So I’ve been living in my new home and cooking with my new kitchen for oh, about 10 months now, and I only just got around to canning my first batch of anything: Vanilla Pear Butter. And now I finally feel like I’ve arrived.

We were away most weekends throughout the summer and early fall, and in the event we spent the odd one at home, I had a to-do list as long as my arm. It’s a lot of work to settle into a new house, especially one that’s still got the odd bit of renovation work yet to be completed, not to mention the massive landscaping job that took place (that is in fact, still taking place). I hung my first pictures on the walls just a few weeks ago. Part of the problem is that every time the workers are here to do something they generate a whole new round of dust that needs attention, so I’ve held back on the decor bits until just recently. I may yet regret hanging up the things I did. I hate dusting.

To be fair to myself, it’s hard to get motivated to can anything when I don’t really have a garden for inspiration. I finally decided a few weeks ago to hit up the grocery store in my old hood to see if by chance they had any bushels of roma tomatoes still kicking around, with faint hope of canning a couple batches of tomatoes and tomato sauce. I was too late, although if I’d wanted to buy a few bushels of red shepherd peppers for roasting and canning I would have been well stocked. Gotta love neighbourhoods with lots of old ladies from “the old country.”

While the tomato hunt turned up short, they had a couple baskets of ripe Bartlett pears, and I happened to have a stock pile of vanilla beans waiting for some love. This pear butter is perhaps my favourite recipe in the jam/jelly/butter category. It’s deliciously comforting spread simply on toast, or fancied up with some of your favourite sharp cheese on some fresh baguette.

And while I was involved in designing my kitchen and I’ve been reaping the joys of it ever since we moved in, I don’t think I fully appreciated the gift I’d given myself until I set out to can. Imagine the freedom of having room on both sides of your stove to have your tools and supplies ready! No more carrying steaming, dripping incredibly hot glass jars precariously gripped between tongs across the kitchen! I don’t even have to take the saucepan off the stove! Amazing! I’m not missing that old awkward L-shaped kitchen with no countertops around the stove at all.

In the end this was a rather small batch resulting in just 5 250 ml jars. It’s hardly enough to give away, and this would be a stellar holiday gift. I’m not sure I’ll be able to carve out time enough to do more but I sure hope so. If I do, I just might have to make use of my little 125 ml jars to stretch it out. These 5 are staying in my pantry, at least until they end up in my belly!