The day has finally arrived! Freakin’ Flamingo is LIVE!

What is Freakin’ Flamingo, you ask? It’s my brand-spanking-new online store, selling my handmade, micro-batch jams, marmalades, and whatever else I feel like canning and sharing with you! All with a South Florida / Caribbean vibe and made in season. Super-limited edition, if you will, because, when it’s gone – it’s gone. Whatever little of it there was in the first place.

I’m also selling some of my very favorite Oxford Falls products, like the Vegan Gluten-Free Worcestershire Sauce and the Dix Fried Green Tomato Salsa (which we eat by the jar around my house, and goes into a lot of my cooking!).

Please stop by and let me know what you think. Or better yet, buy something. Well, you know…

So, what’s new, you ask?

Here’s the thing. I fell in love with canning and, as it turns out, I’m pretty darned good at it. I decided (with the support of my husband, who also thinks I’m pretty darned good at it) that I’m going into business to sell my jams, marmalades, and assorted other products I’ve been canning. I’m incorporated (LLC), having my logo trademarked, and even have a bank account! The name?

Freakin’ Flamingo.

That’s me – all over. (Thanks, Barb.) I’m working on a retail website right now which, when it’s ready, will be found at FreakinFlamingo.com. But not yet. Soon. I’ll let you know.

You may find this strange, but I want to keep this small scale. Really small scale. The basic premise is that my stuff is not only hand-crafted and small-batch, it’s micro-batch. Everything is prepared and canned during it’s proper season (usually local, or as local as I can get it), and no more than about a dozen half-pints or pints at a time, and with my own South Florida twist. I’ll be offering it to you as it’s prepared, and when it’s gone, it’s gone. Until next season. At my whim, or if you demand it. As I like to say, you never know what you’ll find until I cook it up and write it down.

So, why am I telling you this now?

Because it’s the holidays, I wanted to do a turn on the iconic cranberry sauce. I found myself inspired by tweets from my friend Maria (@ViceQueenMaria on Twitter), who as it turns out, kinda lives in my ‘hood. Maria’s been doing a lot of traveling around Florida lately, and has kind of gotten into the coastal and Caribbean pirate culture.

I got to thinking about my favorite pirate, Ann Bonny. Yes, there were female pirates, boys and girls, and she was one of the best. What would Ann Bonny do? Well, you know, after she got out of pirate prison, got married, and had a bazillion kids. She’d infuse those whole cranberries (acquired on a daring New England coastal raid, no doubt) with lots of limes and just a tot of Jamaican spiced rum. I present to you my first offering:

Ann Bonny’s Pirate’s Reserve Caribbean Cranberry

Half-Pints $8.00 each plus shipping
(5 available)

Perfect with your holiday turkey, pork, chicken, and equally delicious on toast or English muffins.

Blueberry Mojito Jam

Half-Pints $8.00 each plus shipping
(6 available)

Feeling a little chilly? Imagine yourself on a sunny, warm Caribbean beach, sipping Mojitos in the middle of January. Well, this Florida blueberry jam, infused with lime, a hint of mint, and the merest suggestion of rum, might not get you there, but if you close your eyes…

Carambola Honey Jam. Carambola, also known as Starfruit, is a crisp and sweet-tart tropical fruit that is usually only seen as a garnish. I used locally-sourced carambola and local wildflower honey to make this a treat you’ll want to spread on toast, stir into yogurt, and spoon onto everything in sight!

Carambola Honey Jam

Half-Pints $8.00 each plus shipping
(1 available)

See the Freakin’ Flamingo Facebook page for more flavors. All are half-pints and are priced at $8.00 per jar.

Um, want some?

**NOTICE**

This is totally embarrassing, but these stupid PayPal links aren’t working. Again. If you’re interested in ordering jam, please e-mail me at: FreakinFlamingo@att.net. I will be more than happy to accommodate you. So sorry for the inconvenience, but hopefully, the web site will go live soon – watch this space!

I know! We’re in the middle of Chanukah and Christmas Eve is, like 5 minutes away! And you forgot to get Cousin Bluebell anything! What are you going to do?!?

Don’t panic. You can still get Cousin Bluebell a gift certificate from

The Hunger Site
The Breast Cancer Site
The Child Health Site
The Literacy Site
The Rainforest Site or
The Animal Rescue Site

They e-mail the gift certificates to you, and you can cut-n-paste them into your own personal e-mail to the giftee, or your can print them out and present them in a lovely card.

Cousin Bluebell or your little niece Dottie can use the gift certificate at any of these sites’ shopping areas. And there are hundreds and hundreds of things they can get, ranging from jewelry, clothing items, accessories, and even coffee. You know that’s high up on my list! And while they’re shopping, they’ll learn all about these great causes and have a good time doing good.

Happy Holidays, Everyone! Please do stop by Flamingo Fotos for A Flamingo Christmas / Chanukah!

You Are Mashed Potatoes

Ordinary, comforting, and more than a little predictable You’re the glue that holds everyone together.

No kidding? Dammit! I was hoping to be something a tad more exciting. Like, umm, the Turkey or the Yams. Mashed potatoes, indeed! Hmmph!

We had a great day, yesterday. The deep-fried turkey was to die for. If you’ve never had it before, you simply must, sometime. I took a portrait of it for my Saturday PhotoHunt post, tomorrow on Flamingo Fotos (it’ll be up after midnight – the beauty of scheduled posting!).

I toyed with getting up at the crack of dark to do some early shopping, but the comfort of my bed and the warmth under the covers (you have to understand – once the mercury drops below 80 and the humidity below 60%, we open all the windows and don’t close ‘em again until it goes above those conditions – no matter how cold it gets at night. And it had to be in the low 50′s or high 40′s last night!) acted like some kind of super-gravitational force, and I didn’t even open my eyes until almost 10:00 a.m.! I couldn’t believe it! I never sleep in that late! Yeesh!

So, instead I did a lot of damage at Amazon and at my Daily Click sites (I repeat, you must do some of your holiday shopping there – it’s great!), enjoyed what MJ and I call “coffee on the veranda” for about an hour and a half, late this afternoon, and watched the parrots – all of them! – descend on the feeders one last time for the day.

Charla gave us some leftovers to take home – no pie, though – and I’m going to add some mashed potatoes, and we’ll be happy to do it all over again…. yum!

So, what did you do today?

No, you’re not seeing double. I’ve pretty much duplicated this post on Flamingo Fotos. Why? Well, mostly because I can. And also because, among the things I’m thankful for, are that MJ and I have a roof over our heads, food on the table, and the ability to provide the same for a kitty or two.

JJ was a shelter kitty. MJ and I went to the southern branch of the county animal shelter to donate an extra piece of cat furniture. While he was filling out the donor paperwork, I went into the “kitten room” – a screen enclosure very thoughtfully located just inside the front door (hee!) – to play with the kittens. As I bent down to pet some of them, a small black striped ball of fur shot vertically into the air and landed on my shoulder, purring wildly. “Look, Honey! A volunteer!” It was, of course, all over after that.

I tell you this story because I’d like you to consider an alternative to some of the traditional places you might do your holiday shopping. Namely, The Animal Rescue Site. Or The Breast Cancer Site. Or The Rainforest Site. Or The Hunger Site. Or The Child Health Site. Or The Literacy Site. If you’ve ever clicked on any of the buttons on my sidebar, you know that you can click every day and – without any cost to you – by clicking you are helping your favorite cause, or all of them. But did you realize that you can shop, too? Serious.

There’s such a variety of things to choose from, ranging from t-shirts to jewelry, house and garden, and on and on. Lots of really cute stuff for kids and teens and adults. And the prices are really reasonable! Look, I know there’s a lot of competition for the few bucks any of us has left, but when you give a gift this holiday season, wouldn’t it be nice to know that your purchase is not just going to make someone smile, it’s not going to cost most of your right arm? And that it will benefit something you believe in?

Like feeding and finding a good home for JJ? C’mon, look into those eyes!