Ready, Steady, Cook!

Last night we had some very heavy rain, and it was still dull and grey this morning, which was just as well in a way as I had planned to spend the day in the kitchen.

I started off by making some of my 'special' pastry that needs to rest in the fridge for an hour or two before you can handle it properly. For once I had remembered to take the butter and lard out of the fridge last night so they weren't too hard to use! Next I prepared a box of strawberries to make some jam. Back in Oswestry we had a little green-grocers where I could buy really tiny, though very tasty, strawberries, very cheaply, and they were ideal for jam-making. But that's not the case out here. All season the strawberries are huge and delicious. These look almost too good to cut up for jam don't they, but I had bought an extra half kilo for us to eat as well! I like to get everything together before I begin, so here it all is ready for the off. The full jars at the back of the table are a batch I made last week, which unfortunately, despite the bottles of Certo that Ben brought out for me, didn't set. It tasted lovely but seemed to have a need to escape, so eating toast and jam was a messy affair. I decided I needed to turn it back into the pan and boil it for a bit longer which I did and now it is much better. I made sure today's batch was cooked for long enough so now I have about twenty pounds of jam, which, if not stiff, at least stays on the bread which is all I wanted of it! It's in a rather motley collection of jars, but I have exhausted my own supply and am grateful for any that other people can give me. A sudden shaft of sunlight caught the top row of jars in this picture making them look a quite different colour from the others, but really they are all the same.

While the jam was bubbling away in my preserving pan, I got out my rested pastry and made a pie with the cooking apples I bought at Iceland last week, and had the presence of mind to prepare and cook last night. That will be a rare treat for us tomorrow. My pastry recipe is quite a big mix so I then made a plate pie with mincemeat, a dozen tarts (with the very runny jam) and a dozen sponge filled tarts which we like. They are nearly Bakewells - without the almond flavouring because Chris doesn't like it, and without the glace cherries because neither of us are very keen on them either. So all in all it was a busy but productive day.

All the time I was busy I had an audience of one, plus Chris who popped his head round the door every half hour to see how I was getting on. He was really looking for signs of dinner which he eventually got some time after two o'clock. But Baggins discovered a cardboard beer tray that I had used to store the jars of jam in, and he made himself comfortable in it and just watched me moving around all morning. It's nice to have company.

Framed!

As I am actually up to date with my crafting right now, I thought I would share with you something I have been 'playing' with for a few days. Up until now I have made birthday cards as and when I need one, which most of the time is just fine. But occasionally someone will ask me if I have a spare card they can buy, or I learn that a friend's birthday is the next day and I have nothing ready. So I decided to build up a small stock of quick and easy cards for when I get caught unprepared. There is also a gap in the local market for something a little more than just old cards recycled, but not as expensive as a special hand-crafted one. Also I have some beautiful flower photos on my computer that I would like to use for something. I am continuing to work my way through my photo-editing manual, one chapter at a time, to try to make better use of the program, and this week I had a look at how to make a frame for a photo. I chose five of my better flower photos and made frames for them, so now all I have to do is print them out and mount them in an interesting way, and I will have a set of cards and/or notelets. Here is what I have done so far, all using the photos I took very recently, except the grass one which is from last year. I welcome your comments, good or bad.

First we have a pink Crown of thorns with a very pink frame!

This is a bourganvillea that we bought last year for a couple of euros because it was little more than a dead stick, but I have been talking to it, (and giving it the odd drop of water), and it is coming along nicely. I just love the colour.

These daisies love bright sunshine. They are a very vivid orange/yellow that compliments the mexican style frame.

I used this photo of grasses because I wanted something with a light enough surround to show the dark swirl frame.

And finally we have the oleander from out at the back of us. It is almost like a little rose isn't it?

(Click on the images for a larger view).