Holidaze Approaching

The end of fall semester 2009 has finally arrived. Finals are done, grades are in and I am still a CSU graduate student for another semester to come. Since I am planning on moving to Concepcion, Chile next March, I have the next 2 1/2 months off to brush up on my Spanish, enjoy leisure time reading, finish some paintings and cook some delicious recipes...maybe even create some new ones of my own!

Normally when I'm planning on leaving the country, buying holiday gifts is the furthest thing from my mind. I have more pressing things to think about such as; getting my visa paperwork in order, buying a plane ticket, finding someone to house-sit and animal-sit, writing out all of my checks to pay bills while I'm gone...you know, all that fun stuff.

But today I was perusing one of my favorite recipe websites, www.tastespotting.com and I began running across fun gift ideas like;

Hotter Than the Hinges of Hell Habanero Jelly

Spicy Tomato Jam

Homemade Hot Sauce

Brown Sugar Scrub

These got me thinking that I may be able to swing some presents this year for my friends and family. Now I've never tried my hand at jarring/canning anything before so this may take some practice. So today I'm going to head over to the Tremont Farmers Market taking place from 4-7pm in Pilgrim Congressional Church so see what kind of goodies I can find. Then I'm going to make my way over to Pat Catans to find some jars and labels...move over Martha Stewart, Christina is getting domestic!!