my love for habanero peach jam all began after i had visited my friend in italy. she had made a batch before i arrived and it’s ALL I COULD EAT while i was there. i had to make this jam when i got back to the states. i attempted the recipe three times before having any success… yeah, it’s THAT good aaaannnddd i’m not a quitter. during one of those attempts i fell asleep (jet lag) while letting the jam sit so i’ll take responsibility for that but the other two attempts i’ll just blame mercury being in retrograde. this time around, i brought in the big guns… my sister and she didn’t disappoint! we made a successful batch of habanero peach jam! you can get the full recipe here.
ingredients:
- 4 1/2 pint jars
- 1 lb 5 oz peeled and pitted peaches
- 2 habanero peppers
- 1 lb 5 oz sugar
- 1 lemon
peel and slice your peaches over a bowl to catch the juices. weigh the peaches, then weigh the sugar to the same amount. finely mince the habanero peppers, seeds and all. (wear gloves! especially if you wear contacts, i made that mistake the first time, you live and you learn right?!)
put the peaches, sugar, habanero peppers and lemon juice in a large heavy bottomed pot. stir to combine everything and mash the peaches a bit with a large wooden spoon or potato masher. let sit for an hour. 
bring the mixture to a boil. boil for approximately 20-30 minutes, stirring frequently. it will foam up for most of the time and eventually when the jam is nearly ready, the foam will die down. check to see if jam is ready by dropping a small amount on a very cold plate. 
when it is ready it will jell as it cools on the plate. when you are satisfied with the jelling, ladle the hot jam into clean jars, almost filling to the top. screw on the lids, but not too tightly and immediately set the jars upside down. let the jars cool and then turn them right side up, refrigerate and enjoy!
yesterday, one of my best friends and her fiance found out the sex of their baby. everyone met up at the ” soon to be grandparents’ ” house, all dressed in pink or blue and headed down to the park for the big reveal. surrounded by friends and family, we all jumped with joy at the news of a BABY BOY! couldn’t be happier for this growing family and their newest member…auntie kenzie loves you so much already! xx
this past saturday my sister, brother-in-law and i took a day trip to santa ynez to see the lavender fields. courtney and i had seen pictures of the fields online and knew we had to see it in person. online the field was described as a place where you can roam, explore and even have a picnic- we didn’t pack a picnic but we did pack all of my cameras. as our gps kept telling us we were getting closer, we all were on the lookout to get the first glimpse at those luscious fields of lavender. “your destination is on the left.” we pulled up and realized our fate…DON’T TRUST THE INTERNET. we got out of the car to get a closer look because surely this couldn’t be the place but it was. we were experiencing the “expectation vs. reality” in real life. maybe the field was having an off day…or year, but we couldn’t help but laugh about the whole thing. maybe it was the two and half hour drive that had us a little delusional but we just couldn’t stop laughing. we did get to see some lavender, the dirt to lavender ratio was much higher but at least we can say we saw some lavender!
with our time at the lavender field cut short we decided to explore the santa ynez valley and check out the danish town, 
i don’t know who started throwback thursday but i’m glad they did because i’m using it as an excuse to share some old photos. about two years ago, i had bangs! okay- that’s not what this post is about but when i had those bangs i took a road trip to the wiiiild west. i went through nevada, arizona and utah. i was talking to someone recently about utah and told them of my favorite places on my trip- 
THEblog 