Monday, August 3, 2009

Small Measure Can-Do Contest, Round 2

O-kay, folks, it's time again for another Small Measure Giveaway! For those of you new to the contest, or to this blog, I'm staging a giveaway the first Monday of each month from now until the release of my book, Homemade Living: Canning & Preserving with Ashley English. Each month one lucky person will win an artfully crafted canned item featured in the book and made by yours truly. 

From my pantry to yours, this month I'll be giving away a jar of Cherry & Lemon Thyme Marmalade. Equally as delicious sandwiched between layers of lemon cake as it would be served alongside a pork loin, this condiment works its way beautifully into whatever you're serving! It also highlights cherries, which are at their absolute peak of ripeness right now. Ah, summertime and the living is easy-and the cherries abundant!

To enter: Simply leave a comment to THIS specific post by telling me your favorite way of cooking, serving, or simply eating cherries. Your comment MUST link to your particular blog or web site (and therefore to your contact information) or include your e-mail address. Otherwise, I won't be able to get in touch with you if you win. Any entries that do not include some way of getting in touch will be disqualified. 

Deadline: Comments must be received by midnight EST August 17th, 2009. Odds of winning will depend upon the number of eligible entries received.

Other rules: 
1. You must have a mailing address in the United States of America. (Sorry, international folks!) 
2. Only one entry comment per person. 

How it works: Each comment will be assigned a sequential number. The winning number will be selected from a random number generator, so there'll be no favorites, simply a game of chance. 
Keep coming back each month to see the next tasty item up for grabs!                                                

53 comments:

Maria said...

Yay!! Another one of your yummy creations!
Well, my favorite way to eat cherries is straight off the tree!! Recently, I had them with a touch of cream and maple syrup, and that was really yummy, too!! Mmmmmm, cherries!!

keri said...

Soaked in bourbon. Yummy and efficacious.

Toil and Trouble said...

cherries cherries cherries...
i eat them fresh from an old pyrex bowl sitting on the porch on a hot summer's night.

Marcus Leaver said...

CARAMELIZED CHERRIES with CINNAMON, BRANDY & VANILLA ICE-CREAM

JAMES CUBBY WRITER said...

Love preserves and marmalade but my favorite cherry concoction is cherry cobbler. Love it. cubbysobe@hotmail.com

Renai said...

Oh yum!

I mostly just love them fresh. Sitting outside spitting the pits into the grass!

Katie Trott said...

I just love plain ol' organic cherries. Sweet!!

Kathie said...

I like 'em preserved in brandy and tossed over homemade poundcake. But recently I tossed a bunch fresh into some chocolate sourdough muffins and that might be my favorite. Though fresh my the handful is hard to beat too...

Lynne said...

I love 'em fresh and unadorned! Best part is spitting the pits into a bowl and getting your fingers stained. Yummy!

Rachel said...

i love a good old fashioned sour cherry pie, with crust made from real butter from scratch. i'm as much in it for the cherries as the crust. my grandmother actually made this usually from her canned cherries.

stephf said...

That sounds delish, especially spooned over a locally raised pork loin! My all time favorite way to eat cherries is in the good old cherry pie, though.

kate oates said...

My favorite thing to do with cherries is to make a cherry pie with my 94 year old grandma, Lorraine.

penelope said...

i just made my first batch of fridge strawberry jelly. tomorrow i'm going to try to do the same with the two boxes of cherries i have in the fridge. sugar, cherries, lemon....how could it be bad?!

Anonymous said...

My aunt and uncle in Croatia makes a wonderful cherry brandy with big soaked cherries in the bottom of the glass. Simply delicious.

But I'll take a handful of fresh cherries any day: ) I hope to maybe has my own cherry tree one day.

Kristin Marsh Shepard said...

They are wonderful plain & fresh. Also, cherry pie! My sister-in-law makes an amazing one that uses lard in the crust.
kristinLmarsh@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

I'm back at the old computer after a knee surgery.My mom and I are sitting here remembering the past and thinking of the many, many times we ate sour cherries in small dessert bowls at MaMa Law's home. Your grandfather Bullock loved cherries picked ripe from the tree!!!! Luvn's Mom &Nannie

kelledy said...

I am eating fresh cherries right now. I bought them two bags of them at Whole Foods because they were on sale. When I came home I realized that I had spent $16 on them. Now I'm really enjoying these cherries...savoring every last one. At least that was a delicious 16 bucks spent.

Deb said...

Fave way to eat cherries is straight off the tree. I'm fortunate enough to live near Traverse City, MI which has lots and lots of cherries and the famous Cherry Festival in July. Nothing better than sun warmed cherries directly from tree to mouth--yum!!

lis said...

Been a long time since having our own cherry trees, but back then: straight from the tree. I remember our special pitting gadget back then was a paper clip. Thanks for this!

sk said...

Yummy!
Cherries don't really grow around here, so I don't come across them very often, but I have bought canned cherries before, and I made a slap-dash pie which was delicious. I have never actually seen them on a tree, but I would love to!

Amanda said...

vegan cherry cobbler 4-ever!!!!!
chantspectacular.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Sounds Wondersul. Brings back memories of sitting on the garage roof top and picking them off the tree in Chevy Chase. Great times.

Captain's Wife - Jennifer said...

I love them fresh but I'll eat em' however I can get em'. :)

ToyiaRenee said...

Cherries....... eaten out of a handmade bowl while soaking myself in a hot hot hot bubble bath... Heaven!

ToyiaRenee@Hotmail.com

Ian said...

My favorite way of eating cherries in on road trips. The bag fits between the seats and the pits are launched out the window.

Leigh said...

Chocolate covered. Amen.

nasturtium(at)fastmail.fm

. said...

i can rarely help myself from eating the whole basket from the farmers' market in one sitting, pits and all! with a tiny bowl for stems and stones, when i remember to spit them.

Karen said...

Most of the time they don't make it long enough to be cooked. I love fresh picked cherries from the bag straight to my mouth!

Cheryl said...

I love eating cherries right out of the colander after giving them a quick rinse.

dgh said...

to me cherries are miniature plums and i love everything tiny. sliced in half and pitted, i make what my grandmother lives off of in the summer time - a clafoutis. a french sort of breadpudding/custard consistency with half-cherries (or apricots, plums, nectarines, any pitted fruit) floating hole-side up.

bon apétit!

Laura said...

yum! i love to pop fresh cherries right into my mouth! no other preparation needed. and i'm a master at tying the stems into knots with my tongue.

Brenda said...

Of course, I absolutely love just plain old fresh cherries, right out of the bowl (and SO good for you). But, one of my very favorite cakes is Black Forest Cake (chocolate and cherries .... need I say more?)! And cherry ice cream - homemade - the BEST. I can't just pick one. :) Found your blog via Design*Sponge!

Brenda, breneda@phydeauxdesigns.com

Evie said...

ahh, I adore cherries! I only wish my husband had the same affection for them. I'm gluten free and have recently started treating myself to gluten free oats - so right now my favorite is whipping up a quick cherry crumble for a spontaneous desert. Delish!

EvieJespersen@gmail.com

stephanie alaine said...

mmm cherries, summertime in a bag that i carry to the beach, to park, to work, in my bike basket. all about town.

this summers discovery with cherries is delightful! pit them, mash them in the bottom of a glass, add rosemary simple syrup and a splash of vodka, straight out of the freezer.

my o my you can't beat it. so refreshing and so right!

KJ said...

I made a cherry crisp today. It was wonderful sweeted with Honey. It all ready all gone Yum!

scrappinshar said...

i love eating my home jam over made from scratch waffles yummy! with a little cream cheese and home made whip cream.

Anonymous said...

i like to dry ranier cherries and use them in my homemade granola, or make a cuppa/cuppa/cuppa cherry cobbler out of them... yum!
amberreece@embarqmail.com

Cyn said...

Straight out of the bag, bowl or tree. But I love me some jam and yours sounds divine!

Unknown said...

When I was younger, my dad used to make cherry pie, and the cherries would soak up in the sugar and become unimaginably sweet! now that I have slightly less of a sweet tooth, I prefer to fry them in a skillet with some butter and pour them over ice cream, still very sweet but more manageable, its great!
-elainarunge@gmail.com

Jody M said...

I pit mine, toss them in a quart jar with sugar and pour vodka over them. Vodka is great as a cordial, cherries are great in a dense cake, and everyone is happy.

Liz said...

Pie. Pie pie pie. Although I am making chokecherry jam this weekend....

Paige said...

Give me a few slices of raw milk cheddar, stone ground wheat crackers, and a handful of fresh cherries and I am a happy camper!

Fanny Harville said...

Cherry clafoutis is my favorite way to eat the cherries that we pick every year at Levering Orchard just over the NC border in VA. Looking forward to your book since I've just discovered canning in the past year and am loving it.

momma rae said...

i luv em straight! when i was pregnant with my daughter, i actually ate fresh cherries until i vomited. couldn't help it...my senses were so alive and sensitive and they were just SO good! it was worth it.

i'm in avl! glad i found your blog (thanks, emily!).

folk city said...

When sweet cherries are in season, I eat them for breakfast, lunch, an dinner... no cooking necessary. I have fond memories of eating small sour cherries from a tree in our garden when I was a kid. My mom used to preserve them in jars with a simple sugar syrup. My job was pitting the fruit. We'd eat them served over homemade custard or ice cream and sometimes add the syrup to seltzer water for a summer beverage.

becca said...

I just tried sour cherries (since I didn't have enough for a pie) in rum and a small amount of honey. It has been working its magic on my shelf and it just keeps getting better (I have not been able to resist a few tastes).

Unique2wh0 said...

I love cherries made with homemade brownies...Yummmy!! Like them off the tree too, remind me of grandmas house when a lil' girl.
Unique2wh0 at aol dot com

Zanetha Matisse said...

Looks like I'm a few days late to try my hand at winning what must be heaven-on-earth marmalade. (I'd smear it on current rich scones and enjoy with a lovely pot of double earl grey.) But I feel like I'm a winner since I found your blog today. I'm a smitten kitten. Looking forward to reading back posts with my twin tonight. It's sister night and we always indulge our food and femme cravings together, so merci madame, for the new material! To get to my 'official' reply, I've enjoyed watching my local fauna savor the cherries from my tree, more than I do. It's incredibly tall and unruly, and we've let it go to the birds, quite literally. They love them. Just recently, we had 2 baby raccoons going to town on those sweet plump black cherries. What a treat to be wakened by their high-pitched chortle while they enjoyed a late night summer feast.

Marjorie AKA Babs said...

Oh my gosh, do I love cherries! And, for me, the best way to eat cherries is ice cold from the fridge! Crisp contrasted with very juicy...Yum Yum. Just put the metal strainer full of those ice cold babies on my lap and start eating.
I did make cherry preserves (vs jam) once and it was heavenly warm and poured over vanilla bean ice cream.
Your jam sounds heavenly. I am a big fan of marmalade also. A had a friend in England who would make fresh marmalade for her husband each morning for his toast!

nina said...

Please...share the recipe!

ashley english said...

Hi Nina! The recipe will be included in my "Canning & Preserving" book, part of my "Homemade Living" series. It will be available wherever books are sold April 2010!

Evie said...

Ashley! Thank you so much! Upon return from Seattle this past week I found your box waiting patiently for me. I made a fresh loaf of gluten free bread Sunday night and went to town. Quite delightful! Looking forward to the book :)

ashley english said...

Yeah, Evie! So, so glad you enjoyed it!!!!