Put away your purse & become debt-averse

Lookafterthepennies2020

Would anyone mind posting the recipe please, I'm ashamed to say I've never even tasted marmalade let alone made it x 

ladyholly

The only trouble with making marmalade is that everything seems to end up sticky or is that just me?

DawnW

ladyholly said:

The only trouble with making marmalade is that everything seems to end up sticky or is that just me?

Everything!

@Lookafterthepennies2020 I should definitely try it before you decide to make it. It is a bit of a labour of love! There are lots of ways of making it, lots of recipes online, but basically it is similar to a jam making process.

Pixiehouse55

Well!! What an eventful evening, went for our vaccine, our lady came with us as she is not allowed to stay home on her own. Mine was booked for 7.10. Hubbys 7.30. I went in at 7pm even though the text said "do not come early you won't be allowed in"  i eventually got seen at 7.35 for a quick check on who I was and who we worked for (we are frontline health carers) date of birth and address. Then you wait to see a nurse to check no covid symptoms and do you give consent.  Then queuing again to see a doctor to check again that you give consent. Paperwork about the vaccine (oxford) and side effects as in heavy/achy arm, headaches, hot flushes and ifvany symptoms lasted longer than a couple of days to contact your GP. Out the door at 8pm (if you feel ok you can leave straight away or wait 15 minutes) hubby in and out in 15 minutes as he only just managed to get in as they were closing up, he explained everything as in service user in car with him and his wife went in first, . Then to finish it off the car wouldn't start!!! RAC called as we had a vulnerable adult in the car with us we were top priority. Half hour later with new battery on car we got home at 10pm. What should of taken 2 hours, took 4!! Home cup of tea and bed. 22 days before vaccine starts to work so still stay safe and for us as normal stay home with our people. 2nd vaccine is April.  What a day it ended up being. Our lady coped really well. I was waiting for her to kick off lol.... Keep Safe and take care X   ps hope all us good with you all. We made marmalade a few years ago. Lush!! 

foxgloves

DawnW - Yes, I think marmalade does set more easily with the proper Seville oranges. It's the only kind of orange marmalade I make. If it isn't Seville orange season & I want marmalade, I usually make a different type - often pink grapefruit.

Lookingafterthepennies - Hi, I agree with DawnW. I'd buy a jar of decent marmalade first & check that you like it. A lot of people don't, & if you turn out to be one of them, it'll have been an awful lot of time & prep spent on making it yourself. If you turn out to like it or just want to have a go anyway, there will be heaps of recipes online - basically most of them are oranges, often a lemon or two, ordinary granulated sugar & water. .....plus the usual basic jam making stuff......preserving pan, long wooden spoon, plenty of sterilised jars & a pack of the jam jar covers (wax discs, cellophane circles, labels & elastic bands)

And re comments on the stickiness......Yes, agree! For some reason, I seem to get way more sticky making marmalade than I do when I make jam, jellies or chutney! I can think of no logical reason for this at all!

Pixiehouse55 - Oh my goodness, what a palava that was! Don't cars just absolutely pick their moment to misbehave?! Glad you got your jabs, but I should think you were all just blimming glad to get home/
F x

foxgloves

Hello m'dears,
Have been keeping an eye on the flood warnings today. We are not in the worst region this time, but our town is on a major river (as is our village) & both have form for flooding. There is just one local A road into the town closed at the moment as the river has breached, but I don't think the river is due to peak until later tomorrow so it is always as well just to keep an eye out for the latest information. 
I have to say that today has been another of those Lockdown days which you suddenly find has disappeared up its own wot-not. I was going great guns this morning, so as to get plenty of jobs done before my long weekly skype catch-up with my sister, but it was lunch time when we'd finished yakking & I don't feel I've really got going again after that. I haven't spent any money, so that's always a good thing. I have moved some around though, as a couple of items needed paying off our just-for-points credit card. I also read the energy meters & uploaded readings to our account, entered a competition, did a survey, finished the shopping list, as Mr F has got well into the zone of fetching our groceries on Thursday night on his way home from work & knitted another square for my bed cover (40 out of 144). I have also confirmed with workman that we will pay an additional sum for materials to re-do the shed roof (which was done this time last year but has failed). I wasn't very happy to be paying anything out for a re-do but the truth of it is that we have asked for a more expensive type of material, so we are paying the difference on that, not labour costs. I always feel better to have the monetary costs of any remedial work so that I can get it built into the budget, rather than have it hanging around like a bad fairy. 
Also got cracking with February birthdays - we have a little cluster of 4 of them. I had already got most of my best friend's birthday presents so got them out of the presents stash & wrapped them (all materials from my recycled wrappings box plus home made tags) - I just need to buy some chocolates or similar postable edible to put with them & they are good to go. Have an idea for my older nephew's birthday gift, just need to think about the younger one. I'd like to avoid the never-ending electronic games if possible. I have no problem with them per se, but I think they do seem to push out just about every other interest, which I think is quite limiting. He's usually quite happy to supply a list of ideas. Sadly the top one is always '"A cat - I actually want this more than anything" but his Dad doesn't want one & won't budge!
OK, it is looking very dark out there now, so I will nip round & close all the curtains then think about prepping dinner.
Stay safe all of you, this is going to be such a long haul....remember when Johnson told us we'd 'have it licked' in 12 weeks?
It already feels like 12 years.
F x

marionmgcars

Well done with the birthday preparations Foxgloves.  My gift stash is nearly empty, as I usually shop all year, and if I see something a friend would like, I buy it and  pop it in the drawer.  Trying to knit a few gifts (for the knit-worthy) or making flavoured gin or brandy, or nice chutneys as gifts.  I will have to look out for Seville oranges for the marmalade, as would love to try that. Usually a nice card always helps to cheer my friends too.  This year I'm trying to live on my planned income if I retire, to prepare me for any pitfalls there may be.  Loving reading the forum tho, makes me realise that there are more like minded people around.  Take care everyone. xx

Blackcats

Morning all - I love your new signature quote Foxgloves.  It's beautiful.  

foxgloves

Marionngcars - Hope you get your marmalade made. It makes nice presents & I sometimes sell some of mine, most recently for charity. Good idea to try living on your planned retirement income. 
Blackcats - Glad you like the quote. I think it's lovely too & I felt it apt for this year as I am developing some impressive procrastination skills after so much lockdown & it is starting to get me down. So I am hoping to spring into action of some sort quite soon.
F x

foxgloves

Hello diary friends,
A busy day, proof of that being that despite only leaving the house to trot down to the post box on the next street, I have hit my daily target of 7000 steps. I have cleaned the whole house from top to bottom, emptied all the bins, tidied & vacuumed everywhere to within an inch of its life. I've also made bread, done an hour of piano practice (only one strop when I couldn't play a piece properly which I used to play when I was 19, but that's allowed!) & written my shopping list for town tomorrow. 
One little tidying job got me thinking. I didn't have any holly this Christmas, but I have a prickly shrub very like it (Osmanthus) so I cut a bunch of that & attached some bright red ceramic wired 'berries'. It looked really festive. I have just today tipped the vase out ready for something else, unattached the berries & popped them away in my Christmas cupboard. Why is this a story? Well, I bought that bunch of ceramic red berries over a decade ago from a rather upmarket garden centre with an expensive interiors-type shop. This was back in the Spendy Years. I was paying for some other stuff (no memory as to what that was) when I spotted these bunches of ceramic berries in a basket on the counter & I just 'had to' have some. I remember thinking they would be really useful for festive floral arrangements. There are quite a lot in each bunch, well made, with two berries on each wire & they were around £6. Not one of my more expensive spendy impulse buys by any means, but here's the thing - When I got them out of the Christmas cupboard to use them last month, they were still joined together with their original shop tie. The trajectory was thus: Spotted a festive shiny thing, convinced self of its great usefulness & bargainaceousness, bought it, brought it home then put it in a cupboard where it has been sitting for over 10 years completely & utterly unused. What a waste of money that was! At least I did make use of that bunch of berries this Christmas & together with the osmanthus, they did make an attractive winter arrangement. But as I dismantled them for storing back in the cupboard, it did make me think how many hundreds & hundreds of times this behaviour pattern was repeated between the ages of 19 right up to my 40s during my cash-spraying shopping trips.
I wouldn't want to go back to that again!
F x