Forty Before Forty: Crepes, Strawberries and a Jam Session

I have been gradually working my way through a list of things that I want to do before I turn 40 next month. If you have been following along with me and reading, you can see I definitely have a variety of items that I am completing.

I had crepes once at a restaurant in Orange County, CA, a couple of years ago with my friend, Jenny. We were out there working and found a cute little restaurant to go have crepes in for breakfast. I remember she got a great cappuccino there as well and they drew a heart in the foam. We split two crepes-one savory and one sweet- and it was such a great experience.

Fast forward to the present and I wanted to experience this again. Only this time, I took my family and we went to downtown Ann Arbor on a Sunday morning for brunch. My husband and my son had never been to a crepe restaurant like this before and I think they were both pleasantly surprised at the combinations that were offered as well as how good they tasted.

My husband didn’t want to share his so my son and I shared a savory and a sweet choice. Boy, were they good! What a treat! And the mimosa didn’t bother me either!

Here are some pictures of our morning adventures:

We moved on that day to another thing on my list to do: pick fruit. Strawberries were in season so we decided to make it a family event and head over to the farm to pick strawberries. This was a first for me. Some people cannot believe that I have never picked any fruit but usually I just buy it at the store.

The experience of picking your fruit and then taking it home and washing it and eating it is really a good one. I felt like I was doing something good for myself and my family. I washed and dried all of the strawberries and ate some and froze the rest. We definitely brought home a lot of them!

Here are some pictures of our adventures in picking strawberries:

 

Then the last part of this is, what to do with the strawberries? Because I froze them, I was able to wait a while to accomplish a third thing on my list: make jam. I have never attempted canning or preserving so I was a little hesitant to do this one. Let me tell you though, I found a super easy recipe from the Pioneer Woman and I pinned it on Pinterest and followed it exactly. My jam turned out wonderful!

It was a little time consuming but it was so worth it. I loved the feeling of knowing that I picked the fruit and I made the jam with it. I know what is in that jar! Such a fun task and I will definitely do it again.

Here are some pictures from my jam session:

Three more things crossed off my list! It seems like this list is never-ending and who knows if I actually will accomplish all of the items. I will definitely try my best!

Thanks for reading and following along with me!

Sandae