Its the week after Christmas, and I just MUST find some room in the frig. I totally forgot to put out the cherries on Christmas Day (no-one missed them, and there wasn't any room on the table anyway), and there are only so many cherries one can eat at one time.......so I turned them into spiced cherry jam. Here's the proof that I did really make it (with the help of new kitchen tool, a super-expensive-but-impressive cherry stone remover thingy)....
...and here's the finished product. I'm so glad I saved all the tall jars because it makes the jam look very classy.
....and it tastes delicious. Here's the recipe:
- 1 kg pitted cherries
- zest and juice of one orange (should be about half a cup of liquid)
- 1 kg sugar
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 8 cardoman pods, crushed
- 8 cloves
Put everything except the sugar in a pot , cover and bring to the boil. Simmer 5 minutes, crushing the cherries with the spoon as you do. Add sugar and continue stirring until dissolved. Boil 15 - 20 minutes. Take off the heat and cool slightly. Pour into hot sterilised jars, seal immediately. Store in a dark cupboard.
Enjoy!!
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How often have I walked through a store and seen these paper pom-poms and said to myself "they'd be easy to make"....and then totally forgotten once home again? Countless times I'm sure - but not this week, because my fellow Poobah Deena from the Opus Gluei team currently has us spinning in circles, and just before I fell to the floor with more than the usual dizziness, I had an "Ah-ha" moment....
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First decide on the paper you want, and find some ribbon or cord that matches it, then use a circle punch to cut at least 5 circles from the paper. I used 7 circles in the orange one and 5 in the black one. I think 7 looks better, but if the paper was glittery and textured, maybe 5 would be fine (I've seen ones as big as dinner plates and they were made with only four). Once you have your circles, fold them neatly in half and really press the fold to make it sharp. Glue the halves together with double sides tape, slotting in the ribbon as you go. If you use cord, make sure the adhesive holds really well.
I should have made these for Christmas........Ah well, there's always next year.
...well, somewhere in the world it is winter, certainly not here in sunny Melbourne where the temperature looks set to stay warm for several days in a row. And about time too.
Over at Opus Gluei, the challenge is to show off your wintery best, so I went back to the humble ATCs and had a rummage in the boxes to find these glittery bits and pieces, and than I photographed them against a backdrop of Whitehaven Beach in the beautiful Whitsunday Islands.
Winter for me is all about the cold crisp clear evenings, when the stars are like icy sparkles in the night sky, and star gazing means rugging up in a warm coat and gazing up........
Can you believe this is Challenge number 171?? Amazing, where did all that time go?
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How often have I walked through a store and seen these paper pom-poms and said to myself "they'd be easy to make"....and then totally forgotten once home again? Countless times I'm sure - but not this week, because my fellow Poobah Deena from the Opus Gluei team currently has us spinning in circles, and just before I fell to the floor with more than the usual dizziness, I had an "Ah-ha" moment.....JPG)
First decide on the paper you want, and find some ribbon or cord that matches it, then use a circle punch to cut at least 5 circles from the paper. I used 7 circles in the orange one and 5 in the black one. I think 7 looks better, but if the paper was glittery and textured, maybe 5 would be fine (I've seen ones as big as dinner plates and they were made with only four). Once you have your circles, fold them neatly in half and really press the fold to make it sharp. Glue the halves together with double sides tape, slotting in the ribbon as you go. If you use cord, make sure the adhesive holds really well..JPG)
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