Happy Thanksgiving and National Mason Jar Day

Happy Thanksgiving to you from Fred and Sali (Sally) at Wuj Productions. I, Sali, am doing the bare minimum crafts for the upcoming winter celebrations this week, which is mainly decorating, like our humble winter holiday bush with blue and white candy canes, unicorn horns, blue LED lights with silvery organza-like material, and most importantly, beautiful friendship bracelets that were gifted to me this year. Thank you, musicians! We're constantly floored by the artistry we encounter in music and all facets of creativity. The golden friendship bracelet in the detail posted above is my New Year's Eve-ready party pick for 2026, a sparkling stretch bracelet with champagne-colored glass beads and a butterfly charm. It was given to me by Layla, another music student of my husband's who is also an artist, and a very talented one. She drew for him a unique chocolate bar and a beautiful, detailed portrait of a girl a few months back, with a sweet personal note to me when I released Crystal Rhapsody and we set up our shop. Isn't she a doll? Rock on, Layla, and thank you! \m/💛✨️

"Chocolate" by Layla

Untitled portrait of a girl and a note to Sali, Fred's wife by Layla

The butterfly just so happens to match the motif of my most recent hobby, the Mason jar. I tried putting fairy lights inside one, and it's super pretty, albeit on the uber-bright side. I still plan to secure the battery pack onto the outer rim of the jar with white electrical tape which doesn't leave residue on glass, but other than that, it's done. All it needed was a piece of twine for me to tie a bow around it, and with that, I'm ready for National Mason Jar Day on 11/30. Are we all going to be drinking out of a Mason jar that day? Lately, I've seen ones with handles on 'em like beer mugs, but with a screw cap, and, by the looks of it, I figured people must be drinking straight out of the jar without a straw, so, I will be doing just that, hopefully with a new silicone sleeve for it I bought that's supposed to be microwave-friendly...we shall see how that goes.

By the way, I've changed my blog description from "Music, Fragrance, NYC" to "Music, NYC, Flavor and Fragrance". I enjoy analyzing taste as well as scent, like being able to blog about the blue raspberry flavored candy canes that I used for the ornaments. The ones I used are a naturally colored and flavored organic brand. They taste fruity, as expected, and unexpectedly good for being organic, but for me, the real reason for getting them was for the visual aesthetic. These canes are light blue and eggshell white. If I could, I'd hang 100s more of these till every tree, bush and jar in our apartment overflowed like a fountain. But I digress; I'm eager to try the more traditionally peppermint-flavored blue Hanukkah candy canes made by the oldest candy company in America named Doscher's Candies that are on the way, too. Anyway, I think blue goes well with traditional Christmas colors like red and white, or red and green. Placing a Spangler candy cane inside a lit, beautiful blue Mason jar highlights the fire engine red stripes against the stark white of the long, tall candy cane even more. Life's pleasures are simple, and I'm grateful for everything.

Holiday Teatime with a Ball Mason Jar

(It's early, still, but mason jars bring to mind holiday crafts. Pictured are 2 Spangler candy canes leaning into a heart shape, the large 7.5" hung on the edge of a 32 fl. oz. Ball mason jar, and the medium 6" long angled inside a glass mug.🫶)

Coffee or tea? These days, I'd have to say I'm a tea person, although my daily tea ritual isn't traditional, and my taste is far from that of a seasoned tea drinker. Bear with me as I'm still figuring out the most convenient way to brew a batch of this magical potion, save from using a kettle on a stove. Since discovering that tea can be cold brewed, I got some new aqua blue mason jars that look like the vintage Ball mason jars I remember seeing a lot of in my lifetime. I've never done any canning or brewing in these jars; in fact, I've only used them as drinking glasses with a straw. However, they make beautiful vases and are a lovely way to store candy. I hear some newer jars are microwavable, but so far, even these new Ball jars don't seem to be listed as having that one quality. Actually, I don't think they're regular oven-friendly, either. What they are is a piece of the American homestead found ubiquitously, even in NYC.

I don't put sugar in my tea unless it's that rare occasion I'm having a pre-made Thai tea with condensed milk at a restaurant, or matcha latte as sweet as matcha ice cream, but it's hard to resist the onslaught of sugar as the holiday season approaches. I'm going to see if I can alternate chocolate flavored tea with hot chocolate; maybe there's a decadent, sugar free frrrozen chocolate tea in my near future that'll cost me next to nothing in calories.

There are new gadgets for mason jars out there, like silicone lids with a vent hole for a straw, or maybe to minimize issues with glass during canning and brewing. I got a plastic lid with a handle that turns a mason jar into a pitcher. It's useful if the tea is hot, but you can pour straight from a mason jar. Just an FYI that leaving the tea in the jar too long could end up pickling it...🥒Happy teatime!