The last week of April was a little all over the map on the personal plane, but on the les collines plane it was a banner week of activity and productivity.
So delighted that les collines can now be found at the wonderful Nejaime’s Wine Cellars at both their Stockbridge and Lenox locations, including a first outside the holidays– our little guy sample size, the adorable 1 2/3 oz that everyone loves, perfect for Tanglewood picnics!
In the kitchen this week, we were cookin’ and jammin’ and just about any other pun you can cook up…over 200 jars in one day, a record (may never be repeated!): two batches of rhubarb preserve with vanilla bean & Earl Grey, and though these are small batches they were fairly big ones; two smaller batches of quince preserve, with the very last quince of the season, sniff; a batch of Meyer lemon rosemary jelly; and a batch of sour cherry preserve. Just one jar of our proposed new size (13 oz, shhhh!), then lots of 8 oz and the little ones. We were on a roll.
The rhubarb preserve is the least pretty color-wise of les collines, but the flavor more than compensates. 
Here, the Earl Grey tea, very strong and well-steeped, has just been strained and is ready to add to the rhubarb for a long simmer. 
The quince took on a deeper hue, due perhaps to it cooking a bit longer as it awaited the rhubarb ahead of it! But funnily, the first batch, which cooked for slightly less time than the second, was the darker. Go figure.
The Meyer lemon, so fragrant, so light and sunny in color, and the sour cherry, Fourth of July in a jar. The latter we paired with Midnight Moon goat gouda and an Italian Falanghina from Campania for a lovely apéritif. On a soft spring evening, perfetto.
Closing out the week the weather turned wet and chilly, we had a fire going most of the day. But outside the birds were in full spring mode, and our nesting bluebirds may have some hungry babies as mama and papa both seem to be zooming in and out quite a bit. Timid as they are I managed to catch papa resting on the fence in all his blueness. Happy May Day xo