So. The canning party.  Wait.  Before I get into that can I just tell all of you who don’t know me in real life how much money I would have placed on the fact that the words “I am hosting” and “canning party” would never belong together?  Loads.  I would have in fact bet that “canning” and “party” didn’t go together unless canning was a new term for drinking a lot.  (Foreshadowing: turns out in my world it might be.)

There are days I look in the mirror and don’t recognize the person I am.  Playdates, baby pools, couponing, gardening, bunco, and now canning.  Michelle from 5 years ago would point and laugh at Michelle today.  Michelle from 15 years ago would be too busy working and having fun to notice Michelle today.  (Crap, now I’m discussing myself in the third person – I really have lost it.) It is all good.  I made the choices that led me here and am happy with my life.  It is just a little twilight zone-ish if I give it too much thought.

But I digress…canning party.  Not an oxymoron if you do it right!  You all know about the site House Party?  It is pretty cool.  You apply to host a party.  They send free stuff for you and your guests in return for highlighting their product.  Stroke of PR genius on their part.  Good way to try new stuff for us.  Win-win.  A canning party came up right after I started my garden.  I thought I might get lots of tomatoes and need to know how to do this mysterious thing that our generation doesn’t do much of so I applied.  And was picked.  Woohoo!

I invited my friends (look at me! with friends! plural! such a braggart!)  and waited for the mocking to begin.  Strangely, no one really mocked (except my BFF who is still laughing – seriously, she is reading this and chuckling to herself waiting to get the part that I got drunk and blew up the jars…btw D, only 1 of those things happened) and a lot of people agreed to come.  A huge box arrived with my canning kit (nice kit: big pot for boiling and all of the accessories needed).  They recommended we make salsa first and send a jar home with everyone.  I spent hours chopping stuff to make 12 cups of salsa.  Carpal tunnel set in around cup 8.  I made some munchies and mixed some drinks and guests arrived.  We all ate, drank, and canned.  (Although to be honest I think we ate and drank more than we canned.)  The drinks? Went down a little too well.  The salsa was canned – surprisingly easy.  But by the time we got to the second recipe, I might have had one or six drinks too many.  Oops.  The marmalade didn’t exactly reach the consistency of jam – more of a thin syrup.

I like my salsa fresh (I make really good fresh salsa) and am not sure how it will taste canned so I haven’t opened it. And the marmalade contained so much sugar it probably shouldn’t be eaten anyway.  I haven’t tasted either but both jars are sealed safely so in theory I could eat them. And in theory, I can now can tomatoes this fall.  But my tomato plants aren’t looking like they are going to bury us in tomatoes so I might not have to test that theory

My canning tips: get help when chopping for 12 cups of salsa and drink after the canning process is complete.  Oh and make sure you educate yourself a little so you don’t give your family botulism by doing it wrong.  What did my guests learn?  Hopefully that canning isn’t rocket science and that drunk Michelle is amusing.

Thanks to House Party, Ball, and Jarden Home Brands for sending us a party in the box. (Add your own tequila.)  FCC: They sent me free stuff but it had nothing to do with blogging about it.  Not sure what disclaimer you want here so go pick on one of the bloggers who got free appliances or trips rather then a free canning boiling water bath pot and boxes of pectin.