Something different

With this chilly weather I've had the urge to do more baking than normal.  Fortunately I have a house full of willing eaters!

Wanting to re-stock the larder shelves with jam, I thought I'd set to and make some slightly different jams from the usual fruit ones.

The first was Lavender jelly.  I've always been put off making jellies as I can't be bothered with jelly bags and the like.  This one was more of an infusion, whereby you put the lavender flowers in a muslin bag and let it simmer in the liquid.  I've also never used powdered pectin before but obviously in this case I had to use it.

I was alarmed by the lumpy mess initially but that soon dispersed.

The result - a lovely fragrant jelly with the scent being stronger than the taste.  I might infuse it for longer next time.

As I was on a roll and with my new best friend, the powdered pectin I sourced a recipe for some Rose Petal Jam.  This recipe required you to blitz the rose petals and add them to the other ingredients so you actually get the texture and taste of the petals.

I wasn't initially sure about this as I was concerned about having a mouth full of petals, but actually it works really, really well.  The fragrance is lovely and the taste is just right.  Blitzing them really helped.

All in all, a great success.  Next time I'll do bigger quantities.

Onto something completely different - I repainted the downstairs toilet the other day and had a wall which needed filling, I've filled it with these swallows.

I'd seen something similar in the Berry Red catalogue and was drawn to the pastel colours on offer.  Always on a mission to see if I can get something cheaper, I found my ones on Ebay, so was mighty pleased.

I guess they're a modern take on the flying ducks!