Once the fruit season begins I am committed to the making of many jars of jam and jelly. Ripe fruit cannot be kept waiting and so the jam making takes priority over everything at this time OS year. With about six pounds of fruit picked yesterday afternoon I gave Pa a quick breakfast and got on with the job in hand. Preparing gooseberries for jam making takes longer than the making of the jam, all those stalks and beards take ages to snip off,I keep a pair of curved embroidery scissors for the purpose. Today I made strawberry and gooseberry jam,a favourite of ours and a sticky time I had of it.
The trouble with jam making is the aftermath, the sticky utensils and counters, the preserving pan with fruit seeds welded on its bottom by jam. Worse than all are the unnoticed blobs of jam which adhere unnoticed top the cooks cloths and shoes and find there way In to the most unlikely places, a stray blob once glued one of the family to the lavatory seat....most unsavoury!
Of course I always clear up thoroughly after each jam session and yet in spite of my endeavours there is always the blob that got away, even the poor cat has in the past fallen victim to ….the blob.
The most memorable blob incident occurred when a visitor of whom none of us liked very much sat down unknowing upon a blob of blackberry jelly. No body noticed until he got up to l leave when, as he walked through the door a large blob of escaped jam had spread across the seat of his trousers. No one said a word until he had gone and then we all fell about laughing. Yes it was rather naughty but in mitigation I must tell you that our stuck up guest was a practical joker himself and deserved all he got.
This time I managed to tread on a blob of jam and whilst walking about the house manage to spread the stickiness throughout the house, this time the joke was on me! I spite of the pitfalls it has all been well worth the while as I now have a further ten jars of jam ready to be labled tomorrow ans squirrelled away in our winter store of goodies.
Happily I also managed to bake five loaves this morning which means that I shall not have to bake tomorrow, well not bread at least, I shall I hope find the time to ache an orange lavender cake for tea. This delicacy is a house speciality and a favourite with our neighbours so I always bake this cake two at a time, that way there is enough to go around.
Poor puss is most seriously displeased at the turn taken by the weather today. She has spent a good deal of the day crouched under the ivy or sitting in the window staring out into the wet garden. I however am rejoicing as the fruit is in sore and urgent need of some rain, at least a couple of days worth I hope.
Tonight is my sons last shift at work, he tells me that it has been a very boring week for news. Speaking for myself I had gathered as much due to the inordinate amount of time given to Cheryl Cole and that dreadful show from which she was fired last week. I do not give a damn what Simon Cowel gets up to as long as I do not have his doings imposed up on me each time I tune in to the news. Surely with all that is happening in the world there must be something more important that this for the media to obsess about. I am told that Miss Cole did a hair product commercial while wearing hair extensions, so what. Who believes in commercials any way?
Blast now They have got me writing about that ditsy female.....I give up!
No comments:
Post a Comment