got on a train at about 7:50, and arrived in Szolnok for the meeting at about 9:30. So we really just had a crazy morning. Then we got on anther train to head back to Debrecen after our meeting, and it got delayed an hour. This made us get back late and not have any time for much of anything.

Thursday
We did weekly planning, and then I started feeling sick. We tried going out to work anyway, but it got bad enough that I wasn't able to really do anything. So we just stayed in for the rest of the day and updated the area book. We also called our investigators and tried to set up appointments with them for this week, but they were all busy organizing school things.

Wednesday
We met with our most progressing investigator Ádám, he is so cool. I am really lucky to get to teach him about the gospel. He is considering baptism. I think the only reason why he hasn't decided to get baptised is because of possible family issues, but I don't know. Then that evening we had a Game Night, and a lot of our investigators came, and they even brought their friends. It was super good, but we need to get a much better spiritual aspect into our game nights. Either starting or ending with a spiritual thought would do the trick.

Tuesday
We had to translate for some Church Auditors. It was tough, and took up all of our evening. But it was good. The Debrecen Branch actually has the best documentation that they have seen in all of Hungary so far, and they are going to be using their paperwork as an example model when they train the rest of this Europe district. So I am pretty happy with that. Guess that it means that they are doing a good job out here, at least as far as that is concerned.

And that is all. About my week. As far as why Elder Hess had to go to the doctor, well. It is because he struggles with PTSD. He had a surgery before his mission, and things went very wrong and he has PTSD because of it. He's fine though, just needed a perscription refill.

Love you all!
Brandon.


Mom's Notes:

1. It sounds like Brandon's and Elder Hess's efforts with the members have been paying off.  Yay! A month ago Brandon made it sound like there were some big problems to overcome.

2. I'm glad there's a senior couple (a retired couple who are serving a mission) in their area. I know Michael and Jason both really liked working with the couples who served with them on their missions. I also suspect that those retired couples kind of look after the younger missionaries a little. Not that they hang out with them all the time, or babysit them, but that they care for them. I can't explain it well...

And now I have to go can about sixty pounds of peaches. 'Til next week!

Three Dresses

Well! It has been a surprising summer of dresses for me...although not the dresses I had originally intended to make for myself. I spent most of the summer making Adreanna's wedding dress (which you already knew). But I thought I'd share some pics of her dress in the making:

I took these pics on the day I delivered the dress to her. I altered the color so that maybe you could see a little of the lace detail.

Most of the work of her dress was because I was taking this lace...

...and cutting it and arranging it to look like this.

The first two pieces of lace are sewn onto the front of the bodice! Only a zillion more to go!
If you look closely you can see the large stitches I basted in to show where I wanted to sew the lace on. (I had marked it with disappearing ink, but the ink disappeared too fast for me to finish the work!) I pinned the dress pieces to my ironing table to keep it flat, and then stitched all of the flower chains on by hand.

Here's the front, almost finished. If you see lace with a pin stuck in it, it still needs to be stitched down.

I did the train the same way as the bodice, stitching the flowers down by hand. The edge laces were basted on by hand, but permanently put in their place with the sewing machine.
(Again, the weird picture color is so that maybe you can see a little detail.)

detail on the back bodice

And here you can see the front bodice detail (or some of it).
And the happy couple! Aren't they cute?

I am pretty pleased with the way Adreanna's dress turned out, and even more pleased that she was so happy with it. Yay!

But it's the next two dresses that amazed me. These are dresses that I made four years ago, and thought I'd never see again.

You may remember that when we moved into our new house two of the dresses from my Pianoforte collection disappeared. We looked through every box, we searched the house we moved from, and we searched our new house. Gone. I was pretty sure they must have ended up in the landfill somehow. One of those dresses I had never been satisfied with, and it was awaiting alterations from me. But the other was the flagship dress of the line; everyone's favorite (including mine). I was not happy.

This is what missing
dress number one
was supposed to
look like. Lovely,
don't you think?

Well, the week after the wedding I got a bee in my bonnet to clean the garage. It was still housing a bunch of boxes that needed more permanent homes. So we went through every box, and unpacked, put away, or rearranged everything we found. Finally I got to a big, red tote. I opened it up and found a bunch of books—as expected, because I'd looked in this tote in the search for the missing dresses. I started taking books out so that I could put them in their new home (which was actually a different box, for now) and underneath a good twenty pounds of books I saw a light blue sheet... The very sheet I'd wrapped the dresses in to keep them clean. So I tossed the books aside, snatched up the bundle of blue sheet, and sure enough! There were my dresses! I squealed! I snatched them up! I was ecstatic!

Now, I have to tell you that I would never have piled thirty or more pounds of books on top of those dresses. Someone else must have packed up that tote. Nevertheless, I am glad they are back! And now they are hanging in my closet, safe and sound.

Amazing!