To begin a blog or not to - a question most of us seem to be faced with. Once you decide to have a blog of your own, the next stumbling block is the subject. Between Elle & I, we love food, travel, books, movies, meeting new people and everything in-between. So this blog will about every one of those and some others too :)

For the past year (almost), I have gotten into the habit of visiting the farmer’s market every weekend and buy my week’s stock of vegetables and fruits. Living in California, I have the luxury of year-round farmer’s market. So last weekend, I got a basket full of strawberries and wanted to make strawberry jam. I found quite a few recipes on the internet that do not use pectin but did not follow any one of those in particular. Now, I know that sounds scary - but believe me, the end product was truly delectable.


1 basket of strawberries = about 3 cups of bite-sized pieces
1/2 cup of honey
1 tsp lemon juice

Mix the cut berries & honey in a heavy-bottomed pan - let this sit for about 10 minutes. Now you may ask why honey and why not sugar? Please read this before you proceed any further. Add lemon juice to this mixture and again let it sit for another 1/2 hour. Heat the whole mixture in medium-flame till the jam (or preserves) reaches the correct consistency. To know if your jam is ready, just drop the mixture on a frozen plate and it should not be runny. This process took me about 45 minutes and I think the time depends on the amount of strawberries used. I am no expert at this, as this is my first attempt at making jam - if you discount the failed attempt at making tomato jam when I was 12 :)

Some interesting jam recipes from the blog world:
Mango-Strawberry jam
Mango Jam