So I wasn’t able to sneak in three posts in three subsequent days. I got busy last night and didn’t have time to finish this post. But a one day lapse is pretty good, right?

Malin’s birthday was in September. She turned 30. We had a small party. Unfortunately, I did not really get any pictures. Birthday girl wasn’t taking pictures that day either. We had food from Star Provisions (thin crust pizzas, focaccia pizzas, and soup) along with some usual party food (wings, chip, dips…).

The week before Malin’s birthday, Malin busied herself with a new crafty enterprise: canning.

First on the agenda was fig jam. Malin had a craving that week (early pregnancy does a number on women with respect to cravings – late pregnancy, too, sometimes – heck, maybe even mid-pregnancy).

The fridge was full of figs. Most of them were black mission figs, but I think we got some green kadota figs mixed in there, too. Our neighbors across the street, Joe and Frances, provided some of the green figs – fresh from the fig trees in their backyard.

Before we can can the figs, we must first turn them into jam. This is made easy with the help of sugar and heat. Apparently the first step is peel the little skins off of the figs. Then you toss them into a big pot (the figs, not the skins) with the aforementioned sugar and finally apply the aforementioned heat. It’s so simple, right?

A little stewing on the stovetop

After you have jam, you fill the mason jars. You then “process” the jars to seal them via partial vacuum. When you’re done, you have cute little jars of jam like in the picture (above right).

We still have some to this day. We eat it on toast with breakfast regularly.

Second on the agenda was everyone’s favorite: a piping peck of pickled peppers.

The peppers were courtesy of a friend and co-worker who grows peppers as a hobby – including some really nasty hot peppers like Habaneros.

And now, to break up the monotony, how about an oddball picture of yours truly:

I don’t know what I was doing. The face is unlikely authentic – probably hamming it up for the camera. I don’t know. Don’t ask.

And now on to the end of September. The last week I brewed a truly terrific double IPA:

Sack o’ grains, waiting to be turned into beer

That same day, before brewing began, Malin had a photo shoot: she was taking pictures of baby Nye, the young daughter of our friends Kevin and Patricia. Before the shoot, Malin showed Will how to take pictures using her old D50. He has been taking them ever since. Here are some of his first images:

Later that day, Malin got this picture of Will playing with baby Nye:

He’s already practicing to be a big brother. And look at those curls. Who the hell let him grow his hair out like that? Amusingly enough, he now prefers to keep his hair very short and occasionally even asks if he can shave it, “I want no hair! Like Randy!” (Randy is my mother-in-law’s boyfriend).

And thus concludes yet another chapter. The next chapter will be the longest and the most interesting: California! We’ll write all about what we did in LA in October. Lots of pictures, too. And I have a busy weekend coming up (plans for Friday and Saturday), so I won’t get a chance to post the next chapter until Sunday at the very earliest. I’m sure you will all be on the edge of your seats, losing sleep for days.

À bientôt!