Daffy's 'a nice cup of tea cheers you up' diary

Cheery_Daff

Good luck on getting your sewing machine! Are there a few shops within reasonable distance that you can ring and check in advance?

Blackberry jam wasn't a recipe! We were reasonable careful when picking berries - no stalks etc. Just rinsed them a bit when we got back! We weighed them out of interest - 1.1kg. Then just threw in a pan, added 'some' sugar (covered them over, pretty much), heated up for a while, mashed with a potato masher, added a bit more sugar, went to watch Whose Line is it Anyway?, then mixed a bit more, added a bit more sugar, then poured into 3 jars :j

My jam making techniques reflect the rest of my life's endeavours - pretty haphazard, the easiest way, but generally turn out alright :rotfl:

It's not set (although the two in the fridge probably will), no idea how long it'll last for, and I probably wouldn't try to keep it over the winter - but we're already half way down the first jar anyway and we only made it yesterday so it shouldn't be a problem! :rotfl:

Shred day 19 done :j

Cheery_Daff

Morning all!

P*ssing down here, and I'm planning A Cheery Expedition :j :j :j Feeling a little bit like I haven't really been anywhere this summer, no holidays, went to the Lakes for 24 hours, and to a tiny festival outside Derby for one night, but it's not feeling like much, and we're not due a holiday until christmas, and we didn't even get one last Christmas, so it's been AGES.

Anyway, all that preamble is just an excuse to say that this afternoon I'm going to drive 20 miles to pay £4 to wander round other people's gardens in the rain by myself :rotfl: and then I might pay another £2 to park in the car park at Chatsworth and have a nosey at all the lovely things in their shops and see how many of them i can come home and make myself :j :j :j

Is that stupidly extravagant?? Should I just stay at home and do the washing and some work??

Nah :j So, the plan is: shower, PhD for an hour or two (working hard!), something else to eat, then get all wrapped up in my waterproofs and toddle off :j :j

Pippilongstocking

Love the garden idea

Enjoy it!!!

How's the 'winter holiday planning going' - just curious..........................................

Pippilongstocking

cherisong wrote: »

Can I ask a question? Well I am going to anyway but thought it was polite to ask. Blackberry jam! Would you share your recipe. Also do you do anything special with the berries to rid them of crawlies. In the past when making pies I have just rinsed them well and then cooked in pies etc. But I read on the old style board that you should soak them in salt water to kill the bugs. I did that with last weeks batch and ruined the berries, there were inedible really! So I have been out again today and picked lots more. I really want to make some jam for presents.

I put the berries into a wide bowl and add cold water - creepy crawlies float remove with spoon and set free if alive - never ever added salt - how wierd!!! Only soak for a limited time - otherwise the flavour leaches into water - about one minute to half an hour should make any decent bug float?

Jam wise we've always just stuck to the fruit weight=sugar weight required? Love the way you do it cheery - I used a couple squares of jelly if its runny - you can always get veggie kind - I think the quick set stuff is always good and normally veggie (?) but my WRI cook book says to add lemon juice to improve setting

But then again, jam lasts about 5 minutes in this house too!!!

I tend to cook it or just as we need it like I did today - I just freeze the fruit - in 1/2lb batches - or write weight on the bag - then make jam as we need it - then I know it won't go off if I've done something wrong.................Which is not unusual..........................:D. and of course...........................I'm a miser and hate it when things go off so its safer to make it bit by bit here!!!!

Whoops bit of a hijack - sorry cheery!!!

Cheery_Daff

Good tip with the bugs! Sounds like I might have just cooked mine in with the jam :eek: I'm not really bothered about my jam setting properly - I think sometimes if I feel like I have to do something 'properly' it never gets done so it's best to get it done somehow... :rotfl:

Like with the PhD - 'don't get it right, get it written'... (although obviously getting it right helps too!) :rotfl:

Pippilongstocking

Yeah I'm the same - today's jam was scoffed before it would even have had a chance to set

I'm for anything that makes life easy

PhD/post grad wise I'm now just writing up anohter experiment - you're right - get it down - then take feedback but the key it would seem is to get it down on paper - lol - 3 years this has taken me to get to this brainwave and you've summed it up in one!

I think anything goes with jam /life etc

---

no real proper way really is there - I'm a big muddling-through kind of girl.

MrsMoo2U

Thanks both, I am currently boiling my berries. I agree about doing things properly putting me off.So I am just giving it a go. Cheery, more protein in your jam then?

Love the sound of your day. I often take myself off around the yellow book gardens on a Sunday when OH is not around. There are none open nearby at the moment so I am just sticking to housework today but would much sooner be having your day.

Cheery_Daff

Glad to hear there's other haphazard devil-may-care jam makers out there! :j :j

Just done half an hour of concentrated PhD and feel much better and more posiive for it! :T Fay, that quote has been in my office since the beginning - seven years ago :eek: and doesn't seem to have made much difference, so don't feel bad! :rotfl:

Off to quickly wash my hair, then scoff some noodles for lunch, then off on my mini adventure!! :j :j :j Made all teh sweeter for having done a bit of work first :j And it's stopped raining and the sun's come out! :j :j (still stupidly windy though) - hope that doesn't mean everywhere's completely packed - I am delving right into the heart of the Peak District on a bank holiday sunday after all! :eek:

Back later with photos :j :j :j

Cheery_Daff

OOh, winter holiday planning :j :j Has progressed absolutely no further than 'yay we're going on holiday' stage :rotfl: Will give it a bit of proper thought and talk re dates etc..... x

Cheery_Daff

Right, I'm back from my cheery day out! :j Didn't quite go to plan, but cheery nevertheless!

Drove to Chatsworth (taking, er, a *slight* detour :rotfl:) Drove around the car park for 15 minutes, and had to go back to the little booth thing and was on the verge of demanding my £2 back when the woman told me I could park on the grass next to the booth CAlmed my jangled nerves with an hour spent wandering round the shops, going 'ooooh, that's lovely!' and 'ooooh, I'd really like one of those!' and 'Ooooh, I could make one of those for a fraction of the cost!' :rotfl:

Then tried to get to my little secret garden event, but Bakewell was just SO heaving, I mean really packed, that I ended up not even stopping and bothering trying to find somewhere to park, I just wasn't in the mood! The advantage of a day out by yourself is easily changing your plans I suppose! :T And also I should have realised - Peak District on August bank holiday does not an easy parking experience make.... :rotfl:

Found myself in a little bookshop/tea shop that used to be great, second hand books, lots of rooms, dusty old shelves etc, but they've smartened it up, turned most of it into an expensive (but cheery looking) cafe, so I didn't stop long.

Drove home, and rather alarmingly the battery warning light kept flashing in the car :eek: I do hope this isn't the beginning of a catalogue of disasters with this new one! :eek: So I pulled over - conveniently outside a garden centre and popped in for a look around :j Then popped to the Extremely Nice ice cream shop next door (Bradwell's (locally made) butterscotch ripple ice cream with a fudge stick - seemed rude not to!) Mmmmmmmmmm. LIght flashed at me all the way home.

Total spends?

£2 parking at Chatsworth
£1.30 ice cream
£1.35 sheet of red and white polka dot wrapping paper (my one Chatsworth purchase!) : rotfl:

(oh, and about 50 miles of diesel... )

Had a cheery afternoon though, and didn't get wet at all in the end! Probably would have done if I'd managed to walk round the gardens though...

Just having a cuppa (of course), then maybe a tiny mousebite of PhD, a bit of tidying (Mr Daffs is full of cold and has been here all day on his own...), then repotting the redcurrant, maybe sowing a few seeds, and a bit of an inspired mini project :T :j :j

Everyone else having a cheery day? Hope so! :j