Goodbye Summer!

Well I think maybe it's time to say 'goodbye summer' as our weather has turned wet, windy and cold.  I know people who have turned their heating on already.  Not us - we aren't quite ready to face winter heating bills just yet so I have added an extra afghan to the bed - one that Grandma made - and we're layering up.

I am also taking my brolly to work with me every day now and today I had to use it on my way home.  I just happened to have my camera in my handbag too so I took a few pictures - no where near as pretty as the real thing but 'do you know how hard it is to take pictures while holding your bag, a brolly over your head and trying to stay away from the curb so the cars passing by don't splash you'?  Well it ain't easy!

I'm sure several people wondered just what I was doin but I didn't care.  Everything looked so fresh and vibrant in the rain and I just love this ivy.  It grows all over the place in my neighbourhood and I use it in my Christmas wreath each year.  I even spray the berries gold which look fab.  Green is one of my favourite colours and I love the differing shades of the new leaves against the older ones - so pretty.  I sure hope you can see the rain drops in this shot.

Each day I walk past the historical Abbey Gardens and the river Lark with it's brick columns and old railings and I was overwhelmed by the amount of spiderwebs that were visable thanks to the rain!  I didn't see any spiders in them thankfully but there were tons of webs absolutely everywhere.

It's amazing how they showed up once they were wet and I could've stood there looking at them for ages.  I was however getting wetter by the minute so eventually I gave it up and went on my way but not before I took a few more snap shots.  I realised after I got almost home that I should've looked back behind me and captured a shot up the street with the garden walls over hung with willow trees and the grey, wet scene that was so typical of wet English weather.  Oh well the weather man says there's a whole lot more of this to come so another day maybe.

Think tomorrow I might have to cook a stew and dumplings or maybe a casserole - feels like cold weather comfort food would be good right about now.

My Girls

With everything that has happened in the past couple of weeks I really welcomed a chance to spend some time with family and now that we're back home I am missing them dreadfully.  I guess when you lose a parent the need to be with each other is overwhelming and a week just wasn't long enough!

On my day off this week my eldest daughter (Vicky) was keen to come spend the morning hanging out with me and I was glad of her company.  She has 3 young kiddies and lives across town so she's usually busy but this week she made time for her ol' mum.  Even though they live in the same country I miss my girls.  As they've grown we have so many more 'grown up' interests to share with each other but we all lead busy lives.

When I told Vicky I had jam to make she immediately asked if she could make it while I showed her how.  Sure - isn't that what all good mums do!  Besides I love being in the kitchen with my girls - for me it's the heart of the home.  Actually I love cooking along side my hubby too - it's where I feel most at home and loved.

We buy the strangest things to bring back home - like our Crest Cinnamon toothpaste, paper lunch sacks, Good Season's Italian salad dressing mix (that I find soooo hard to keep in the cupboard once the girls know I have some!) and even canning jars.  These are an everyday item back home but here in the Uk they're a special order item and expensive IF you can get them at all and NO WAY can I get these cute jam jars.  I simply couldn't wait to use em!

They were called 'quilted cystal jelly jars' and were a cute 4oz size.  Even the lids had pretty swirls on them and they even had a smooth place to add the labels that were provided!  ONLY in America!

I had already done all the prep work by the time Vic arrived and we had already picked up some reduced blueberries on a quick supermarket run the day before.  My hubby can't go to the store without checkin out the reduced isle!  You only need 500g to make a batch of jam which makes this easy to do with a couple punnets of reduced fruit. 

Vic got to use the cute jam jars from America but the others in this shot (UK jars) were for my green tomato chutney I also planned to make that day.  These kind of jars are easy to find but they're just not the same for me.

We both had a chance to use mom's measuring cups that I brought home to put in my kitchen.  Barely home with me a few days and we were using them already.  Plus I was able to show Vic lots of 'how to' tips and techniques throughout the process.  She was super impressed and didn't realise it was just that easy to make jam.  Well it is!  I can whip up a batch of this while I am crafting at my table or doing a few other things around the house, checking my emails - no problem.  As long as the prep work is done ahead of time the microwave does the rest and then I stop to fill jars.  Clean up is a breeze too - just the one bowl and a couple other smaller items.  Who wouldn't want to make jam?

I think I have probably shared this recipe before but I'm sharing it again for anyone that's interested.

Microwave Jam

500g berries (I especially love blueberries)
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 cups sugar

Place a dish in freezer to chill.  Clean and sterilise jars.  (I use Milton sterilising tablets, takes 15 minutes in cold water and can be reused for several batches of jars)  Wash and drain berries.  Add lemon juice and microwave on high 5 minutes to soften.  Add sugar, stir well and microwave 10 minutes.  Stir quickly and return to microwave for 10 more minutes on high.  Let stand 1-2 minutes and test small amount on chilled dish - push slighty with finger for 'setting' point - it should be thickened, move forward when pushed but not immediately run back.  It thickens up even more once it cools in jars so a 'thick, ever so slighty runny' is ok.  If not then return for 5 minutes more but no more than this as it's possible to over cook jam.  Fill jars, clean rims (I use a clean cloth that has been sitting in the sterilising water), seal and label.

I have found blueberries and strawberries sometimes need an extra 5 minutes but everything else I've tried works on the 20 minute process.

That's all there is to it.  Anyone can whip up a batch of jam for gift giving in less than half a morning.  Decorate up a package of scone mix (or cheat, take it out of the pack and re-package it up yourself and then decorate) place in a pretty basket or container and you have a super quick, super easy gift idea.

If using small jars it makes 6, larger jars it makes just 3 or 4 depending on size but sometimes that's all you need.  By the time you do strawberries, blueberries, blackberries etc., you have a good years supply!

I have booked a week off to spend with my younger daughter Jess next month so maybe I'll make up the other half dozen jars so I can pass this on to her too.

For now I am struggling to get my craft 'mojo' back so I don't have much crafting to share but I'm guessin it'll come back sometime soon.  I have DT work to get back to and classes to design for so if you've been missin the crafts - you'll just have to hang in there with me till I'm back.  For now family is foremost on my mind so I make no apologies :-).  Besides it's MY blog LOL!

Mom's Kitchen

While we were back home we stayed at mom's same as always.  I can't deny I had a few teary days and on one in particular I felt the need to cook in mom's kitchen like I had done so many times before.  I have always felt right at home in her kitchen and we often found ourselves side by side fixin something for dinner.

Mom had plenty of canning jars so we picked up some strawberries and I decided to make microwave jam to share.  Clearly I wasn't going to bring it back home with me - I already have a good years supply of my own.

After it was made a good root around in mom's craft room turned up a pretty checkered paper sack, pinking shears, string, ink, chalks and a hole punch.  I just love that we sfared a love of crafting.  and since I had taken delivery of the 'friendship jar' stamps from PTI while we were there I decided to test them out and make pretty labels for the jars too.

I had been wanting these stamps for a few months and finally decided to order them right before we knew we were making a sudden trip home.  Mom was always so good about forwarding things like this on to me.

I used a paper mask to shorten up the jar and add labels & text exactly where I wanted it.  Then I used a red coloured pencil to add a 'checkered' topper, aged it using brown ink around all edges, chalked the 'jam' label and punched holes to string it onto the jar.

This shows the tag in a bit more detail.  I was really pleased with the finished effort.  At home I wouldn't always have time to go to this much trouble unless I am giving a jar as a gift but I am so glad I have these stamps, especially with Christmas fast approaching.  I just loved how these cute tags came together - so easy and so effective.

Mom taught me a great many things over the years - not least of which was canning and preserving.  I loved it then and I still love it now.

I promise in my next post I'll share the recipe for microwave jam - it wasn't one of mom's recipes - I found it 'all by myself' but it's super quick and easy and sooooo worth sharing!