Cheese Board and Homemade Jam

One of the things that I love about cheese boards is that they're entirely customizable, and easy to prepare. You lay things in a way that look pretty, but the components were all made by someone else or by nature. Of course, some people make their own crackers, or their own dried fruits, or can even make their own cheeses in some cases. For me, though, I decided the part that I wanted to be unique and homemade was the jam. When I was in my freshman year of high school, making jam was a staple for me. I would make a jar almost every week and bring some to my classes, and to my teachers and friends as gifts. It was such a pleasant and simple way to show someone that they were special to me. I never learned how to create a seal on the mason jars that I used, but it didn't matter because the jam would be gone long before the fear of an expiration.

 

Despite the love I got for these small edible presents, I stopped making jam as I got older. As much as I love gift-giving, for a long time I felt like I was embarrassing myself by having jams be my staple gift. It's ridiculous to think about in hindsight; the things that worried me were so minuscule, but felt so big at the time. I've gotten over this now, at least to some extent, but I realized that even though some of the mental blocks of social anxiety went away, I still never prepared food for others anymore. So, there was no better way to reintroduce jam back into my life than with this cheese board that I ate with my friends. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with them, but in the back of my mind hoped that someday, the problems I have now will seem like they were small and ridiculous.