7.6.14

Easy Elderflower Cordial

Making elderflower cordial reminds me a bit of the 'flower soup' the kids used to give me - you know, mixed up water, petals and stalks, and the odd, suspicious-looking black speck with legs...
The elderflower version is obviously way more appealing; but it is just about as easy to make as flower soup.

I saw loads of elderflower on the drive back from Norwich, waving at me from the roadside, so I took the youngest foraging when we got home, and we managed to fill a bag in minutes.

Best to pick it when it's fresh and bursting with that distinctive elderflower aroma - late May early June is the time in the South, but the season can go on till July if you live further North.


It took me a little longer to get some citric acid. I’m sure it used to be easier to find - the places I tried in town didn’t have any, so I bought a bag online, misjudged the quantity (again), and now appear to have enough to go into production! Personally I don’t like too much of a citric acid taste, but I wasn’t won over by the cordial without it either. So I’ve done a bit of fiddle-faddling with the basic recipe.  I’ve also reduced the amount of sugar - there’s a scary amount of sugar in cordial, a whole kilo in this one usually, and though I kind of knew that, it’s different seeing a mountain of sugar piled high in a bowl, before you pour in the boiling water and it ‘disappears’.


So for mine you'll need:


about 30 flower heads
4 lemons
1.5 litres boiling water
750g sugar
40g citric acid

Put the sugar in a heatproof bowl, pour over the boiling water and stir until it dissolves.


When cool, grate in the zest of the lemons, then slice them up and tip in with the citric acid. (I like to squeeze in the juice of half of one of the lemons)


Add the flower heads (after a decent shake) and give it all a good stir.


Cover with a clean cloth and leave to steep for 48 hours.


Drain through a clean muslin, and funnel into sterilised bottles (to sterilise, rinse in the dishwasher or wash the bottles in warm, soapy water, put them on a baking tray and pop in the oven set at 120 degrees C for about 20 minutes. Steep the lids in a cup of boiling water for 5 minutes)


Store in a cool, dark place, and the cordial should last a few weeks. You can freeze it too, in plastic bottles. 

Dilute with still or sparkling water.

It can be pretty expensive to buy, so why not have a go at making your own elderflower soup?








29.5.14

Daft Bird














Mr Pheasant you're a beauty, of that there is no doubt,
just such a shame when you were made they left the brain bit out.

I see you on the road ahead and know it's time to pray
for you to leg it to the verge, not turn the other way...

But there you go, you daft old bird, charging for my car,
You dice with death, I hold my breath and think how dim you are.

Phew! It's okay! You got away. It was a little tight.
Things would be so different if you knew your left from right.



30.4.14

Merrymakers


Woof! possesses magical powers; he seems to be able to calm the nine year old down in a way none of the rest of us can.
My rascal is all over the place at the moment, bouncing from sweet to sour at breathtaking speed. And not so much of the sweet since school started. But a moment or two with Woof! somehow helps him snap out of it. You can almost see the anger ebb away.

Heaven help us when he eventually loses interest; makes me feel sad thinking about it. But no sign of that happening yet - in fact Woof! has a growing band of merry followers who go everywhere with him.


My husband has started making up stories about this motley crew, and they're obviously good because I often hear howls of laughter coming from the 9 year old's room.  So, next to Woof! we have Snuggly Duck, Duck - grey, worn and well chewed - her french name is Snoogalay Canard, Canard and she is trouble basically; then there's Aussie Bruce, the narcoleptic rabbit who never finishes his sentences, and his painfully shy second cousin Oscar.

All it takes is a story and a sniff of Snuggly or Woof and life is good again.

Wouldn't that be great?


The Gallery theme this week is Happy!

23.4.14

St George's Day egg cosy

I'm on a bit of a roll with my Saint's Day cosies. Lovely feedback about the Leprechaun last month, so, thought I'd have a crack at St George...

and seeing how many egg puns I can get in a post…

St George's Day egg cosy
St Patrick's Day egg cosy

I crocheted the head and the egg cosy body for a good fit - the other bits are knitted because I'm a little more confident about my knitting abilities. The sword is a covered cocktail stick (point cut off!)

Have to admit I had to look up when St George's Day was, and it seems I'm not alone - apparently two thirds of us don't know the date. Probably because there's no national holiday - sure we'd all know it if we got a day off, like Scotland and Ireland.

A few other facts about the patron saint of England found out along the way:

He wasn't English.

Born in what's now Turkey in the third century, he became a Roman soldier and was eventually imprisoned, tortured and executed for protesting against the treatment of Christians.

St George has been the patron saint of England since the Middle Ages because he represents the traditional English ideals of honour, bravery and gallantry.

The myth of him slaying a dragon and saving the princess symbolises good driving away evil. In medieval mythology, the devil was depicted as a dragon.

Other myths about St George include: surviving being boiled alive in molten lead, forced to swallow poison and crushed between two spiked wheels before finally being beheaded.

By the by, Shakespeare's birthday is said to be on the 23rd April too.

So, time to celebrate, maybe with an egg? (possibly chocolate?) …if you're English that is, which I'm not. Anyway my 9 year old wants St George, which is fine seeing as he's more English than me. And he's my only egg eater.

Now I just need to work out how to knit a kilt…


19.4.14

Foiled again

When it comes to kids and Easter eggs
no matter what you say,
the foil gets ripped to tiny shreds
that seem to go astray...

So once all eggs are eaten,
and chocolate is a chore,
there'll be shiny bright reminders
twinkling on the floor.

They somehow spread from room to room,
like Easter time confetti,
there's bound to be a few of them
stuck behind your settee.

And however much you hoover,
however much you try,
You can be sure
that sometime soon
a glint will catch you eye.




15.4.14

Kinder-tastic!

I'd like to think that somewhere there's a special toy lab full of slightly eccentric people trying to out do each other with ideas for the weirdest, wackiest things they can fit in a Kinder egg.

'…hey, what about a scary baby on wheels sucking a dummy?'

'…wait! wait! I've got one! A baby in a turban...on a magic carpet, that can levitate!'

'Yeah!'


And so it goes on.

Maybe they're all computer generated now, but I'd rather hang on to the image of some toy techie person trying to work out how to get a bug rowing a pea-pod boat into a small orange capsule.

Kinder Surprise! There's a good chance you probably will be…surprised, that is.

Some of the toys are truly inspired in a crazy creative kind of way, with little moving parts that slot together; like mini feats of engineering.

As you can probably tell, I am a fan: I've been collecting them on and off for over twenty years.



What can I say? I love tiny.

Wasted on kids in my opinion.

Though they're not always brilliant: not always a swiss clock with a bird popping out kind of brilliant...


Sometimes just a boring lump of plastic, or - my least favourite surprise - a puzzle.
So disappointing.

But the ones that move, or wobble, or fly or even light up - like this dragon - well, you've got to be happy with that…(or maybe just me?)



Probably my favourite one is the mice in a box - frightening to think it's actually about 20 years old.



Simple but  clever: a little mechanism inside means every time you slide the box open either way, a mouse pops out.  I'm also quite keen on the kung-fu monkey that karate chops a piece of wood.

He really does.


I want to say they aren't as good now as they used to be - and I think they did take a dip into dull. But recently the Kinder toys seem back on form - a pony with a ring that clips on its back you can wear (well, not me..) I'd show you if I could find it. My daughter loves the flower fairies with petal skirts. Again I'd show you...

For some reason I still kind of weigh them by hand, in the possibly mistaken belief that heavier is better. And I still give the chocolate to anyone who'll have it.

Surely no one buys them for the chocolate?

10.4.14

Ode to Croissants

Beaming crispy crescents
lying in a pile,
Hard resisting something
that looks like a smile )

The flaky bakey loveliness
sets many tums aflutter,
Possibly because they're made
with half a ton of butter.

Try not to look, to catch a smile
and focus on the bread,
But it's no use, I leave the shop
with five croissants instead.



(no prizes for guessing where we are at the moment…enjoying some sunshine and frequent visits to the Boulangerie :)