Photo A Day

1st October; I am actually reading a book....by that I mean a paper and pages one as opposed to one on my Kindle. I haven't read a proper book like this for ages and it is really reminding me just how much I love the small of a new book!

2nd October; we thought we might eat some of the HUGE marshmallows that we bought in America. They really are massive but much nicer than English ones as they are not as sickly.

3rd October; it rained tonight; lots. This is how high the raindrops were bouncing off the patio! I haven't seen rain like this for ages.

4th October; I had to bake some flapjack and brownie for my son who was doing a scout hike competition. As I was scraping out the bowl I broke my favourite spatula that I have had for 23 years. I have had many replacements bought but they just don't match up to this one that came free with my Kenwood Chef, when I got married!

5th October; as I mentioned before, Jasper was in a scout hike competition and I was acting as his service crew, along with another Mum. At one of the checkpoints, I heard and then saw, this huge skein of geese. Sorry about the ariel right across the picture; it was on one of the emergency vehicles and I couldn't avoid it!

6th October; the day after the hike and it was the presentation ceremony. Despite getting lost, Jasper's team came 8th out of 14 teams, hiking 45 mile in just under 13 hours.

7th October; Muddy Monday and we found these amazing toadstools. The top was glowing like a burnished metal in the beautiful sunshine that we are still having.

8th October; Trumpet fanfare!!!I finally have an apple on my tree! Well I use the term loosely as it is more like a stick! I have had the tree for about 4 years and this is it's first EVER apple. It is about 2" round so a bit too tiny to eat. I know it looks a funny colour but that is because it is an Egremont Russet.

9th October; a sad day. Today Bilbo, our last guinea pig, passed away. We have no idea why; he was running about fine yesterday and this morning he seemed to have had some sort of stroke. He died peacefully whilst Katy was holding him, reaching the good age of almost 5.

10th October; Ooooo it was chilly today. I think our Indian Summer has ended so it was out with my trusty, cosy cowl that I knitted last year. Nice and snuggly!

Crabapple jelly.

I showed you a picture last week of the apples/crabapples that we scrumped from the bypass didn't I? Well here's what we did with them.

First cut them in half and put them in a large pan and cover with water.

Bring to the boil and simmer until soft and pulpy.

Put into a muslin and strain all the juice off. Now all the recipe books say that if you want your jelly to stay clear then don't squeeze the muslin. Well firstly you need asbestos fingers to squeeze it anyway but secondly I don't like to waste any drops, so I always squeeze as much out as I can!

Measure how many pints of liquid you have and pour into a large pan...I use a stock pot.

Then add sugar in the ratio of 1lb of sugar per 1 pint of liquid. I collected 8 pints of liquid. so I needed 8lbs of sugar. That is the only maths you will need!

Stir it as you bring it gently to the boil to allow the sugar to dissolve. It will look rather cloudy at this stage.

Once the sugar has dissolved allow it to come to what the books call a full "rolling boil". I think that is fairly descriptive; it has to boil quite vigorously rather than a simmer. As you can see, scum tends to form around the edges and it is best to scoop this off using a spoon, (or if you are posh I think there is such a thing as a jam skimmer you can buy!). Watch it doesn't boil too hard or it can spit/burn. This stage takes quite a while; you are boiling it until you get a "set". To test for this, put a china plate in the fridge. Add a few drips of the jelly to the plate and leave it for a minute or two. Then push at the surface with a finger and if it wrinkles up and forms a kind of "skin" then it is ready! I find that the colour will deepen significantly as it gets more "jelly" like and it is never really ready the first few times. Once it starts to set it can go quite quickly so keep an eye on it.

Whilst all this is doing it's thing, you need to sterilise the jars you are going to use. I put them in a warm oven, about 150 deg, for about an hour. I also tend to do more than I need as you can't really tell how many jars it will make! This is really important as the jars need to be hot to receive the boiling jam so they don't shatter. Transferring the jam to the jars is quite a risky business; I use a ladle and pour just one jar at a time. Don't get it on you as it WILL burn.

Fill the jars really full as it will shrink a bit. There are a few ideas about what is the best way to proceed now. Some people swear that you need to heat the lids and put them on the hot jars in order to keep it sealed and sterile. However, if you have ever tried to hold a hot jar of runny, boiling liquid in one hand and screw on a hot, metal lid with the other, whilst wearing oven gloves then you will see why I prefer to leave everything until it is completely cold! It does need to be cold and not any degree of warm, or condensation will form on the lid and this is what will turn the jam mouldy.

Then the worst job; washing down the super, sticky jars! See, despite all my squeezing, my jelly is really clear; and I love the colour too.

Finally you get to design a label. Eliza likes to do this job and this is called Roundabout Jelly because we got the crabapples from.....you guessed it...the roundabout!!! My 8 pints made 19 jars of jelly....and the teeny one!

Photo A Day

23rd September; outside learning and look at this really hairy caterpillar that the children found!!

24th September; after work yesterday Katy and I drove all the way up to stay with my Aunt in Lincolnshire. That was so that we could go to a Uni open day at York. We had to go over the Humber Bridge....not quite like the Golden Gate!

25th September; been crocheting. still trying to finish off this one I started in America for Jasper.

26th September; I am wearing boots now. Typically the weather this week has been rather warm!

27th September; we had an INSET day and we had a lovely buffet lunch provided for this one! It was delicious....especially the quiches. I ate lots!

28th September; last night I had to collect my car and on the way I noticed some apples growing by the road. So today we scrumped them! I think that the red ones are actually crab apples but the green ones are normal apples that have never been pruned so they are rather tiny and sour.

29th September; as well as making tons of jelly yesterday, I started a sourdough starter. I just bought the Paul Hollywood bread book and he tells you how to do it. Yesterday it was a bit dull but today it is beginning to ferment! The lumps are apple and no..... it isn't sick, despite looking like it!

Photo a Day

September 16th; our first Muddy Monday with the new class and we were looking for signs of Autumn. I took lots of pics but this one was rather a fluke....the berries look a bit like jewels!

September 17th; found this.....just before the dog ate it!

September 18th; a bit cooler today; I wore boots today for the first time! SO I was really glad that I had decided to do pigeon and pork casserole for tea. Just look how lean that pigeon breast is...mmmmm.

September 19th; when we got home from school this was lying on next door's lawn....it made us laugh because it looked like a dismembered hand!

September 20th; this made me laugh too! My phone obviously does not have a high opinion of Uckfield!

September 21st; took Jess's stuff down to Bournemouth for her. She went yesterday but she had so much stuff I had to take ALL the seats out of the car. This is it all empty....needs a hoover!

September 22nd; Jasper and Eliza's birthday....my babies are 15!

Photo a Day catch up!

8th September; We have this bay tree growing outside our kitchen and every year Ken hacks it back and every year it grows madly until my kitchen is really dingy! So today he hacked it back again and completely filled the composting dustbin; it was so huge he had to use the hedge trimmers!

9th September; Hmmm remember this fabric map that we made at the local village fun day? Well I am still sewing the houses on! Jess helped me tonight and we managed 23. Still lots to go...

10th September; I decided what I wanted to buy with a bit of my birthday money. This book was advertised in a magazine I read in America and I loved the quilt it is all about. I am very tempted to hand-make each and every one of the 225 squares and triangles and challenge Burn and Linda to join me! Well girls?

11th September; We got the call today. Say no more!

12th September; I am still doing the 5:2 diet where you fast for 2 out of the 7 days of the week and only eat 500cal on those days. It is going well; I have lost about 1 1/2 stone so far and this was my very low calorie pizza that I had for tea today.

13th September; OFSTED is over. 'Nuff said!

14th September; a trip to Bath for another Uni day and we had a very long-winded route that included 5 trains and 3 tube trains! I was very excited to visit Baker Street tube where I took this shot. It was really easy to imagine well-dressed gentlemen strolling about in top hats with ladies wearing gowns!

15th September; and finally my sweet peas are flowering! Better late than never but they do smell divine!

Photo A Day

Bit of catching up to do....

Spetember 1st; a Sunday so online shopping day today. This time I had a treat....in America we bought some flavoured coffee so we are saving it for weekends only!

September 2nd; a crafty Monday at Burns cabin and Linda had made ne a birthday cake! We had candles AND they sang too! Then I had presents and I gave them presents from America!

September 3rd; my ACTUAL birthday and the first day back to work. Luckily an INSET day without children but even so.... When I got home the children had baked me a birthday cake....with candles and THEY sang too!

September 4th; great excitement; finally our new hot tub lid arrived!

September 6th; because we didn't get to have a proper last day of term (due to the school being closed because there was a burst water pipe) the children didn't get to give me or their class teacher the gifts that they had made. So today I went to Year 3 to make the gift exchange. They had made this beautiful card, with felt flowers on the front and each child had drawn a flower in a pot and witten a memory of something I had helped them with. I have to confess I shed a tear or two at some of them! 

September 7th; I nipped into the Tesco Express to buy a bottle of wine and as I walked past the coke stand I saw this!!! Katy always moans that nowhere EVER has HER name spelt properly so I just HAD to get it for her!

September 8th; a friend told me that in the field where her horses live there were some great blackberries. I did go there a few years back to collect blackberries so today I went with Katy and we picked 2.5kg! They went straight into the freezer, after we tasted a few! They were the sweetest I have ever tasted; I think because it has just been so hot and sunny this year.
So a quick catch up of the first week of September. I will try to get up to date tomorrow....you will see why I have got behind then!