All things plum

With regards to the Summer of Good Intentions this definitely counts as Making & Doing and Liking.  All Things Plum.

 Scrumping is one of my favourite pastimes from July to October with a 'bit of a wander' armed with a few carrier bags generally resulting in returning home with some sort of bounty.  This week I have been mainly picking wild plums of the variety that grow in parks, along canal sides, and in other random places.  They look like soft jewels hanging from the trees and at their most ripe fall to the ground in large amounts filling many bags.  But what to do with them?  I love plums but you can have too much of a good thing.  My Mum's answer is always jam; mine, wine but also chutney and pickle too.  So this week I embarked on a making spree involving bottling last years plum wine and making a few chutneys.

Wine from last year has been bubbling and gently popping away in my spare room.  Yellow plum, red cherry plum and a lovely mixed plum  looked lovely and bright in their demijons.  This week the mixed plum amber-rose was ready for bottling and a small amount of sampling.  I can report that it is nice although I think I should probably invest in a hydrometer as it is pretty potent.  The image below really doesn't do the colour justice.  There are 6 bottles, with another 12 to come which should be ready in time for Christmas.

Next is chutney.  So far, I have made two: a sweet and sour mixed plum and a spiced red plum.  I never stick to, write down or remember any recipe so it's different each time.  The spiced red plum below has raisins, dates, apples, all spice, ginger, mace, chilli and pepper, amongst other things.  One of the most satisfying and easy things to make.

            The mixture above becomes the very rich chutney on the right below.
Absolutely lovely with plum wine and salad from the garden.

I have managed to label these ones whilst still being able to remember what they are.  There are many jars and bottles in my cupboard with slightly ambiguous labeling, most notable being 'Spiced Apple Chutney with or without walnuts as I can't remember whether I put them in' and ' Red fruit wine 2008'.  You are more than welcome to come round for literally a random sampling.

The summer of good intentions: part 1

As a teacher and craftsperson the Summer holidays seem like a glorious expanse of time in which to just make and do.  Last year my garden looked lovely, I sat in it and drank tea, made bits and pieces, and generally felt quite content.  The problem is that I haven't been feeling so glorious recently and contentment has been seeping away gradually over the year. What's more Miss Bertie will be leaving her Little Worcester House in November which is a long way off but so close too.  Many things have changed and decisions have to be made; lots of thinking, talking and consuming of tea has taken place, and so the summer of good intentions has begun.

Making and doing: Losing one's making and doing mojo is not a nice thing, especially as your abilities can diminish making a return to it quite demoralising.  So, the most important part of the summer is to ensure I make something every day even if it doesn't come out well.  Finishing some of the things I've started would also help but let's not dwell on that.  One step at a time.

Deciding what I like: Classic, high brow film 'Runaway Bride' has Julia Roberts trying different ways of cooking eggs to decide which she likes as she has spent so long eating them the way her boyfriend at the time has them.  I'm ashamed to say that I am like that and as a result I don't actually know what I like. Seriously, I really don't and as a result I have books, cds, films and clothes that are like elephants in my wardrobes, shelves and often boxes under the bed.  This leads onto...

The Big Sort Out: The steady stream of random boxes of stuff being returned to me from my various previous abodes and phases has subsided.  I have a huge amount of stuff.  The idea of moving all of this anywhere is daunting and if it wasn't illegal (and a very bad idea really) I would be tempted to set fire to the house and my belongings, and begin again as an unencumbered free spirit.  However, this is my mess and I should tidy it up.
Another aspect of this is that I'm naturally a little shy and to overcome this have become chameleon like in order to fit in.   I have looked through some of the boxes and wondered in dismay at what possessed me to want to acquire such things.  The task is huge but luckily Little Sister Fanny has offered her ruthless sorting services for a few days and we're going to go through it all, getting rid of the old, to make way for the new.

So, that's it.  The summer of good intentions.  Let it begin.

Alfresco sophistication and simple picnic pleasures

Once a year my family go on an outting, a big family picnic to which all my paternal relatives are invited.  We meet for coffee and a chat, wander round some stately pile, a zoo, museum or some such place, and then have a picnic followed by some games and afternoon tea.  This has occured every year for far longer than I have been alive and is always a pleasure.  As you can imagine, over such a long time picnic sets have come and gone, and plastic has taken over.  The smell of a plastic lunch box is disappointing; it doesn't matter what you put in it, the smell is always the same.  So imagine my delight when I came upon this beauty. 

Floating on a cloud of exhaustion, relief and pay day confidence I had spied this in a charity shop and applied the rule 'If x is still there when I go back then it's meant to be."  It was still there.  It was meant to be.  I handed over my hard earned food shopping money and bought it. 

 Complete, beautiful and just in time for the Family Picnic I made up the thermos flasks with tea to drink out of the china cups & saucers, and ensured that my picnic fayre required the use of plates, cutlery and a little light seasoning.  The pleasure to be had from such alfresco sophistication should not be underestimated and plans have already been made for further use.