Plum jam, community pick hurrah

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I am so excited that my Cheesy Mashed Potato Puffs were just chosen as a community pick on Food52. That is wonderful, and I'm thrilled. Thank you!

I also just made a wonderful new jam that was inspired by memories of happily eating the spiced plum and port jam I made last year (courtesy of a terrific Food52 cook) and the strawberry-rhubarb-orange jam I made just a month or so ago (courtesy of Marisa of Food in Jars). I had a bunch of little red plums and thought I'd try to break free from the self-imposed chains of plum-basil jam; my relative obsession with it remains intact, but this new jam is lovely!!! It's all plum with a bit of orange zest and juice, allspice and cinnamon. The boys declared it delicious, and I must say I agree. It's also extremely pretty because the red skin of these plums was positively glowing before going into the pot and really lent a beautiful hue to the finished product.

PS

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Anyone see the photo on the front page of the NYT Dining section today? The one of the older woman in overalls going in for a bite of deep-fried butter on a stick? I haven't felt so vicariously, viscerally ill in quite some time.In tandem with last month's press on 7-11's new mashed potato vending machine and my own recent viewing of an all-in-one pancake maker (insert bag o' dough; press button; place plate at foot of conveyor belt), I feel we're really seeing industrialization gone too far. Lest you think I'm a Luddite, I'm not - although I've already abandoned pinterest and still don't get the hoo-ha about Blu-ray - but these items certainly demonstrate the unsavory lengths we'll take our desire for convenience, our quest for immediacy, and our frightening willingness to eat really gross stuff. Fried butter? No wonder health in America is so unimpressive!