Jamnesia

While spooning apricot butter onto a couple of dozen hamantaschen rounds for the party, I mused on how I'm able to forget all the effort that went into making it.  It's like it just magically appeared in the fridge.  No memory of cutting all the apricots, cooking them, running them through the food mill, cooking them again, and going through the whole boiling bath canner routine - only to have the seal fail and have to put the butter in the fridge anyway.

This isn't the same as tea party amnesia.  I don't forget how much work it is, but I've learned how to spread it out so it doesn't all fall on the party day.  There were two baking days, neither more than four hours, and under an hour of running three batches of flavored cheese through the food processor.  Tuna salad only takes about five minutes, and the V-slicer made quick work of the cucumber.  I had help for assembly from Techie, Writer, and Melody Smurf.  I didn't make them do any hard work on their vacation, but piping stuff is fun when someone else sets it up for you.  At least until Techie broke my pastry bag.  I wasn't heartbroken; it was one of the middle-priced Wilton ones that you expect to last a year.

Well, off I go to make and can a batch of blueberry jam.  I swear, that's the last batch of jam I'm making this year.  Really.