Valentines Day

Valentines Day. I abhorred it for many years, mainly because I never seemed to have a man in my life in February. I still think it's a bit of a Hallmark holiday, but I'm a bit more willing to go with the flow now since it means I get special treats. And it's a great time for handmade everything! Tom and I usually eat in, have something special that we don't get very often, like a butcher bought steak or something and I cheat on desert and buy a cheesecake. This year we mixed it up a bit and got a curry from our favourite takeaway and I made desert.
  We had a long chat about what we wanted, and settled on a Black Forest Gateau. This was a challenge, my mother would confirm that baking has not been my strength like, ever. So a cake like this could be a disaster. I have to admit, I cheated a bit. But I think that's ok, why make life difficult when you can cheat a little, have a nice desert and feel satisfied with what you've achieved.

Homemade Cheats Black Forest Gateau.

  Anyway, I was a bit short on time and energy on Monday, so I went to the store, list in hand, change in my pocket, and as I combed the aisles for what I needed I realised that I didn't have the budget, time or energy to make the chocolate sponge from scratch, so I bought a Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge Cake mix instead. It was fool proof, I couldn't mess it up, and I knew it would take half an hour instead of two and a half. Marry Berry would probably tutt me, I know. But everything else I did on my own, even whipped my own cream, well, with my electric mixer, so it wasn't that hard. But the UK hasn't discovered Cool Whip yet, so I didn't really have any other option. I cut out the cherry brandy, because I didn't have any at home (who keeps that in their liquor cabinet?) and it was expensive. I subbed in a tipple of rum mixed into the cherry syrup instead. The chocolate shavings where time consuming and messy, there must be a trick to it that I don't know about. Altogether it took me about 45 minutes to assemble, and it tastes like heaven.

Dianthus, 'Passion' Carnation

  My husband is responsible for the second half of my V-Day blogging. He came home from work bearing not flowers, or chocolates, or stuffed cuddly bears, but a pot plant from the garden centre! Now if you know Tom, you know that he despises garden centres, it's like pulling teeth to get him to drive me to pick up my planters and compost, I have to bribe him with the promise of a chilli plant or something. So not only was this a huge surprise, but his explanation was "I got this instead of flowers because they would have died in a week and this will last for a few years so I thought this would be better." And he was right, it's a Carnation, and it's perennial, so it will probably carry on growing forever, unless I kill it, which is a strong likelihood given my gardening experience. He even made an effort to find one with the fewest open buds, so that I could enjoy them all fresh and new. I thought what a wonderful idea! Why don't more men think to buy potted plants instead of flowers? Now every time I look at that Carnation in the garden I'll remember our first Valentines Day as a married couple. Also it cost him less than roses. Now I just have to plant it, looks like another trip to the dreaded garden centre for Tom!

My First Blog

Hi everyone. I've never done a blog before, and I feel that I probably won't be very good at it at first. I have tried many times in the past to keep a diary or journal and I have always failed, I'm just not that devoted to recording my own personal life. But as this blog is meant to be tied to my jam making and other crafty goings on, maybe I'll keep up with it a bit better. 


A little bit about me. I've been making jam since I was a little girl, I used to help my mom make it whenever we'd had a particularly good trip to the pick-your-own or Grandma and Papa's berry crop had a good summer. Then I took a 15 year hiatus and did the teenager thing and the student thing and basically forgot everything I had known about making jam, except that it was messy and not a fun activity for hot humid days. 

Mini marmalade wedding favour.

But about this time last year I had a wedding to plan, my own. I was desperate to find favours that I could make myself and would really have a handmade feel about them but that my guests would actually enjoy and remember. Eventually I stumbled across jam, and found some small, 4oz jars at Jam Jar Shop. I made four flavours, Strawberry, Raspberry, Peach and Marmalade, they went down a treat and I got rave reviews from all my friends and family about how much they had enjoyed their jam. Some people requested more, and I found myself giving it away. 


My husband suggested I turn it into a business, I think more because I've been unemployed for over a year then anything else. But I'm not a businesswoman by any means, I have two degrees in history and my maths skills leave a lot to be desired, so I really have no idea where to begin. A few friends turned me on to Etsy and I've recently set up an account. I'll have more details about it when I've got something on there to sell, it's empty and sad at the moment.

My husband Tom.

My husband is a volcanologist (well, almost) that's volcanoes, not star trek by the way. Anyway he started up a fairly successful volcano blog last summer, to keep busy and up to date between degrees, and his success has inspired me to give blogging a go. It also gives me something to do when I'm left home by myself while he's hard at work.

Although jam making will be the driving force behind this blog, I'll be posting other things I'm working on too, because otherwise it would get boring. Hopefully I'll be able to put in tabs or something so there will be a jams section and a crafting section and a baking section, etc. but I can't seem to sort out how to do it just yet. I'll be working on getting a Facebook page and twitter account up and running as well, for all you social networkers out there more savvy then me. Until then, thanks for visiting, looking forward to writing more soon.